Given it's General Election season, it might be timely to do a bit of the ol' policy comparison in particular areas that might be of interest to women, especially those of a feminist bent. So as time allows there will hopefully appear a few of these Policy Quickie posts.This series will not be about whole policy areas, but focus in very clearly on specific measures that are currently in place, e.g. Paid Parental Leave, or that have been the subject of some advocacy/controversy, eg Herceptin, and summarise (very succintly) what each party's stated approach is.
This really is going to be dependent on two things: a) our workload off-blog, and b) how easily accessible parties make that policy detail (including when they release it). So the Policy Quickies may fizzle out, or they may flourish and multiply.
Either way, this post will serve as index list for our Policy Quickie posts. Feel free to suggest areas for attention in comments.
Here are the ones I hope we'll get to once time and policy accessiblity allow (they'll be updated with a date and a link once each post is written):
- Paid Parental Leave - 22nd October 2008
- Funding for Herceptin (see comments to this post for why)
- Abortion Law Reform - 6th November 2008
- Maternity stays in hospital/birthing units - 3rd November 2008
- Pay equity legislation
- Domestic Purposes Benefit - 20th October 2008
- Role of the Ministry of Women's Affairs - 2nd November 2008
4 comments:
I really object to the notion that the lack of funding for Herceptin is a feminist issue. Women's health is a feminist issue; Herceptin is a drug that a) is already funded for a short course and b) the long course is PROHIBITIVELY expensive (something like a quarter of the total cancer budget) and does not work for everyone - or even for most people. Unfortunately the MOH does not have infinite resources; consequently they have a (neutral, at least intendedly) review board to decide which drugs are worth funding. It is certainly possible for this decision to be influenced by factors such as sexism and racism; this one - at least IMO - wasn't. The neutral presentation of it as a feminist issue kind of rubs me the wrong way.
Agree completely, Tui. Ex-expat wrote about this a while ago: http://thehandmirror.blogspot.com/2008/08/red-and-blue-pills-thoughts-on.html
Also, have a look at the comment of Ayesha (a practicing doctor) re this debate at the end of this post: http://thehandmirror.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-love-new-pink-ribbon-campaign-ad.html
Tui, like Anna (and the ex-expat) I agree with you entirely.
The reason I put Herceptin funding on the list is that I think it is important to put information out there about where parties stand, because at the moment National are trying to use the issue to scare women, and shift that vital demographic of Auckland women aged between 30 and 50.
Sorry to have given a different impression, and hopefully the discussion in this comment thread will make it clear to readers where I was coming from in putting it on the list. Thanks for prompting this korero :-)
Thanks for the links, Anna! I've been more interested in this particular issue since a class on public health a few weeks ago, so I missed those posts.
The reason I put Herceptin funding on the list is that I think it is important to put information out there about where parties stand, because at the moment National are trying to use the issue to scare women...
Thanks for clearing that up! I totally agree. (I feel that parties which say that they will fund Herceptin are guilty of a) attempting to exploit women's rights movements/women's groups for their own purposes, b) capitalising on public misinformation caused by a public scandal, and c) possibly most gravely, really affecting the way Pharmac's role is understood - so I mean, not that you need my approval, but I think that's a really important thing to post about.)
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