Groundbreaking woman can retire satisfied

Press, 26 April 1988, Page 49

Groundbreaking woman can retire satisfied

11 P.-H i) '■ • '|. I PA I ! Wellington I Mi [ . I | Men the 1 ead of . the l’Mi ristry of Women’s Aft fat-s; Ms May O’Reganj (leaves her job in June} !sh<|- ’intends Ito read the books she has had to put aside. : . i She will, leave on June 17 three years since her appointment which marked the Establishment of the new ministry. ‘ ijShe said she was looking 'forward to returning home to Nelson tp have a break from the pressures of] running a Ministry, i As well as reading she plans to w itch lots of viideos iand spend time with friends. As head of a ministry' breaking new ground, Ms Oißegan had had to cope with more | news media attention than she would Hike, i ; ; In the Ministry's early days, she said she; was the news "flavour of the riionth." ! But she said [that because she vas only one pf six, in a management team which makes collej’ct'ive decisions,! there would not be a gaping hole when she left. - ! Ms O'Re’an spent h]er first month in the job on her own tut now hasj a Staff of 21 and] in line with the N inistry's bicultural policy. eight of those are Maori.

She said the ministry wis plagued for a long tirpe by the "invisibility”, of; its work: people asked ..what the Ministry did. j. (However. she said [people were starting to see the results,- of the i Ministry's work. 1,,' iShe referred to changes ; I ini; The S|tate Sector Act | when it was drafted. : I .{The- bill was strengthI ened between the first I and seqond drafts in i terms of the equal employment opportunity requirements on chief executives. ; The main focus of the i Ministry’s work was ; greater input to Government policy, said Ms O’Regan. | The Ministry worked behind the scenes and at ! ' the time | discussions were . taking place they were ; i confidential, she said. [ The outcome belonged ; j to somedne else. For example, if the Ministry was successful in its negotiations to get a! women's housing unit, the j credit would go to the : Housing Corporation, as it should, she said. The Ministry had also had an - impact on women’s! health with the establishment of pilot, cervical i screening programmes and other! measures with credit; going to the Health De-;; partment.