Abstract
In her debut address to the United Nations General Assembly on 28 September 2018, then newly-elected Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern renewed Aotearoa New Zealand’s commitment to the United Nation’s (UN’s) call for sustainable development through gender equality (NZ Government, 2018). The right to equality and the prohibition of discrimination was first enshrined in the principles of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, legally affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948, and extended by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1979. Since the formation of the UN, New Zealand has had a long history of advocating for the rights of women, children and the elimination of discrimination and abuse. As one of the first countries to sign the UN Charter in 1945 and to uphold the UNDHR in 1948, it established its international position for advancing gender equality, signalling a shift away from ‘looking to Britain’ for direction with foreign policy (Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 2014). While it was quick to sign the International Bill of Rights on 17 July 1980, the government took until 20 December 1984 to ratify the CEDAW (Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MWA), 1986).
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Notes
- 1.
NZ’s gender record also includes the first women in the British Empire to gain a university degree in 1877 (registered using a male name).
- 2.
This title is now held by Sanna Marin who was sworn in as the Prime Minster of Finland on 10 December 2019 at the age of 34.
- 3.
The five principles identified by the GPP on which agency actions should be based are: (1) freedom from bias and discrimination, (2) transparency and accessibility, (3) relationship between paid and unpaid work, (4) sustainability and (5) participation and engagement.
- 4.
Australia’s strong showing was linked to mandatory annual reporting on corporate gender equality and thorough gender audits facilitated by its Government while the UK, following the 2017 Equality Act, became the first country to introduce mandatory pay equality reporting for all organisations with over 250 employees. Furthermore, the report found that, in countries where government action is limited, some organisations are stepping up (e.g. with generous paid leave arrangements for employees).
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Parker, J., Donnelly, N. (2021). Gender Equality Developments in Aotearoa New Zealand: Implications for Japan?. In: Eweje, G., Nagano, S. (eds) Corporate Social Responsibility and Gender Equality in Japan. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75154-8_12
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