Women’s Affair Scrap

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, November 19th, 2010 - 11 comments
Categories: accountability, feminism - Tags: ,

Minister for Minorities (Womens, Pacific, Ethnic and Assoc Maori Affairs – when she’s not busy with Courts or Disarmament) Georgina te Heuheu was caught out badly in parliament yesterday when reminded that she had previously called for her new portfolio of Women’s Affairs to be scrapped.

She apparently couldn’t remember making the incredibly harsh call, and National obviously value women so highly that no-one in the party had remembered before putting her in charge.

When te Heuheu eventually found her feet she said: “it may have been a relic back then in 2003 when (Labour) was in government, but it’s certainly not a relic now – it’s an action-packed ministry.”  But the reason it’s an action-packed ministry is that Labour strengthened it – their proposal to do so in 2003 was exactly what te Heuheu was moaning about at the time.

Now National have been doing their best to wind it back down again, having had the incredibly ineffectual Pansy Wong in charge of it, as women’s rights and pay went down the gurgler.

Just like they’re winding ACC down so that it won’t be missed as much when they privatise it.  And in general they want to shrink government to a size where they can drown it in a bath-tub.

Indeed also today, and in te Heuheu’s remit – they’re winding down Ethnic Affairs.

National, the party of privilege, are practising their own version of Darwinism.  The privileged with their inheritance survive, and the poor, women, and other disadvantaged groups can “go t0 hell”.

11 comments on “Women’s Affair Scrap ”

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  1. Carol 1
    19 November 2010 at 11:09 am

    Thanks for this, Bunji. I also notice that the ACT women MPs are particularly strong on cutting back on the Women’sAffairs Ministry. It seems to rankle with their fantasy of individualism, and their anti-“collectivist” principles.

    But, given that the ACT male MPs have a record of sexual/gender harrassment and bullying, the ACT women seem to me to be colluding with, and/or accepting of the way they are demeaned and kept in a secondary positon in the party. This all exposes the neoliberal fantasy of a society of equally “free” & sovereign individuals, with equal amounts of, or access to power.

  2. Jim Nald 2
    19 November 2010 at 11:27 am

    Voters:
    Remember this well
    And at next year’s ballot box
    Make te Heuheu’s donkey govt a relic

  3. Jeremy Harris 3
    19 November 2010 at 3:21 pm

    Why isn’t there a Ministry of Men’s Affairs..?

    Or a Ministry of Pakeha Affairs..?

    • Colonial Viper 3.1
      19 November 2010 at 3:27 pm

      Probably because historically (and not even that long ago) most Government Ministeries were *also* Ministeries of Pakeha Men’s Affairs.

    • Jum 3.2
      19 November 2010 at 3:38 pm

      The ministry of men’s affairs is the government.

    • Maynard J 3.3
      19 November 2010 at 11:15 pm

      Would you like to present a case for needing one?

      We *could* have a ministry for Donkeys, Asses and Goats, but there isn’t really the case for them needing their own ministry. So for me to ask for one would be a bit silly, no?

      Unless I made a case for it…so: fire away

  4. Jum 4
    19 November 2010 at 3:33 pm

    Te Heu Heu, now known as Te Hee Haw, ridden by donkey, and once a respected MP (well I once had some respect for her) once again gets a portfolio that Key deliberately uses to ridicule her and all women’s status and position. (Remember English, Key, Pacifica payback funding to some unknown business mates as noted in the budget). They made her look a fool then because in that case it was a payoff she had no input into but took the media crxp, deserted by Key and English; in this case it is a fist in the face for all the women (who constitute half the population) who voted in these bozos.

    It is becoming clear in this decade that with the new focus by the conservative right to force women out of politics, out of jobs/income and out of equal rights that a new point of difference is forming between the main parties of Labour and National – the place of women and girls in New Zealand society.

    If NAct get in again they will remove these females deliberately placed and made to look like idiots with males. They will still be idiots but they’ll be male idiots which in this misogynistic country will be popular with the idiot classes. They will keep Collins as the token policeman.

    Women often don’t have the time or energy to put into thinking about politics because with the current strains on their income and their families they have chosen to look after others first and fight for their own rights last. The NActs are counting on that. They will be counting on the premise that women are more interested in the good of society than in themselves. I suggest women think twice. If they allow this government back in New Zealand will be destroyed. Greed by the few and control over all women’s rights are a global plan, which is gaining momentum.

    This is not the time for women to put politics aside. The people they care about will suffer if this government ‘wins’ the 2011 election; we already know the lies and money they will trot out to get the votes. Their tactics mirror their integrity – Pondscum Inc.

    • Carol 4.1
      19 November 2010 at 4:12 pm

      Agree, JUM. And another thing that is happening, that Bunji has posted about before:

      http://thestandard.org.nz/national-no-friend-to-women/

      is that the pay gap for women has increased. Furthermore, when the proportion of men in employment went up recently, the proportion of employed women decreased. This is probably because of the cuts to the public sector, where a large number of women work. NAct denies that these public services contribute to the inter-related economic and social well-being of the country. their denial is evident in the way they relegate the public sector to the “untradeable” sector, and by not acknowledging the many of the benefits they provide, by using the very narrow and selctive measure of “growth” that is GDP.

      As a consequence of the public sector cuts, more of the work these workers previously did in supporting communities and families, will be done by unpaid workers, voluntary groups, NGOs, and people in families who have the time for caring duties, often because they don’t have paid work. There will be a high proportion of women involved in this unpaid work, along with unemployed men (more likely to be Maori or Pacific men), plus a small proportion of men who realise the imporatnce of helping with this work on top of their paid jobs.

      And as has been pointed out by some MPs on the left, submissions to the recent employment law amendment committee, argued that women will be more likely to suffer significantly under the 90 day rule, as they will be more likely to have periods of unemployment when having babies and caring for them.

      Definitely the NAct Government does look like the Ministry of Men’s affairs.

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