Halloween: some random musings

A group of five kids just came to my door, trick or treating. Except for a wee guy aged six or seven, they were in their early teens. I'd never been visited by trick or treaters before, and I was taken by surprise. All I could find to give the youngsters was a bag of unexciting Farmbake biscuits. Their dismay at this shite bounty was painfully obvious. Nonetheless, they politely thanked me (even the girl who rejected my offered biscuits). The Grim Reaper amongst them told me cordially that he would not be stealing my soul, and the trick or treaters went off into the un-scary late afternoon sun.

The kids' visit made me feel even guiltier about refusing to allow my own daughter to go trick or treating. She's been preemptively nagging me about it for some months now. I've got a range of philosophical and other concerns which I've been wrestling with, as only a namby pamby liberal leftie feminist can. Number one is safety. I just don't like the idea of letting kids roam the streets seeking goodies from strangers, whether or not they're accompanied by adults. Number two is dignity. I don't feel at all comfortable asking for food from strangers (particularly not in my poor neighbourhood). But the thing I dislike most about Halloween - and I admit it's kind of irrational - is that it's another cultural import from the USA, brought to us by the telly, and with no relevance to NZ whatsoever. When there's so much kiwi stuff stuff we could be celebrating, it's rather odd to draw on foreign concepts for inspiration.

In my day (and here I go sounding old and crusty) we celebrated Guy Fawkes. That was dumb for a host of reasons: it was a commemoration of an irrelevant, centuries-old gory event from the other side of the world, replete with horrible injuries from fire crackers. I still feel nostalgic about it, though (except for the horrible injuries), and look on Halloween as a kind of frivolous imposter.




Halloween is not the only thing to make it here from the US. Opposition to this pagan carry-on from fundamentalist Christians also seems alive and well. My daughter came home from school with a flyer promoting a 'Saints and Angels' party. Kids were invited to come dressed as their favourite saint or angel, and Halloween costumes were strictly forbidden. For f&#k's sake, I thought to myself - how many saints and/or angels can the average kid name? How many can the average grown up name? I'm stuck on two angels (unless you include Lucifer before The Fall, which the organisers of this event would likely disapprove of), and most of the saints I can think of died in hideous ways. I would not consider it good taste to dress up my daughter as St Catherine being tortured on a wheel, for example.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with dressing up and having fun, and I try not to let my dour politics turn me into a complete killjoy. I just didn't like the options on offer - indulging in the culturally alien consumerist silliness of Halloween itself, or hanging out with the nervously Satan-fearing puritans at the 'Saints and Angels' party. My daughter and I reached a compromise position: she was allowed to have a few friends over for a Halloween party. The kids painted their faces, ate junk food and watched a kids' doco about bugs. I wouldn't say that it was particularly scary; but with the possibility of a National government looming, we've got all the fear we need in our lives right now.

Election Survey: Sue Bradford (Greens)

Sue Bradford is number 3 on the Green party list, a current MP, and the Greens candidate for East Coast Bays. As per all the Green responses to date, she's answered questions 1 and 11, and there'll be a link below to the Green Party response to questions 2 to 10. You can find a full index of all candidate responses to date here, including several others from the Greens.

The Questions & Answers
Question 1. What do you believe is currently the single biggest issue facing NZ women, and how would you like to address it if you are elected?
I think the biggest issue facing many NZ women is poverty. Hundred of thousands are living in quiet desperation either on low incomes or on benefits, often struggling to bring up children as well.

Overcoming poverty is a huge, complex job, but to start with:
- the minimum wage should be lifted to $15 an hour right now, then indexed annually to 66% of the average wage
- benefit levels should be raised so that they are actually enough for people to live on
- we should accelerate our state and community sector housing programmes to provide safe, healthy, affordable housing for all who need it.

Green Party combined response to questions 2 to 10.

Question 11. Do you have any further comments that you wish to make about the role of women in our society? Please feel free to share your thoughts here.
Despite all the advances of the last thirty years, our society still lives and breathes much structural discrimination against women.

This is seen, for example, in the ongoing high rates of violence and abuse of women and girls, mainly in their own homes, and in the fact that many women continue to earn proportionately less than men.

My biggest fear is that as we go into a time of economic recession and environmental vulnerability, we risk going backwards in all sorts of ways.

We women must be vigilant and strong, across all generations, to protect what we’ve achieved – in defending our rights to work; to reproductive and sexual choices; to fair incomes; to the DPB; to live our lives free from rape and violence to the maximum extent possible; and to participate fully in our country’s democratic processes.

Election Survey: The Maori Party

The Maori Party have offered a collective response to our election survey, as the Kiwi Party has done (and the Greens also, for most of the questions), which you'll find below. A full index of candidate responses to date can be found over here. We have now had responses from either the party and/or at least one candidate from all current Parliamentary parties except National, NZ First and the Progressives.

The Questions & Answers
Question 1: What do you believe is currently the single biggest issue facing New Zealand women, and how would you like to address it if you are elected?
With 27% of Maori children already living in poverty, and 150,000 children categorised as living in ‘severe and significant hardship’, the most critical issue facing women and families today is that of poverty. To address the entrenched and increasing poverty in Aotearoa, the Maori Party has a range of policies to lower living costs, such as removing GST off food, and raising the incomes of low-income families by exempting those who earn $25,000 or less from tax and by raising the minimum wage to at least $15 per hour. We will also reinstate (and rename) the in-work tax credit to all children, regardless of the source of parental income. Significantly, the Maori Party will establish an official poverty line in Aotearoa, and set a date, 2020, for the elimination of poverty.

Question 2: New Zealand women are paid, on average, over $300 a week less than men, and the difference is worse for Maori and Pacific Island women. What do you propose as a first step towards closing the gender pay gap?
The Maori Party will raise the minimum wage to at least $15 per hour and we would support the introduction of pay and employment equity legislation to address the lower pay rates of occupations and industries which are predominantly populated by women.

We are also very concerned to address the income inequalities still existing on the grounds of ethnicity. In 2007, the average weekly income for Europeans was $723, while for Māori it was $526, and $477 for Pacific Peoples. We are committed to addressing the double whammy of both gender and ethnicity discrimination in our consistent advocacy of pay and employment equity.

Question 3: Do you think NZ's current approach to reproductive rights (abortion, contraception etc) is correct? (Yes or No or No Answer, please). If not, what changes would you want to make? (have broadened to focus on reproductive rights in general rather than abortion specifically)
The Maori Party does not have a specific policy on either abortion or contraception.

However, our commitment to whanau ora – literally the life-force of whanau – instructs us that every decision to do with an individual member of a whanau, will always impact on the health and wellbeing of the wider group. The protection and enhancement of whanau and whanau self-determination is one of the Maori Party’s three foundational commitments.

This commitment has two important implications, the first being decisions around reproduction rights are decisions for whanau to make. The second is that families should have real choice in making decisions on reproduction, i.e. that mothers and families can be assured of appropriate income, medical and childcare support so that financial considerations are not the determining factor. Enhancing whanaungatanga is also important, where extended family networks are sufficiently supported by policy to be enabled to take up the care of children if their parents are unable or unwilling to do so.

Question 4: The police and the courts do not work in preventing violence against women. What other government actions would you take to ensure women can live without fear.
There is an urgent need to address domestic violence in Aotearoa, and as such, there is an urgent need for a greater investment by government in whanau restoration programmes which address violence in a collective context, and ‘whole of whanau’ initiatives to ensure the active participation and engagement of all whanau members. For the Maori Party, what is also critical for whanau wellbeing, is the need for initiatives to create drug and alcohol free homes. We will support and resource providers with a track record of success in attaining mauriora and in preventing family violence We are also committed to supporting child, whanau and families, and are proposing a Neighbourhood Renewal Fund which may include incentives to encourage living more collectively.

Violence in homes, however, cannot be properly addressed unless the violence in our communities and society at large is also addressed, including that of racism. The Maori Party supports the elimination of institutional racism, and the development of a cultural audit framework to ensure that government systems responding to whanau do so in culturally safe ways. We promote cultural competence as an employment standard in justice, health, education and social services.

Question 5: Those who do the caring work in our society, paid and unpaid, are often the least recognized and the lowest paid, and they work the longest hours. What do you see as the priority to address these issues for those caring for our sick, our elderly and our children?
The Maori Party will promote and strengthen whanau-based and home-based care options for older people and people with disabilities to choose to remain in their homes, connected to their family and social networks. These options need to be better resourced – particularly the pay rates and training of home-based carers; and the respite care arrangements for whanau-based carers.

The current rates of pay in the aged care sector are far too low, and vastly beneath comparative rates received by health care assistants in DHBs. The Maori Party supports the call from the NZNO for pay parity across the aged care sector.

We know that aged care workers are often Maori and Pasifika women. The 2006 Census revealed that the median annual income for Māori women aged 15 years and over was $17,800. We have a problem with embedded low wages in this country, and this burden more often than not falls on Maori and Pasifika women. Pay disparity is obviously a major issue for Maori women. We have called for the minimum wage to be raised to at least $15 per hour, as we believe this would lead to a massive improvement in the lives of those that currently have to subsist on the minimum wage.

Currently, caregivers are compromised by high staff to patient ratios, meaning that our elderly people and people with disabilities are not being given the level of care they deserve. This is hard on staff, those being cared for and their families. We will support measures to see minimum staffing levels introduced, as this is critical for the provision of safe, quality care.

Safe care also requires adequate training for all staff, including cultural safety training. We support the need to improve access to training and education for aged care workers who want to upskill or achieve national qualifications. A more skilled workforce has positive ramifications for the entire sector.

Core benefit levels need to be increased across the board, along with accommodation supplements, including those for sole-parents. In addition, the in-work tax credit needs to be extended to include all children regardless of parental income. Our poorest families have been denied this crucial $60 per week payment for over 10 years, at a collective cost to them of around $4 billion. In this time of economic uncertainty, the last thing laid-off workers need to contend with is the loss of another $60 per week.

The Maori Party would increase investment in early childhood education to better ensure the availability of affordable, high quality childcare for parents and whanau. Our particular priority of the Maori Party is to extend the 20 hours fee childcare to all kohanga reo and playcentres. Only 25% of kohanga reo are able to access this funding at present.

We also advocate for better pay for early childhood teachers, which would impact positively on recruitment and retention in the sector. We are passionately in support of changing attitudes to the teaching workforce so that our communities value teachers. A key part of our interest in valuing teachers is to ensure that they are paid what they are worth.

Question 6: The Ministry of Health has recently launched a campaign to encourage breastfeeding and is now recommending that babies be breastfeed to at least one year old. What do you think the government could do to ensure that every woman who wants to breast feed can?
There are a number of policy and legislative changes that can be made to increase breastfeeding rates which continue to be low in Aotearoa, particularly for Maori and Pacific mothers. It is our view that increased investment in maternity services to address the midwifery shortage is critical for mothers to receive breastfeeding education and support.

In the 48th Parliament, the Maori Party voted in support of the Employment Relations (Breaks and Infant Feeding) Amendment Bill which requires facilities and breaks to be provided for employees who wish to breastfed in the workplace or during work periods. However, the New Zealand Government has not yet ratified ILO Convention 183 (maternity protection), which requires not only facilities and breaks to be provided, but for the breastfeeding breaks to be paid breaks. The Maori Party supports ratification of ILO Convention 183.

In our 2008 Policy Manifesto, He aha te mea nui, we have also signalled our support for encouraging whanau and communities to live more collectively, including providing post-natal support for parents.

Question 7: What single measure do you think our political organizations could take to better encourage young women to be involved and take on leadership positions in our communities?
Research on the cost of tertiary education and student debt, and their impacts on participation, retention and completion rates in tertiary education shows that cost is a strong determining factor, with too many young people deciding not to study or studying shorter courses as a result of their concerns about debt repayment. These concerns are particularly experienced by women. For the Maori Party, education is a front-end investment in the future of the nation, and we will introduce a debt reduction policy to reduce fees to a nominal level and also introduce a universal student allowance, pro rated for part-time students.

In addition, rangatahi (young people) require vehicles through which to be mentored in community leadership and development roles. The Maori Party has advocated for the creation of Regional Rangatahi Councils that would interface with local and regional authorities.

Question 8: Do you see domestic violence as an issue for women, for men, or for all New Zealanders? (Women, or Men, or all New Zealanders please). If elected, what strategies would you like to pursue to eliminate domestic violence?
Reiterating from response to question 4 above, domestic violence continues to be a priority issue in Aotearoa. For the Maori Party, solutions must lie in investing in rejuvenating whanau; in whanau restoration programmes which address violence in a collective context, and work to ensure the active participation and engagement of all whanau members. We will also investigate and implement initiatives to promote drug and alcohol free homes.

Question 9: Successive governments have effectively cut the Domestic Purposes Benefit. Do you believe people raising children alone should have sufficient financial support from the state so that they do not need to go to work until they believe that is the best choice for their family? (Yes or No or No Answer, please)
Yes. Core benefit levels need to be increased, along with accommodation supplements, and the in-work tax credit needs to be extended to include all children regardless of parental income.

Question 10: Women do the vast majority of cooking and shopping, and increases in food prices are a burden borne disproportionately by women. What do you think our government can or should do to ensure that everyone has access to good food?
The Maori Party is advocating a GST off food policy, as is currently in place in Australia, England and Ireland. Food should be exempt from GST on the grounds that GST hits low-income people disproportionately.

Question 11: Do you have any further comments that you wish to make about the role of women in our society? Please feel free to share your thoughts here.
The need to equally recognise mana wahine and mana täne is reflected in the Maori Party’s constitution which requires the appointment of both a male and a female co-leader. In the 2007 Hui-a-Tau of the Māori Party a recommendation was also unanimously passed to ensure there is a male and female vice-president. Particular attention to the representation of women was given to the party’s list as part of the selection criteria.

As such, the Maori Party has five women in the top 10 of our Party list. They are: Tariana Turia, Co-Leader and candidate for Te Tai Hauauru (No 1); Angeline Greensill, candidate for Hauraki-Waikato (No 5); Rahui Katene, candidate for Te Tai Tonga (No 7); Naida Glavish, List candidate (No 8); and Iritana Tawhiwhirangi, List candidate (No 9).

Election Survey: Erin Ebborn-Gillespie (Labour)

Erin emailed us to say she appreciated our survey but unfortunately doesn't have time to answer the questions. So I asked if we could publish her email, as a non-question-answering response, (a la Peter Tashkoff), which she was fine with. I've added in the links to her candidate profile etc. A full index of candidate responses can be found here.

Hi Julie and the women at The Hand Mirror,

My name is Erin Ebborn-Gillespie and I am the Labour candidate for Wigram (list number 51). My work/life imbalance is such that I haven't had a chance to answer your questionnaire even though I agree the issues raised remain relevant.

My background is that I am a family lawyer. I have previously been on the trust board for Camellia House in Palmerston North which provides emergency accommodation to women and children. I have been involved with the NZ Law Society Women's Consultative Group and with local women's legal associations. Last year I interned for 3 months at the Women’s National Commission in London. Currently I have an interest in the proposed teen parenting unit at Hornby High School.

While women have made many gains, and I believe Labour's policies continue to assist with this, it concerns me that within the community there seems to be a perception that women have already made it and there is no more work to be done. Or, worse, that we have gone too far!

I was surprised at the Women’s Expo recently that a young woman did not know that New Zealand led the world in granting women’s suffrage. What is happening to our herstory?

The women's movement has always been about empowering women. Over the last few years we have seen a greater collective voice from men's groups. I acknowledge that there are men's issues and gender issues relevant to men deserve to be addressed. But it is important that this is done in a way which enables both genders (and transgender etc) to move forward together. Improving one gender's place in the community should not be done by impeding gains made by the other.

From my experience as a family lawyer, the Family Court has reacted to address issues raised by men's groups - not as extensively as those groups wish - but I have certainly noticed a change. Women did not respond with a strong collective voice to those challenges.

My view is that violence is an issue which affects all members of our community – young, old, male, female, gay, straight etc. It concerns me when violence against women is responded to with “but women are violent too.” While some women are violent, just as only some men are violent, this response excuses violence against women. To me, family violence remains a gender issue first and foremost even though all forms of violence within our extended family need to be addressed. A key step is the message “It’s not OK” but also to address alcohol/drug issues and provide support to our families so that stressors do not lead to violence. I do not believe that greater punitive measures address the root problems of violence.

I endorse the comments Anjum has made about the negative attacks on women in positions of responsibility. We remain targets for comments about our appearance, sexuality, marital status and family life.

I also acknowledge there are different challenges faced by Maori, Pasifika and ethnic women.

New Zealand has led the world on women’s rights, social welfare and our stance on being nuclear free. We need to continue to keep women’s rights and human rights to the forefront of our agenda.

I had intended to simply acknowledge the importance of the issues raised in your survey and to thank you for it. My reply has become lengthier than I intended however women’s issues remain one of my passions.

Kind regards
Erin Ebborn-Gillespie

Should men be allowed to march?

I think that Take Back the Night marches are great, irrespective of who gets to attend, and I don't for a minute want to criticise the organisers of the Auckland event to be held on November 1st. But a reader states, 'I think men should be allowed to march', and I feel sympathetic. This reader hasn't got the pip just because men have been excluded - he sees men as also being affected by violence.

Is there a place for men at events like Take Back the Night? It's a controversial question, and a good one for feminists to thrash out from time to time. I'm inclined to think yes, but I absolutely welcome disagreement and debate! At different times in the feminist movement, women-only environments have been crucial to women's ability to feel safe, engage in consciousness raising and plan collectively. Of course, there are still some events - domestic and sexual violence support groups, for example - where having men present is likely to be detrimental to women.

But should men be excluded from Take Back the Night? From my point of view, there are two good reasons to exclude men from events like this one. The first is to do with women's autonomy. There's nothing more annoying than having men tell you how best to run your own liberation movement, or try to take ownership of a women's issue. Secondly, there's the important issue of safety. Those who have been victims of violence may feel intimidated by the presence of men. An environment where they can express their feelings about violence without men present can be a chance for victims of violence to heal.

Balanced against these reasons for are, I think, some good reasons to include men. Males may more commonly be perpetrators of violence, but they are also victims. All three of my brothers, my father and my partner have been assaulted at different times. Of course, they've got a right to be safe, and I've got a right not to have to worry about them. (I'm not suggesting here that violence against men is the same as violence against women, or even as common - just emphasising the point that men, too, can experience fear and lack of safety. In the case of my male family members, each attack happened on the street - a form of violence with different characteristics than the kind that happens in the home, although likewise serious.) Changing a cultural view which equates masculinity with violence is a key task for feminists and our sympathisers - and you can only go so far in this task without the help of men. For this reason, I think it's valuable to have men speak out against violence, promoting a version of masculinity which rejects violence.

I personally feel comfortable with men attending events like Take Back the Night so long as they acknowledge that violence is a gendered phenomenon. That doesn't mean that violence doesn't happen to men, or that women aren't violent at times - but it does mean admitting the sad reality that some groups, including women, are more at risk of violence than others. Safety is a kind of wealth shared unequally amongst different groups in our society. Recognising this is, for me, the bottom line.

What do you lovely readers think?

I wish the organisers of the Auckland event good luck!

Pundit's Election Quiz

It took me a little while to get my head around how to answer this quiz, but Pundit has put together a decidedly nifty tool for assessing your policy priorities against the various parliamentary parties.

I got 86% compatibility with the Greens (which was hardly a surprise). Progressives and Labour were my second and third-ranked matches. I suspect if they covered non-parliamentary parties the Alliance would have been in my top three.

And there's a handy option to discover how you match up with any of the parties outside your top trio. I was a bit stunned to discover I am apparently in 100% agreement with Act in regard to Economy and Taxes. Hmmmm, I'm not sure that's a fair representation of my position (or theirs), although I did strongly support a tax free bracket at the bottom end of the income scale.

What did others get?

Feminist Event: Take Back the Night in Auckland

What: Take Back the Night rally and march
When: Saturday November 1st, from 7pm
Where: Meet at Aotea Square in Auckland

Anyone keen to make up a Hand Mirror contingent, and we could walk with a banner together - we could meet outside Borders at 7pm perhaps?

Here's the full message from the organising group:

Tena koutou,
We're writing to let you know about Take Back the Night, which will be held this year in Auckland on Saturday, November 1st.

There will be a rally (with food and speakers) at Aotea Square in Auckland City at 7pm, followed by a march to Basque Park.

Take Back the Night is a long-running international event that asserts women's right to feel safe at night and to live in a world without rape and violence. It is an event that raises awareness of and bears witness to the violent crimes perpetrated against women, children, transgendered, and intersexed persons everywhere.

It is also an empowering opportunity for women to recognise their shared experiences and unite in the struggle for a world without violence. From the street to the home, in many spaces women, transgendered and intersexed persons are harassed and subject to many different forms of abuse. These include rape and physical violence, the pressure to conform to men's expectations, and in some cases, murder - on average a woman in Aotearoa is killed by her (ex-)partner every six weeks. By marching, we are powerfully standing together to let the world know that abuse against women, children, transgender, and intersex people is unacceptable, and that all should be allowed to live their lives without fear.

All women, children, transgendered, takaatapui, fa'afine, and intersexed persons are invited to join us in 'Taking Back the Night'. We ask men to support Take Back the Night by respecting our need to organise independently against violence and to use this time to ask how they can best fight rape and violence.

To present a strong message it would be fantastic if we could get a big number of marchers. Please pass this email on to interested persons, tell your friends, whanau, colleagues and neighbours, and print out the attached poster.

We look forward to seeing you at Aotea Square on November 1st. Please email us if you require any further information. (takebackthenightak at gmail dot com).

Standing united,
Auckland Take Back the Night Working Group.

Election Survey: Katherine Ransom (Democrats for Social Credit)

Katherine Ransom is the candidate for Tauranga for the Democrats for Social Credit, and is also number 4 on the Democrats for Social Credit's party list. Her answers to our survey are below, and a full index of responses to date are here. This is the first response from a DSC candidate, and Katherine has been commenting here recently.

The Questions & Answers
These answers are based on Democrats for social credit (DSC) policy.

Question 1. What do you believe is currently the single biggest issue facing New Zealand women, and how would you like to address it if you are elected?
The single biggest issue continues to be the invisibility and the devaluation of women, both in the workforce and in the essential nurturing work many women do. All too often I hear people (even other women) say: "We've got equality now." Excuse me, no we don't.

My first action would be to ensure that the community groups and nationally organised societies that contribute so much to the well-being of society, largely through women's unpaid work, are properly funded to function effectively. I would implement DSC policy on incomes, by paying a guaranteed basic income to every citizen. This would go some way towards giving women working as full time mothers or in other nurturing roles some economic independence. I would also strengthen and expand the little bit of government work already being done to address gender issues (pay, promotion, etc.) in workplaces, by better funding, more staff and mentoring programmes.

Question 2. New Zealand women are paid, on average, over $300 a week less than men, and the difference is worse for Maori and Pacific Island women. What do you propose as a first step towards closing the gender pay gap?
(See the last sentence of my answer to question 1.) I would raise the minimum wage, initially remove income tax from the first $20,000, and progressively replace all income tax with a Financial Transactions Tax set at less than 1%. There will be no exemptions or loopholes to this tax, which will collect the most revenue from those who have the most, especially previously exempt financial services, while being hardly noticeable to those on the lower incomes.

Question 3. Do you think NZ's current approach to reproductive rights (abortion, contraception etc) is correct? (Yes or No or No Answer, please) Yes.
If not, what changes would you want to make?

Question 4. The police and the courts do not work in preventing violence against women. What other government actions would you take to ensure women can live without fear.
While I absolutely accept that the majority of violence is perpetrated by men against women and children, some violence women are guilty of, to their partners and most damagingly to their children. Why do we do this, and fail to protect our weakest and most vulnerable?
As well as continuing to improve the culture and attitudes of police and courts, I would increase the level of legal aid so that more lawyers are available to handle protection orders. (In rural towns this is a very big problem. There are no lawyers in Matamata who will take on legal aid.) I would also make a percentage of 'pro bono' work a requirement for law firms to retain their licence to practice. I would work to change the rules of evidence that protect the past of an accused rapist but leave the victim to the mercy of invasive questioning and character assassination.

I would also look at the root causes of violence. I suspect that the pressure of living in the modern world, the demand for 'productivity' and success, the disenfranchisement and disempowerment of whole sectors of people, and the general feeling of helplessness and hopelessness has a lot to do with why we are violent. There is some evidence that the dehumanising effect of gratuitous violence in the media creates in children a callousness and disregard for others. Too many parents work too long and too hard just to make ends meet, and don't have quality time with their children. While I certainly don't think the problem is simply an economic issue, I believe a more just financial system would go a long way towards easing the pressure of living in the modern world, and reducing our violence towards one another.

Question 5. Those who do the caring work in our society, paid and unpaid, are often the least recognized and the lowest paid, and they work the longest hours. What do you see as the priority to address these issues for those caring for our sick, our elderly and our children?
DSC will provide a guaranteed basic income for all citizens, a National Dividend as a share of the country's wealth. In addition, those with extra needs will have these funded, including adequate housing, respite care, and any special equipment required. DSC will fully fund and staff a world-class health system, and provide education and training to tertiary level free of charge. Caregivers will be recognised as essential to society and paid accordingly.

Question 6. The Ministry of Health has recently launched a campaign to encourage breastfeeding and is now recommending that babies be breastfeed to at least one year old. What do you think the government could do to ensure that every woman who wants to breast feed can?
Support groups like Plunket and La Leche League need far more funding and resourcing. In my long experience as a breastfeeding mother and La Leche League leader, I know the importance of woman-to-woman support in the success of breastfeeding. It is not something we know instinctively, but something we once learned to do from watching our mothers, sisters and friends. We need those women, or the nurses and midwives who replace them, to even get breastfeeding established. Paid Parental Leave for at least a year is essential to feeding a baby for that long. Instead of enticing mothers back to work with 20 hours free childcare, proactive steps should be taken to enable women to stay home. And again, a basic income would help a lot, relieving a family of financial pressures, and allowing a woman to relax into motherhood and breastfeeding. Breastmilk is like tears - it responds to emotion.

Question 7. What single measure do you think our political organizations could take to better encourage young women to be involved and take on leadership positions in our communities?
Political parties can be proactive about choosing candidates with gender equity in mind. Education and mentoring are important, but finding issues that young women care about is the first step. The National Council of Women has started an email forum called 'GirlTalk' which includes older women, boomers, Gen X and Gen Y, all with opinions they are ready to discuss. Having said that, the biggest male club is the private sector boards of directors. Is our challenge to encourage our young women to go hard for power and extreme wealth?

Question 8. Do you see domestic violence as an issue for women, for men, or for all New Zealanders? (Women, or Men, or all New Zealanders please)
All New Zealanders.
If elected, what strategies would you like to pursue to eliminate domestic violence?
DSC would like to change the economic paradigm. We would like to take the usury out of the economy, and establish the creation, ownership and control of our own money supply through the publicly owned Reserve Bank of New Zealand. This may seem like a strategy far removed from domestic violence, but as I mentioned in question 4, it is the pressure of our modern society that I feel underpins our destructive behaviours. We are angry and sad too much of the time, and we are borrowing ourselves into slavery. When we can stop borrowing from overseas banks (and that will get harder and more expensive to do anyway) we can stop paying billions of dollars every year in interest payments alone into the pockets of the obscenely rich. Instead we can afford fully resourced health and education systems, environmental projects, energy research and development beyond Peak Oil - whatever we think is important to do. We can own our own country again. Most importantly, we can all stop working so hard.

Question 9. Successive governments have effectively cut the Domestic Purposes Benefit. Do you believe people raising children alone should have sufficient financial support from the state so that they do not need to go to work until they believe that is the best choice for their family? (Yes or No or No Answer, please)
Yes.

Question 10. Women do the vast majority of cooking and shopping, and increases in food prices are a burden borne disproportionately by women. What do you think our government can or should do to ensure that everyone has access to good food?
Abolish GST. I am also convinced that a national programme to improve soil health would make a big difference. It is nearly the magic bullet: organically fertilized land stops leaching nitrogen into our ground water, sequesters tons more carbon per acre than chemically fertilized land, and best of all it grows better yields of food that is more nutritious. (Not to mention enhancing our clean, green image and boosting our export earnings.) I understand that our food is 60% less nutritious than it was 40 years ago, and if that's true, it is no wonder we have growing obesity and malnutrition. I would like to see every primary school in the country adopt a programme of teaching children to grow vegetables and plant fruit and nut trees, engaging older people as mentors. We must not lose our gardening skills to the supermarkets.

Question 11. Do you have any further comments that you wish to make about the role of women in our society? Please feel free to share your thoughts here.
Women are the main sex. We are stronger, longer lived and better educated than men. Although the gender pay gap is an issue, sometimes I think that life's too short and too precious to waste chasing after lots of money. Perhaps unconsciously a lot of women feel like that, and we see more important things to do, like nurturing and volunteering, than spend all our waking hours making a gazillion dollars. Which is not to say I wouldn't like more money at times, and I know there are many, many women who desperately need the choices that money could give them.

What I would really like to see women have is more control over their own lives, more say in what happens to them and their families. This is what I work towards in everything I do. I am not just a candidate, I am also a member of Citizen's Advice Bureau and involved in the National Council of Women, presently as convener of the Economics Standing Committee. All of the issues raised in this survey are important to NCW, and as an umbrella organisation with many individual and group members, we are increasingly consulted by government on current issues. I am proud to be associated with the strength of our collective voice that refuses to be silent.

Politically, I feel that Democrats for social credit has more to offer women in the way of income, support and control over their lives than any other party.

Researching the lady in red

The research reported in this article, conducted by the University of Rochester, should surely win some award for absurdity. It's not really the conclusion of the research that bothers me - that men find women in red more attractive, whether for some ingrained evolutionary reason, or because of the old association between red and romance. It's more the silliness of undertaking research like this in the first place that gets my goat.

According to the article, a bunch of men (gay men and colour blind men were excluded) were shown different pictures of women, some wearing or surrounded by red, and others not. The men were then asked questions including how much they would like to kiss or have sex with each woman, and how much they would be willing to spend on each during a date.

One of my favourite authors is Professor Sandra Harding, a feminist philosopher of science. Her claim to fame is questioning just how neutral and objective science actually is. One point she raises is that the research questions science chooses to pursue reflect particular cultural values. The psuedo-science of phrenology is a case in point. Phrenologists weren't motivated by lofty unbiased ideals of innocent scientific inquiry - they were trying to prove that white people are smarter than others. More recently, research into what causes homosexuality also reflects particular social interests. Attempts to identify the gene, the hormone, the traumatic childhood experience that made a person gay have been motivated by different views. Some researchers have tried to show that homosexuality is a disease that we should aim to cure, and others have tried to demonstrate it is natural and therefore OK. Politics and science go hand in hand, but that's not necessarily a bad thing so long as we recognise it.

Leaving aside what motivates people to take up particular research questions, there's the fraught question of research funding. Research that might produce something of commercial value tends to attract funders more readily than other research. This might not matter, except that for every bit of research done, there is an opportunity cost in the form of another, maybe more beneficial bit of research that won't be done. The worth of every bit of research - its ethical merits and its social usefulness - should be scrutinised closely before it's begun.

In light of all this, it's kind of annoying to see a university producing research that not only offers nothing useful to humankind whatsoever, but seems to reinforce dumb stereotypes about the relationships between men and women, and the roles of each. It's the same old story. Men are programmed by evolution to hunt women, picking and choosing amongst us to find good breeders. We display our wares in the hope of being chosen by a strong and protective male who will provide for us. Whatever. And the idea that the measure of a woman's attractiveness is how much a bloke will spend on her is so antiquated that it's difficult to know where to begin laughing at it. Using this as a research question does little except show the researchers' quaint ideas about how men and women ought to socialise. It's like the researchers started with the answer - what they thought the relationship between the sexes ought to look like - then tried to gather data to fit.

So, what was the purpose of this University of Rochester research? Is it intended to help us ladies snag husbands? Was the researcher trying to get his name in the newspaper, or to promote some pop-psychology book he's writing? Whatever it is, it's hard to see this research making the world a better place.

Election Survey: Ted Howard (Act)

Ted Howard is ranked at number 36 on Act's party list, and is not standing for an electorate. His responses to our survey questions are below, and a full index of responses to date is over here.

The Questions & Answers
Question 1. What do you believe is currently the single biggest issue facing New Zealand women, and how would you like to address it if you are elected?
I am highly unlikely to be elected - too far down the list.
I see two related issues being the biggest - both relate to "culture" in the widest memetic sense, they are:
Violence (particularly family violence); and
Lack of self belief.

Neither is simple to address, and poverty is a major driver in both cases. Improving income gives individuals more options. Developing self awareness is usually about trying out options, making mistakes, and learning.

The educational tools are available to learn mostly from the mistakes already made by others - and a certain amount of making our own mistakes is inevitable. [Often cultural factors inhibit access to education.]

Question 2. New Zealand women are paid, on average, over $300 a week less than men, and the difference is worse for Maori and Pacific Island women. What do you propose as a first step towards closing the gender pay gap?
Focus on increasing awareness of contraceptive options, and ensure they are available to anyone who wants them.
It seems to me that the biggest driver of pay differentials is the interruption to career caused by childbirth and child rearing.
Raising a child is a huge commitment, and for most women (quite appropriately in my view) work comes second to the needs of the family - particularly the children.

We already have rules against discrimination on the basis of sex - I don't think any more are required.

One could ask the question - is life really about making more money ?
Perhaps, if one chooses to answer that in the negative (as I do), then it may be an indicator of higher levels of self awareness amongst women ;)

Question 3. Do you think NZ's current approach to reproductive rights (abortion, contraception etc) is correct? (Yes or No or No Answer, please) If not, what changes would you want to make?
It is fairly well balanced in most cases.
I have seen the emotional results of back street abortions on several women, and would not recommend it to anyone. I would advise any woman to seriously look at alternatives to abortion (legal or illegal), having seen the mental anguish that many carry throughout life, and I believe it is the individual woman's choice in each case.
I acknowledge several distinct levels of human life.
For me true humanity comes with language and self awareness skills displayed in language.
Gametes have no more rights in my view than hair follicles or skin cells.
Unborn children are more potentially human than gametes, yet not yet capable of language or self awareness.

So - while I do not recommend abortion, it is not my choice, I am a 53 year old male.

Question 4. The police and the courts do not work in preventing violence against women. What other government actions would you take to ensure women can live without fear.
As related in question 1 above - raising the standard of living is the most effective way of doing this.
Unlike most others in Act I have a different view on how to most effectively achieve this - see www.solnx.org.

It is a very complex topic. Arguments about raising levels of awareness go to the heart of the debate between the value of "culture"s versus the value of "individuals". I am firmly in the camp that says the emergent properties of the self awareness of individual human beings are far more interesting and valuable than the emergent properties of the complex systems that are societies of individuals.

I see individuals - male or female - as most important. Sexual difference are far less significant in the higher levels of self awareness.

Question 5. Those who do the caring work in our society, paid and unpaid, are often the least recognized and the lowest paid, and they work the longest hours. What do you see as the priority to address these issues for those caring for our sick, our elderly and our children?
Under the existing economic structure the only real option is to lift the income of all - meaning the top go up furthest, and the bottom come up some also.

If you are interested in options that alter the fundamental substructure of the economic system - then once again - take a look at http://www.solnx.org

Question 6. The Ministry of Health has recently launched a campaign to encourage breastfeeding and is now recommending that babies be breastfeed to at least one year old. What do you think the government could do to ensure that every woman who wants to breast feed can?
Simply pass a law making it illegal to discriminate against breastfeeding.
I supported my wife to breastfeed our child in all situations - including conferences and client site visits.

Question 7. What single measure do you think our political organizations could take to better encourage young women to be involved and take on leadership positions in our communities?
Simply to tell them that all humans are capable of infinite creativity.
Yes we are born into specific cultures, which teach us particular ways of being.
Yes we have specific laws, with consequences for those caught and convicted.
And, we are all capable of becoming aware that we are each capable of creativity, in the sense that we can break the chains of causality that normally rule our existence. This is the heart of both "choice" and "morality" and "creativity". How this is done is covered briefly in the human nature section of www.solnx.org.
The inherent value of the individual, and the rights and responsibilities that come with self awareness are part of the classic liberal tradition of which Act New Zealand is the strongest example in the New Zealand political scene.

Question 8. Do you see domestic violence as an issue for women, for men, or for all New Zealanders? (Women, or Men, or all New Zealanders please)
If elected, what strategies would you like to pursue to eliminate domestic violence?
Yes - and covered in Question 1

Question 9. Successive governments have effectively cut the Domestic Purposes Benefit. Do you believe people raising children alone should have sufficient financial support from the state so that they do not need to go to work until they believe that is the best choice for their family? (Yes or No or No Answer, please)
Have you stopped beating your grandmother yet - Yes or No answer please ?

There are too many assumptions in the question that most people never even consider for me to give a meaningful yes or no answer.

My mother raised my half brother in the days before the DPB - so I have some knowledge of what that was like.

In the world I would have us create - see www.solnx.org - no person would need work unless they wanted to.
Every individual would have the freedom to follow their bliss - wherever that might take them, limited only by the need to respect the lives, property and freedoms of others, and a general respect for other life forms and the environment also.

Question 10. Women do the vast majority of cooking and shopping, and increases in food prices are a burden borne disproportionately by women. What do you think our government can or should do to ensure that everyone has access to good food?
Growing the economy is probably the most effective way in the short to medium term - Act has the most effective policies to do that.
As an effective option I would encourage everyone to grow their own garden - having fresh vegetables is a start - but to really make a difference - again see www.solnx.org .

Question 11. Do you have any further comments that you wish to make about the role of women in our society? Please feel free to share your thoughts here.
I think women, as self aware, self responsible, entities - have both the freedom and responsibility to choose for themselves whatever role they want to be in society.

It is not up to me or anyone else to make that choice for them.

As a politician it is my role to create an environment that maximises the potential for development at all levels - again see www.solnx.org for details of how I would do that.
To my mind (and to that of Milton Freidman) it is aligned with classic liberal thought.

Best wishes

something different... not!

worst ad ever would have to be the latest one on tv for the women's health magazine. you might remember it, it's the one where a young woman hears various other magazines talking to her. the messages are constantly negative, telling her she's too fat, bad in bed etc etc. then the ad tells us that this new magazine is for real women and treats them with respect.

except that the cover shows a stick-thin model, and the main feature article is about how to get your best beach body. in other words, just another mag to help you feel inadequate about yourself. yay, just what we needed!

Submit those posts!

The monthly Down Under Feminists Carnival is coming up fast. This time it's being hosted by Penguin Unearthed, another trans-Tasman blogger (she's got family in NZ, and visits regularly). She's especially interested on posts about work, but any feminist post is welcome.

Per carnival founder Lauredhel's call (in her post announcing the previous edition of the carnival), it would be good to see some new faces in the carnival, so even if you don't have a post to submit from your own blog, how about having a hunt around other blogs you read, and submitting some posts you admire, especially from people who haven't been in the carnival yet. It's a great way to direct some traffic to people you think deserve to be heard.

The carnival submission form is here, but it's temporarily down. So instead, send your contributions direct to Penguin Unearthed: penguinunearthed at gmail dot com.

Submissions are due on October 31. That's this Friday, so you've got today, tomorrow and the next day to enjoy yourself browsing some blogs, and finding some fascinating posts to submit.

Election Survey: Catherine Delahunty (Greens)

Catherine Delahunty is the Greens' candidate for East Coast and sits at number 8 on the Green Party's list. Her responses to questions 1 and 11 are below, along with a link to the combined Green response (aren't they so collective!) to the remainder. A full index of all candidate responses to date can be found here.

Question 1. What do you believe is currently the single biggest issue facing New Zealand women, and how would you like to address it if you are elected?
The chronic stress many women endure as they juggle full time work and family commitments. We would extend paid parental leave to 13 months, and extend the Flexible Working Hours bill to cover all employees, and not just those with dependents, as is the case at present.

But fundamentally the biggest issue facing women everywhere is the continual mutations and effects of patriarchy on all our lives.

The Green Party's combined response to questions 2 to 9 can be found here.

Question 11. Do you have any further comments that you wish to make about the role of women in our society? Please feel free to share your thoughts here.
While significant gains have been made for women over the past few decades, women are still clustered in low income jobs, and jobs that are predominantly done by women are among the lowest paid in New Zealand. We need to increase the minimum wage and introduce pay equity into aged care and other female dominated professions.

The time women are able to spend with their children has declined steeply over recent decades, as more and more women work full time. We want to extend paid parental leave and introduce flexible working arrangements to spend more time with their children, and reduce the stress so many women working long hours experience.

Sadly the word “feminist” is no longer celebrated and the model of female leadership in politics and the corporates is an imitation of patriarchal power. To re humanise the world we need collective models of leadership where women can express a different model driven by a commitment to children and all vulnerable people and to values of mutual support, justice and diversity. When the refuges are empty because violence is no longer a norm we will know we have made deep change. At the moment we have women in powerful positions but we do not have healthy models of power. Women need to engage with each other about these issues without acrimony and work towards a dismantling of oppressive structural models. This will benefit all people and the earth!

Womanomics, Electoral Edition

Standard Disclaimer: I despise Sarah Palin's politics, but that doesn't mean I can't point out sexist double-standards where they exist.

Sarah Palin is apparently in trouble for spending shitloads on clothes during the campaign. My question is, why the hell apart from the fact that the candidate has ovaries is this newsworthy?

As Cactus Kate has noted it costs shitloads to be a well-dressed woman and right now Sarah Palin needs to be well-dressed at all times because every time she is in public she needs to look her best because the world wide media is on her ass 24/7. It will be noted by a newspaper if she wears the same outfit and if her make-up runs we are all going to know about it within a few minutes because like it or not her personal appearance is fair-game in this election. Of course she is not alone. There have been merciless attacks on other woman candidates' appearances over the years because a woman's appearance, whether she be a VPILF or an ugly troll, is seen as campaign fodder in a way that no man's ever is.

Nobody stops to ask McCain how much his Suits are. We don't ask Obama where he goes shopping or which hairdresser puts in Joe Biden's hair plugs. I can guarantee that in all three cases they weren't cheap and the only reason that the male candidates' clothes bills are cheaper is because men can get away with changing only their shirt and tie between outfits whereas women's wardrobes require far more variety hence cost.

Of course if Palin was wearing her 'regular clothes' she'd have been labeled dowdy and frumpy but that is a moot point. In the end when it comes to personal appearance for women politicians there is always someone who thinks you look like shit because they don't agree with you. So perhaps instead of blaming women candidates for playing the beauty game, whether it be spending money on expensive clothes, makeovers or photoshopped pictures, we need to be pulling up those who use a candidate's apperance as a form of political attack.

Horrid

This brief and sad article on the TV3 website just caught my eye. It's about the death of an 8 year old boy in the US by accidental shooting at a gun fair. The child was handling an Uzi at the time.

In light of the tragedy, according to the news article, Police are 'looking into whether the boy had parental consent to be handling the weapon, and whether the gun-fair broke the law'.

That's right. Rather than asking what kind of perverse culture allows a child to handle a submachine gun at a public event, Police are asking whether the child had parental permission to hold the gun which killed him.

Priorities, people.

Election Survey: Sarah Campbell (Alliance)

This response is from Sarah Campbell, who is running for the Alliance as a list-only candidate, ranked at number 6 on their party list. And here's a full index of candidate responses to date, including a number of other replies from Alliance candidates.

The Questions & Answers
Question 1. What do you believe is currently the single biggest issue facing New Zealand women, and how would you like to address it if you are elected?
This is a tough one. I would have to say that it is a problem for all of New Zealand, but that it affects women most, and that is rising inequality. Income inequality has increased in NZ in the last 20 years, and it can be said that when times are tough, it is women who suffer disproportionately. The lowest paying jobs tend to be those done by women, in casualised employment and chronically underemployed. The Alliance wants to reduce inequality in NZ by bringing in a progressive taxation system, as well as lots of other measures that will help all New Zealanders, especially those at the bottom currently, like free healthcare and prescriptions, truly free education, 12 months paid parental leave, increasing the minimum wage to $17, benefits at livable levels, among other things.

Question 2. New Zealand women are paid, on average, over $300 a week less than men, and the difference is worse for Maori and Pacific Island women. What do you propose as a first step towards closing the gender pay gap?
We want to see pay equity expanded to the private sector. Inequalities in pay would also be reduced by our policy of free childcare. Also we want to see better pay for the jobs that are traditionally seen as 'women's' jobs, and are more likely to be worked by women, such as
nursing, care giving, retail. By raising the minimum wage to $17 an hour, and by restructuring the tax system, we would hope to lift up all people on low incomes, including women. The introduction of a Universal Child Benefit would also help women.

Question 3. Do you think NZ's current approach to reproductive rights (abortion, contraception etc) is correct? (Yes or No or No Answer, please)
If not, what changes would you want to make?
Yes - broadly.
The Alliance policy is to make all prescriptions free - this would include contaception. The same with all health care, doctor's visits etc.

Question 4. The police and the courts do not work in preventing violence against women. What other government actions would you take to ensure women can live without fear.
We support increased funding to protect women from violence. I personally think that in a happier, healthier society, where people get decent pay for decent work, live in decent homes, and have opportunities available to them not restricted by financial concerns, there would be less social problems and violence.

Question 5. Those who do the caring work in our society, paid and unpaid, are often the least recognized and the lowest paid, and they work the longest hours. What do you see as the priority to address these issues for those caring for our sick, our elderly and our children?
We want to see wages rise, hours reduced, and unpaid work recognised. We support a $17 minimum wage - more than some people working in the jobs mentioned get currently, and a move toward a 35 hour work week with no loss of pay. We support the right to strike and workers' rights to collective agreements. People doing these jobs are making a far bigger contribution to our society than a lot of desk bound men in suits - their pay should reflect that.

Question 6. The Ministry of Health has recently launched a campaign to encourage breastfeeding and is now recommending that babies be breastfeed to at least one year old. What do you think the government could do to ensure that every woman who wants to breast feed can?
Free doctors visits would help women feel free to consult their doctor without worrying about the cost. I think the current campaign is good, and there have been more places like cafes coming out and saying they support people breastfeeding. It would be good to see more of that. Giving 12 months paid parental leave to the primary care giver would allow women to choose to stay at home and that would support them in breastfeeding their baby. We also support work-life balance provisions and flexible working hours which could help women with this.

Question 7. What single measure do you think our political organizations could take to better encourage young women to be involved and take on leadership positions in our communities?
Education is important, we need to teach people about community and society. In talking about these issues, issues of gender would inevitably come up, and this would get both sexes involved in the debate. If people don't feel like they are part of something, they are unlikely to step up. I think it's important for all young people to be involved in these kinds of things. I think everyone should be encouraged to do so, equally so for young women and young men.

Question 8. Do you see domestic violence as an issue for women, for men, or for all New Zealanders? (Women, or Men, or all New Zealanders please)
If elected, what strategies would you like to pursue to eliminate domestic violence?
All New Zealanders. it definitely is an issue. It's an issue for all parts of society. We support extra funding, but also wider changes.See answer to Question 4

Question 9. Successive governments have effectively cut the Domestic Purposes Benefit. Do you believe people raising children alone should have sufficient financial support from the state so that they do not need to go to work until they believe that is the best choice for their family? (Yes or No or No Answer, please)
Yes!

Question 10. Women do the vast majority of cooking and shopping, and increases in food prices are a burden borne disproportionately by women. What do you think our government can or should do to ensure that everyone has access to good food?
First and foremost we need to take the GST off food. As a flat tax GST is regressive, menaing those on lower incomes pay a higher proportion of their income in tax. We need to continue educating people about good food, but it's not just a personal responsibility issue.

Question 11. Do you have any further comments that you wish to make about the role of women in our society? Please feel free to share your thoughts here.
(no answer given)

Broken

I found myself unexpectedly in tears the other night, watching the news and hearing the reports of testimony in regards to the ill-treatment and murder of Nia Glassie. Never has a dryer looked so ominous to my eyes; I shuddered as I saw it sitting in the court as evidence.

The cruel treatment of Nia seems completely alien to me. I cannot comprehend how a human being could do those things to anything living; anything that could meet your gaze or cry or struggle. It was violence the like of which many of us would never have even contemplated carrying out on our toys as naive childhood experiments. I don't drink, and I've never been out of my head on drugs, but I can't imagine that any intoxicating concoction could lead me, or anyone I know, to do those things.

Nia was abused until her body, and her life, were broken. And people who could do this must be broken on the inside, in order to be capable of doing this. There will have been months, perhaps even years, of mistreatment of animals, other children, and probably adults before Nia became a target.

It's on the radio again now, and I winced as they told about one incident. There's an importance, I think, in bearing witness to what has happened here. But I wonder about the point at which the reportage becomes gratuitous, even exploitative. Does it do us any good to hear the gory details? I don't know. Does it encourage us to speak out when we see someone treating another person (or for that matter another animal) unconscionably? I hope so.

Some will take Nia Glassie's case and use it to say we should reinstate the parental discipline defence, before the amendment of s59. I find their arguments counter-intuitive; that somehow we can end the hitting with more hitting.

I don't have much more to say about this, and I acknowledge it's a strange disjointed post on my part. I guess I just wanted to say something, anything, to mark, and to reject, the unacceptable violence that Nia suffered. I hope we never ever see a case like this again.

National affront

How exactly are you supposed to react when a bunch of far-right, flag brandishing, anti-social types gather in a public place in your city? Do you confront their racist hate with equally militant anger? Do you stage a quiet but dignified protest in response? Should you simply ignore them, as you would a small child's tantrum, until they go away?

I take my hat off to my fellow Wellingtonians who showed their commitment to the anti-racism movement by protesting Saturday morning's National Front rally. It's so reassuring to see that people give a shit. I must be getting old: ten years ago I would have been right there with them, not sifting around in my PJs in the burbs. But leaving aside the fact that my advancing years are making me go a bit crusty, I've got some worries about combating the National Front with angry protest, no matter how justified the anger.

Of course, I've got no problem at all with protests per se. One important achievement of today's demonstration was showing solidarity with those Kiwis of non-European descent that the National Front sets out to intimidate. But it looks to me as though the National Front and others of their ilk thrive on conflict. It seems to reinforce their sense of being persecuted outsiders, marginalised, pushed out of 'kiwi jobs' by 'those people', their cultural heritage disrespected. My guess is that their self-importance gets a testosterone-fueled boost when the Police are called on to keep the peace at their rallies. It's easy to see how this sort of thinking can lead to the crazy, violent fantasies that the far right seem to indulge. They may be ludicrous, but they're not harmless, as the sadistic murder of tourist Jae Hyeon Kim by skinheads showed only too clearly.

It's hard to know how counter people as solidly committed to being nutty as the National Front. To me, the existence of these extreme racist views underscores the importance of standing against day-to-day racism - New Zealand First's immigration policies, Lockwood Smith's recent comments about foreign workers, the racial disparaties of wealth and wellbeing seemingly entrenched in our society, the guy behind the wine shop counter who made a dumb joke with me about his dislike of Maori culture. Maybe, if there was less tolerance for racism in everyday life, life on the lunatic fringe would be less tenable?

Election Survey: Mojo Mathers (Greens)

Mojo Mathers is standing for the Greens in Christchurch East, and is number 13 on the Green Party list. Her responses, including a link to the Green combined response to most of the questions, are to be found below, while a full index of candidate responses to date is over here.

Question 1. What do you believe is currently the single biggest issue facing New Zealand women, and how would you like to address it if you are elected?
I believe that violence in the home is a huge issue facing women in NZ. It has long reaching social and mental health consequences, for the women and men involved, for children and for wider whanau members. The "Its Not Okay" campaign has been excellent in raising awareness of just how widespread an issue it is. But frontline social groups dealing with this issue remain seriously underfunded and under resouced, so this needs to be given priority. In many homes where one or both partners are violent the children are often either witnesses or victims themselves and have none to speak to about what is happening. I would like to see a program developed around the issue of violence in the home taken to schools along with more trained counselors/ social workers ( these to be attached to schools) so that children/youth are empowered to speak out and are able to access adults outside of their whanau for support and to talk things through with.

The Greens' combined response to questions 2 to 11 can be found here.

Question 11. Do you have any further comments that you wish to make about the role of women in our society? Please feel free to share your thoughts here.
As a mother of three children , including two girls ( 15 and 12) , I find the constant over sexualisation in marketing and media of women disturbing. The pressure to be attractive, to dress to expectations , be a desirable weight and so on have a huge impact on young girls growing up and can have serious consequences for self esteem and personal development.

I would like to see "traditional" womens jobs such as aged care, home care support , nursing, child care etc to be better paid and valued.

Election Survey: Matthew Stephen (Alliance)

Matthew Stephen is standing for the Alliance as a list only candidate, and is number 18 on the Alliance party list. While his reply to our survey can be found below, you can find a full index of all candidate responses to date over here.

The Questions & Answers
Question 1. What do you believe is currently the single biggest issue facing New Zealand women, and how would you like to address it if you are elected?
One of the most significant and ingrained issues is that the overwhelming majority of unpaid work in New Zealand society is performed by women. While most men are engaged in work in exchange for a wage, many of the tasks that women perform are not paid at all, even though they contribute equally to social wellbeing. Unpaid labour amounts to around 40 percent of GDP (Stats NZ). It is important to note that this amounts to a subsidy for employers, as the workers they hire are assisted in innumerable ways by (unpaid) work performed by women.

We could work towards eliminating this inequality through things like a universal child benefit paid to women, free universal childcare, better paid parental leave, legal protections for work-life balance concerns, and most of all, getting men to do more work around the house!

Question 2. New Zealand women are paid, on average, over $300 a week less than men, and the difference is worse for Maori and Pacific Island women. What do you propose as a first step towards closing the gender pay gap?
First step: extend pay equity to the private sector. Then, we can really get stuck in.

Question 3. Do you think NZ's current approach to reproductive rights (abortion, contraception etc) is correct? (Yes or No or No Answer, please)
If not, what changes would you want to make?
Yes. But all healthcare and prescriptions (including contraception) should be state-funded so women don't have to pay.

Question 4. The police and the courts do not work in preventing violence against women. What other government actions would you take to ensure women can live without fear.
Violence against women is a social disease and law enforcement is very much the proverbial ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. We would like to see a society where everyone is in meaningful work and can live with economic security. We also support better funding to protect women from violence.

Question 5. Those who do the caring work in our society, paid and unpaid, are often the least recognized and the lowest paid, and they work the longest hours. What do you see as the priority to address these issues for those caring for our sick, our elderly and our children?
Further to the points from question one, raising the minimum wage to $17 hour, and introducing a 35 hour working week without loss of pay. Compulsory overtime rates.

Question 6. The Ministry of Health has recently launched a campaign to encourage breastfeeding and is now recommending that babies be breastfeed to at least one year old. What do you think the government could do to ensure that every woman who wants to breast feed can?
We want 12 months paid parental leave and free doctor visits, which would help. Also reinforce the right of women to breastfeed in public spaces.

Question 7. What single measure do you think our political organizations could take to better encourage young women to be involved and take on leadership positions in our communities?
We need as many people as possible to be involved in the public sphere. We should engender a society in which people are able to fully participate in political organisations regardless of gender. Of course women won't necessarily represent women's interests, e.g. Margaret Thatcher, Nancy Reagan, etc.

Question 8. Do you see domestic violence as an issue for women, for men, or for all New Zealanders? (Women, or Men, or all New Zealanders please)
If elected, what strategies would you like to pursue to eliminate domestic violence?
It's an issue that involves everyone, although women tend to be the victims. Violence is damaging to all involved. See question four.

Question 9. Successive governments have effectively cut the Domestic Purposes Benefit. Do you believe people raising children alone should have sufficient financial support from the state so that they do not need to go to work until they believe that is the best choice for their family? (Yes or No or No Answer, please)
Yes. Emphatically.

Question 10. Women do the vast majority of cooking and shopping, and increases in food prices are a burden borne disproportionately by women. What do you think our government can or should do to ensure that everyone has access to good food?
Immediately remove GST from food, as a first step to eliminating it altogether. Better wages and hours so people can afford decent food and have time to cook and enjoy it. Free school meals for children.

Question 11. Do you have any further comments that you wish to make about the role of women in our society? Please feel free to share your thoughts here.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Every time you have a good idea you can be damn sure someone else thought of it first

In June the Women's Studies Association of NZ sent out a survey to political parties questioning them on their policies in a number of areas of particular pertinence to the women of Aotearoa, especially those pesky feminist ones. They received responses from most of the Parliamentary parties and you can have a good ol' read of the questions, and the answers, from their index page.

They've asked about some really key policy areas, such as pay equity, domestic violence, the role of the Ministry of Women's Affairs, and the gender balance of candidates within each party. Certainly some interesting reading for the long weekend!

Hat tipped to the Luddite Journo.

Election Survey: Donna Wynd (Greens)

Donna Wynd is number 20 on the Green Party list, and is standing for the seat of Manukau East. As with all Greens candidates to date, her responses to questions 1 & 11 should be read alongside the Greens' combined response to the other questions, which is linked below. You can find a full index of all candidate responses to date here.

The Questions & Answers
Question 1. What do you believe is currently the single biggest issue facing New Zealand women, and how would you like to address it if you are elected?
Strange as it seems at the end of the biggest economic boom in decades, it seems to me the biggest issue facing new Zealand women is poverty. Women are about 50% more likely to earn less than $24,000 than men - in other words they risk losing money in the great tax cut feeding frenzy. The group most likely to be living below the breadline is sole parents with children, and the vast majority of these are women. If, as we expect, the country moves into recession, history suggests that the biggest losers will be low-paid women in unsecure jobs. Women on low incomes are most likely to live in substandard housing in neighbourhoods with few public services, and suffer domestic violence. And it's not just them the suffer the debilitating effects of poverty, their children do as well.

Addressing this requires that we acknowledge many women's standard of living is severely economically straitened, and make a commitment to improving it. Raising incomes is the obvious start; improving child support policies so all children are supported regardless of what their parents do; increasing funding, especially special needs funding, to low-decile schools, and making doctors visits for children free 24/7 along with all prescriptions.

Green party combined response to Qs 2 to 9.

Question 11. Do you have any further comments that you wish to make about the role of women in our society? Please feel free to share your thoughts here.
At present the socially acceptable roles for women seem to be limited to sexual object (how badly does TV advertising suck at the moment?) or automaton whose sole purpose is to contribute to the gross national product. In fact we're mothers, aunties, caregivers, fat, skinny, community volunteers and ambitious corporate types. It's time our social policies started to recognise this.

Friday Feminist - Carole Pateman

Cross posted

An old anarchist slogan states that 'no man is good enough to be another man's master'. The sentiment is admirable, but the slogan is silent on one crucial issue. In modern civil society all men are deemed good enough to be women's masters; civil freedom depends on patriarchal right. The failure to see patriarchal right as central to the political problem of freedom, mastery and subordination is so deep-seated that even the anarchists, so acutely aware of subjection among men, have had few quarrels with their fellow socialists about sexual domination. From the beginning of the modern era, when Mary Astell asked why, if all men were born free, all women were born slaves, feminists have persistently challenged masculine right; but, despite all the social changes and legal and political reforms over the past 300 years, the question of women's subordination is still not seen as a matter of major importance, either in the academic study of politics or in political practice. Controversy about freedom revolves round the law of the state and the law of capitalist production: silence is maintained on the law of male sex-right.

Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract, 1988

Gold digger

No one much likes Heather Mills, ex-wife of Paul McCartney, and I'm no exception. The woman is quite, quite nutty - and not in an endearing way.

But I have to wonder whether, behind all the criticisms and taunts that have been levelled at Mills, there's a bit of good old-fashioned misogyny, and a punitive desire to get back (no pun intended) at the woman who dissed an ex-Beatle and cultural icon.

In the eyes of the media, Mills can do no right. This Stuff article is typical fare. It begins with an unflattering photo of Mills, caught mid-speech so her face is slightly contorted. It lampoons the way in which she is spending her divorce settlement, using phrases such as 'splashing out'. The article quotes a source who calls Mills "a calculating, pathological liar and the biggest bitch on the planet", then concludes by ridiculing her somewhat eccentric charity work.

Mills may indeed be a complete dick, but there seems to be a double standard operating here. Paul McCartney also supports a range of charities - he and Mills undertook lots of charitable work together - but the media aren't mocking his philanthropy. Nor are they scrutinising his spending habits.

You might say that Mills has attracted all this opprobrium because she's managed to come into a vast sum of money through no merit of her own. It's quite true - but it's also not all that uncommon, particularly amongst celebrities. People live off their investments. Some win Lotto. Paul McCartney wrote and performed some great songs in his time, but we can safely assume that most of his income now comes from passively collecting royalties. Galling though it may to those of us who have jobs to go to, not everyone works for a living, and as a society we don't sink the boot equally into all of them.

There's been a great deal of speculation over whether Mills deserved a chunk of McCartney's £800 million estate. The answer is probably no - but I think the question is misguided. A better thing to ask is whether anyone, male or female, divorced or married, celebrity or otherwise, ought to have such an obscene sum of money at all. We could also question the vacuous culture of celebrity that has lead to the public playing-out of this undignified drama.

Mills seems to have got offside with the global public primarily by using marriage to her own advantage. For right or for wrong, the law says that marriage is a relationship of dependence (including financial dependence) between two people, and this entails sharing of property, at least upon divorce. More often, marriage is an arrangement that financially disadvantages women, as those who find themselves raising kids alone after divorce will tell you. To me, the way forward isn't to change the balance of power within marriage and divorce, so women can screw over men in equal proportions. If we don't like the idea of a woman using the institution of marriage to shaft a bloke, we need to take a look at the whole institution itself, and the rights, responsibilities and protections it confers on both parties.

I have a lot of sympathy for everyday people find themselves in the midst of divorce, trying to make life decisions, care for their kids and divide their assets in what can be a tremendously stressful situation. However, my concern for Heather Mills and Paul McCartney is nil. That's one thing they share equally post-divorce.

Election Survey: Michael Wood (Labour)

Michael Wood is a list-only candidate for Labour, ranked at number 56 on the Labour party list. In the interests of full disclosure, I will also share that he is my partner, but I didn't help him with his homework! You can find a full index of all candidate responses to date, including several others from Labour, here.

The Questions & Answers
Question 1. What do you believe is currently the single biggest issue facing New Zealand women, and how would you like to address it if you are elected?
The pressure to balance work and life commitments, particularly for women in low and middle income households.

With increased economic pressures over the past three decades, and (until recently) a long run decline in real wages many families do not have the ability to make choices between work and life - it's a case of working as much as possible, and squashing the rest in somehow

I would address these issues by continuing the work of the Labour-led government to lift wages, and improve provisions that allow for flexibility such as paid parental leave and flexible working hours.

Question 2. New Zealand women are paid, on average, over $300 a week less than men, and the difference is worse for Maori and Pacific Island women. What do you propose as a first step towards closing the gender pay gap?
There is overwhelming evidence that work undertaken predominently by women is very often paid less than work undertaken predominently by men. I am very interested by work undertaken in the public sector to examine and resolve this issue, and would like to see consideration given to extending this work to the private sector.

Ongoing increases to the minimum wage and good collective bargaining rights will also be important in closing the gap.

Question 3. Do you think NZ's current approach to reproductive rights (abortion, contraception etc) is correct? (Yes or No or No Answer, please)
If not, what changes would you want to make?
Yes, broadly.

Question 4. The police and the courts do not work in preventing violence against women. What other government actions would you take to ensure women can live without fear.
Further investment in strong social marketing campaigns such as the highly successful "It's not OK" series of advertisements, better anti-violence education in schools, and ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of protection orders.

Underlining all of this we know that poverty breeds violence, so in the long run policies that reduce poverty and income inequality will be essential in addressing violence in our society.

Question 5. Those who do the caring work in our society, paid and unpaid, are often the least recognized and the lowest paid, and they work the longest hours. What do you see as the priority to address these issues for those caring for our sick, our elderly and our children?
For those doing paid work, strong collective bargaining rights so that these often mis-treated and under-valued workers can win a fairer deal. For those doing unpaid work I do not think there is a simple answer, but in an ageing society we need to start a serious and wide-ranging discussion that considers all of the options for better recognising unpaid work in this field.

Question 6. The Ministry of Health has recently launched a campaign to encourage breastfeeding and is now recommending that babies be breastfeed to at least one year old. What do you think the government could do to ensure that every woman who wants to breast feed can?
Recent legislation supported by Labour sets out a legal right to breastfeed at work. The change that now needs to happen is cultural, so that it is seen as an OK thing to do at work or in public. Ongoing public education, working with groups such as La Leche league and Plunket would in my view be the best way of making this change over time.

Question 7. What single measure do you think our political organizations could take to better encourage young women to be involved and take on leadership positions in our communities?
Moving away from formal, bureaucratic structures that stifle participation. The best way for political organisations to attract and develop people from groups with low participation rates is to be as open and relaxed as possible.

Question 8. Do you see domestic violence as an issue for women, for men, or for all New Zealanders? (Women, or Men, or all New Zealanders please)
If elected, what strategies would you like to pursue to eliminate domestic violence?
Violence in our society is a problem for everyone, but the evidence is utterly overwhelming that the majority of victims of domestic violence are women.

As covered earlier I believe that we must promote a culture of non-violence through a variety of methods, and reduce poverty in our communities.

Question 9. Successive governments have effectively cut the Domestic Purposes Benefit. Do you believe people raising children alone should have sufficient financial support from the state so that they do not need to go to work until they believe that is the best choice for their family? (Yes or No or No Answer, please)
No Answer - too complex to be boxed into a yes or no.

Question 10. Women do the vast majority of cooking and shopping, and increases in food prices are a burden borne disproportionately by women. What do you think our government can or should do to ensure that everyone has access to good food?
Very few people would suggest that the government control food prices, and nor would I. The solution therefore must be to increase income levels, particularly for low and middle income households. Labour's record in this area is good with Working for Families, the increased minimum wage, and rising real wages making a real difference for many people. These measures need to be continued and enhanced as conditions permit.

Question 11. Do you have any further comments that you wish to make about the role of women in our society? Please feel free to share your thoughts here.
New Zealand has always been a leader in advancing the role of women in our society. This has made us in my view a far saner, more civilised country than we otherwise might be. I believe that enhanced political participation (for women or any other group) occurs when progressive economic and social policies are enacted. In a nutshell, that's why I'm Labour.