Women ‘must be consulted’

Press, 30 August 1978, Page 35

Women ‘must be consulted’

Parliamentary reporter Politicians and decisionmakers still need to consider the needs of women in New Zealand society, according to the Com« mittee on Women. When asked whether the Women’s Electoral Lobby manifesto was trying to segregate the problems and needs women have from the rest of the population and thus create discrimination, the cnairwoman of the Committee (Mrs M. Dell) said positive discrimination was needed to help women towards equal opportunity. “The Committee on Women hopes that W . E . L . ’ s maniresto have a positive effect on the policy and decisionmaking Parliamentary candidates. The priorities selected in the manifesto are being studied with great interest by the committee,” she said.

W . E . L . ’ s manifesto gathers material from several sources, including the Committee on Women conferences on education and the equality of the sexes, women and health, and social and economic development. The policy priorities or the manifesto were the re« suit of a lot of experience and thought and should serve to highlight the urgent need to consider the effects of political and economic decisions on women and families, Mrs Dell said. Women needed to be consulted on matters affecting their well-being, she said. “A current review of the 1975 recommendations of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Women’s Rights shows that a great deal remains to be done to improve women's opportunities."