Action, not words new Ministry’s aim

Press, 29 August 1984, Page 24

Action, not words new Ministry’s aim

Parliamentary reporter The new Ministry of Women’s Affairs will be engaged mainly in action and not research to improve the position of women in New Zealand, according to the Minister, Mrs Kerens. She told the conference of the Women’s Studies Association in Blenheim that a great deal of research had been done on women in New Zealand, most of it done superbly well. “But it has proved difficult, even impossible, to see the results of that research translated into action,” Mrs Hercus said. This Ministry itself had to act, and promote and help action by others. Key areas for action, she said, would be affirmative action programmes, child care, and care of other dependants. Research was still very necessary, but it was being done and could be done best by groups and individuals in the community. The Ministry would be a small and streamlined group which would be aiming at bringing about tang-

ible progress for women, said Mrs Hercus.

She gave the Status of Women office in Australia as an example of what could be done. It had set the goal of affirmative action and then gathered detailed research to support its case for affirmative action. This had been followed up by asking companies and organisations to do research within, to find where the barriers were to women’s advancement and how they could be removed. Change that was real and permanent, not cosmetic, needed a process like this Mrs Hercus said. One key role for the Ministry would be to scrutinise new and existing legislation and policy as it affected women. This did not mean only legislation which directly affected women, such as rape law reform. It meant any legislation that might affect the rights, opportunities or living standards of women. She said that this would include virtually all economic and industrial relations, legislation and policy. .