VP Issues Update

Kia ora koutou,

Last week, it was reported Meta (aka Facebook and Instagram) would be ending their third-party content moderation/fact-checking mechanisms to a community-driven model. Further, they are ending major Diversity, Equity and Inclusive (DEI) programmes. 

This is in the face of evidence that highlights the growth of online harm (which disproportionately impacts women and girls), and the failure of platforms to address it. Not to mention, evidence that points to the importance of DEI to promote inclusivity.

Meta is by no means the only company that is failing to uphold safe spaces online (i.e. Tik Tok, X, Reddit, Snapchat).

At our last AGM, we introduced policy calling for improved government mechanisms in this space and we continue to advocate here in New Zealand. At the BPW International Congress in St Kitts last November, we were successful in taking the same resolution to the global stage and it was adopted as policy.

We will bring this issue to the United Nations in March, at the Commission for the Status of Women in New York. With the support of BPW NZ, I will be joining BPW International Executive Secretary (and NZ member) Carolyn Savage in New York.

This year the Commission on the Status for Women #CSW69 intersects with the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action. This is super exciting for women. The two crossing over is like a movie star showing up in our favourite TV series.

CSW is where governments come together to develop a document that reports on the challenges for women today – on the side of this, thousands of women, like our BPW sisters, are organising events, networking and advocating with officials to provide an authentic voice for women.

The Beijing Platform for Action is a document from 1995 that provided a list of items for governments to work toward to improve gender equality. This was thirty years ago, so we’d expect to see progress. This year we will be looking back with a critical lens, to plan for better progress going forward.

I look forward to reporting to you from New York.

Siobhan Dilly