Logie Jan: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Logie Jan: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 19 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5387. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JAN LOGIE (Green) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. I join my colleagues in rising to speak to Women’s Suffrage Day and the status of women in our country at the moment 119 years on from achieving universal suffrage in this country. Just a quick note: I am surprised that none of the men have spoken in this debate on the benefits of having our voices in Parliament. 
Grant Robertson 
: I wanted to. 
JAN LOGIE 
: Thank you Grant. I join my Labour colleagues very strangely in wondering what Kate Sheppard and Meri Mangakahia would be thinking of our democracy and our society today. I do not need to have a séance to know that they would be expecting more from this country and more from this Government because I expect more and I do not think even I am as radical as they were back in their day. They were some pretty fierce women. They were obviously fans of democracy and women’s involvement in decision making. To quote Kate Sheppard one of her goals was that “All that separates whether of race class creed or sex is inhuman and must be overcome.” In particular she was concerned about establishing legal and economic independence of women from men. She was not wholly occupied with advancing women’s rights however but also found time to promote political reforms such as proportional representation and the wider movement for democracy. 
Meri requested not only that Maori women be given the vote back at that time but that they be eligible to sit in the Maori Parliament thus going a step further even than her Pakeha contemporaries of the European suffrage movement. Although I do not believe that it is my place to comment on the processes of tino rangatiratanga I would like to point out that whom the Crown chooses to consult with and how it consults makes a difference. I really doubt that Meri Mangakahia would approve of the proposed process of consultation around asset sales. This is not consultation; it is tokenism. That is not too dissimilar from the reality of the time when she was speaking out when women could speak but they could not be heard. I also think she would be pretty angry that over 120 years after she spoke out to affirm Maori women’s leadership Maori women’s leadership has been eroded by systematic issues such as violence and gendered poverty. 
To speak more to Kate’s issues I note again with my colleague Lianne Dalziel that Kate was a proud Cantabrian and a fighter for wider democracy. So today to see that loss of democracy in her place of birth and her site of struggle is a particularly sad thing and not a reason for celebration. As we see the closure of schools and mergers that threaten to take away the heart of so many communities we know what she would be saying. When we see the powers of the city council being taken over by the unelected Government body of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority with no plan in sight for how this power will be returned we know she would not be happy. We may not all have always agreed with the council in Christchurch but to rebuild Christchurch without democracy threatens to rebuild structures but not communities and Kate would not approve. 
Today I went to the Women’s Suffrage Day breakfast and heard the Minister of Women’s Affairs speaking about the status of women. She noted that New Zealand continues to be well regarded internationally for our gender equality. Well that may be true except for you know the 50-plus points that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women suggested that our State needed to work on. The Minister did acknowledge that we still need to work towards greater economic independence improved safety from violence and increased representation in all levels and types of leadership for our women but thinks the Government has committed to doing its part.