‍Tania Domett is the co-founder of social change agency Project Gender, and the founding director of research agency Cogo.

OPINION: If we truly want to step up and fast track gender equity in Aotearoa, see more women in leadership, ensure women have the same financial security as men, ensure better outcomes for tamariki and better mental wellbeing for all genders, then this is how you do it. 

Bring in dedicated parental leave for both parents and immediately start shifting social norms around who’s responsible for the kids. 

Women are still – in 2022 – more likely than men to be the primary caregiver due in part to social attitudes that women are naturally suited to caregiving, but also to the gender pay gap that tends to make it economically rational for the mother to be the parent who stays at home or works reduced hours. As a result, women incur a serious financial hit over the course of their lifetime, earning on average $880,000 less than men.

As long as caring for children continues to be seen as the responsibility of mothers more so than fathers, women will continue to be paid less than men and retire into poverty in greater numbers than men. 

Public policy has a key role to play here in the social change that’s needed.

New Zealand’s current Paid Parental Leave is a misnomer. Although transferable, it is granted to women, it is tied to women’s paid employment history, and it is women’s entitlement to transfer – or not. It is in fact Paid Maternity Leave in how it operates and in its (discriminatory) effect. With fewer than 1% of men taking up their partner’s transferred leave, it is clear that this policy has done nothing to disrupt – and is arguably reinforcing – women’s normative social role as caregivers and men’s as earners. But the gender-neutral language of parental leave has made it harder for us all to notice and take action.

As we gear up for next year’s national election, we must shine a light on the false gender neutrality of Paid Parental Leave and call for New Zealand to bring in dedicated parental leave for both parents. 

Research has been done and the case has been made (see for instance recent work from Te Ara Ahunga Ora The Retirement Commission), and other countries provide powerful exemplars of how to put this into action. The time is now.

We know that this is what New Zealand women want. During the lead-up to the last election in 2020, the Gender Justice Collective ran the YouChoose2020 Survey which heard from over 3,500 women, wāhine, trans, intersex and non-binary people about what they need from our political parties. The top-rated solution to support women “to balance their caring responsibilities with other things in their life” – ahead even of “More government funding for childcare” – was “Paid parental leave granted to both parents, i.e. each gets their own entitlement” with 73% rating it as very important and a further 20% as important. 

As feminist philosopher Susan Okin points out, gender-neutral policies would only work if we lived in a genderless society, i.e. one where gender difference carries no social significance, genders are equal in power and interdependence, and mothering and fathering a child mean the same thing, so that parenting and earning responsibilities are equally shared.

Until that happens, we need legislative change and a gender lens applied to our parental leave policies that takes account of the multiple inequalities of gender. This is by no means the entire solution, but it is key to shifting the dial and supporting and normalising men’s roles as fathers and caregivers, and improving gender equity in New Zealand.