WUNRN
New Zealand - Decrease in Women Members of Parliament
National’s victory this election has led to a decrease
in the number of women MPs – despite the addition of Carmel Sepuloni to the
Labour ranks, according to Rae Julian, National President of UN Women NZ. Now
women are only 33% of the total where previously they were 34%. We have slipped
from being 8= in the world to being 10= with
On a party basis, the Greens head the list with women
as 50% of their MPs. Labour follows with 38%, then NZ First with 37%, the Maori
Party with 33% and the National Party with 25%. The latter have the most MPs,
so they lower the percentage of women.
The three other parties represented, ACT, United Future and Mana, have a
lone male each.
National won the majority of electorate seats – 41.
Only ten of these, 24%, are represented by women. Labour also had a lower
percentage, 35%, of its women MPs successful in electorate seats.
The main benchmark is to reach 50% of women MPs. Only
Rae Julian
National President
UN Women National Committee for Aotearoa New