Issues Update - April 2026

Kia ora koutou

CEDAW – Protecting Pay Equity

A key focus for the Task Force this month, has been progressing BPW New Zealand’s complaint to the United Nations under CEDAW. (Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) This work reinforces our position that pay equity is a fundamental human right and raises concerns about recent legislative changes that risk limiting women’s access to fair pay. Our submission calls for accountability and for New Zealand to uphold its international commitments.  Our Submission is here: 

Violence Against Older Women

On the 1^st of April BPW NZ contributed to feedback on violence against older women, requested by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly Violence against Older Women.  This advocacy ensures that the rights, safety, and dignity of older women are recognised and addressed.  Our Feedback is here…..

Engagement and Collaboration

An update on online zoom meetings:

• Pay Equity Coalition Aotearoa (PECA): Supporting unified advocacy for fair and equitable pay.  Keep an eye on their website with a lot of action happening pre-election. 

Pay equity is the same pay for different work which has the same or similar level of skill, responsibility, and effort.

• Online Safety: BPW NZ advocate for stronger protections against digital harm impacting women and girls. We meet monthly and continue to lobby government, write letters and support other NGO’s in safety and accountability on digital platforms. 

Recently:  Jurors found that Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and Google, owner of YouTube, intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harmed the 20-year old's mental health.   Read more here……  Things are starting to happen around accountable in this space now, and its great to see.  They will be appealed, but it is helping spread the word and talk opening about online safety for us all. 

• The #NoHarmware campaign is joint campaign run by the Tāhono Trust and Amnesty International Aotearoa NZ calling for action to make online platforms safer by design.  Have a look at their Advocacy Toolkit.  This is a great resource with templates and ideas on how you can have a say against online harm . 

• National Council of Women of New Zealand International Caucus: I  attend these meetings to  strengthen BPW NZ’s international connections and share our ideas and strategies. 

If you would like to join in on any of these meetings, please let me know.

Ngā mihi nui 

Sherryll Markie-Brookes

VP Issues