48064 (2024). Lan Pham to the Minister for Women

48064 (2024). Lan Pham to the Minister for Women: What polices, and initiatives have been updated since the 9th report on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (2023)' (CEDAW) was published, and how, if at all, has this been implemented?

Hon Nicola Grigg: The ninth CEDAW report responds to a list of questions received from the CEDAW Committee in 2022. The issues cover a broad range of areas, including health and wellbeing of women and girls, sexual harassment in the workplace, gender-responsive budgeting, criminalising gender-based violence, and Women, Peace and Security. Since the ninth CEDAW report was published, some policies and initiatives have been updated to reflect the Government’s priorities and wider work programme. For instance, the Ministry for Women is working to develop a business-led voluntary pay gap reporting system. While the overarching goal of reducing gender pay gaps and promoting women’s economic empowerment remains the same, this approach is different to the pay transparency system noted in the report. New Zealand will be examined on its ninth CEDAW report on 10 October and my attention is currently on ensuring New Zealand is well represented at this examination and can speak to New Zealand’s progress against each CEDAW Article. After the examination, the Committee will publish its Concluding Observations which will highlight a number of recommendations to support New Zealand’s full implementation of CEDAW over the next five years.