‘Cry for equality will benefit N.Z.’

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 6

‘Cry for equality will benefit N.Z.’

“The conscious cry for equal opportunities is not all hellfire and brimstone, or one that is the prerogative only of Left-wing radical feminists,” the member of Parliament for Raglan (Ms M. J. Waring) told the Greymouth Business and Professional Women’s Club’s “Woman of the Year” function on Saturday evening.

“The cry for equal opportunity, for more recognition and for more consideration is simply one that in a long range view will greatly benefit New Zealand,” she said. In her position she said she .was daily faced with problems of a national or individual sort which arose because they were not contemplated when eradicable decisions were made some time ago.

“Often I wonder if the voice of some conscious woman had been more readily heard, the situation would have been different.” “Obviously many of the anomalous situations which come to my attention do not deal only with women. And probably equally obviously I may well be wrong. Any decisions made some time ago may well have borrie in con-

templation any suggestions which I now make,” she said.

Giving an example, Ms Waring said that the Statues Revision Committee had recently reported back to the House without amendment, the Juries Amendment Bill. This was introduced by the Minister of Justice (Mr Thomson) to allow the same and equal opportunities for exempting males and females from service.

“You may also be interested to know this bill gives effect to equal exemption clauses for monks as well as nuns.”

Ms Waring said the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Highet) had told her that the Government intended to introduce a revised citizenship bill to correct outstanding anomalies in the present legislation.

Under the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act (1948) and subsequently amended, legitimate children bom overseas of a man who was born or naturalised in New Zealand are New Zealand citizens by descent. Where that man is a New Zealand citizen by descent, his legitimate children' born overseas are New Zealand citizens by descent if their births are registered as provided by the Act and before they reach 16 years.

“The children bom overseas after December 31, 1969, out of wedlock to a woman who was born or naturalised in New Zealand are New Zealand citizens by descent by virtue of the Status of Children Act (1969). They keep this status until the woman may marry a man other than a New Zealand citizen.

“The principle behind this particular bit of legislation is that otherwise these illegitimate children bom of New Zealand mothers would be stateless. But the legitimate children bom overseas to a woman who was born or naturalised in New Zealand are not New Zealand citizens unless of course their father is a New Zealand citizen.” Facts such as these were not widely known until a person or somebody close to them found themselves in this discriminatory situation, she said.

Referring to another pronlem area, Ms Waring said she raised it because “often the reaction from both men and women with regard to the New Zealand government’s signature on International Labour Organisation convention No 89, which deals with the prohibition of night work by women in industrial undertakings is

not of equal opportunity, but that women should not be out working at that hour of the night.” “My position would be that I in no way have or should have the right to restrict women who wish to work after midnight and, if that is what they want to do then I should work to overcome the obstacles.” The Minister of Labour (Mr Gordon) had received some representations asking the Government to consider denouncing 1.L.0. convention No 89. New Zealand Forest Products had been asking for some time, “and ’ I believe that in Kinleith and Tokoroa, the feeling among the women is very high because they wish to work in one of the new factories there on night shift.” Changes in this law had been recommended by the Select Committee on Women’s Rights and by the International Women’s Year conference .last year. The New Zealand Employer’s Federation also strongly supported changes in this year, She said.

The Industrial Relations Council had agreed that full equal pay would need to be started before the so-called protective provisions of hours of work for women within the Factories Act were removed.

Among the countries which had not ratified the ‘ convention were Australia, , Canada, Denmark, Finland, ' East Germany, West Ger- : many, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 1948, when New Zealand was a signatory to the convention, “obviously the persuasiveness of ' the women’s voice in such decision making Was quite unheard,” Ms Waring said. “The point is not whether or not you want to work on night shift and it is not whether or not you think women should work on night shift. The point is that many women do wish to work on night shift and neither you nor I do really have the right to deny them the opportunity.” In education, one of the most discriminatory practices for some time on which outstanding progress was made because a court case recently, “had been the discriminatory practice in transfer expenses for women teachers. Negotiations are in progress between the State Services co-ordinating committee and the Combined State Services Organsiation to abolish this practice," she i said.