More women needed on Royal Honours lists

Kate Sheppard - the first president of National Council of Woman in New Zealand. File

The gender balance in the Royal Honours lists is "unacceptable" and Tauranga people should help rectify this by nominating more deserving women, a women's rights spokeswoman says.

To mark Suffrage Day tomorrow, National Council of Women Tauranga branch President Trish Hanlen is calling on the Tauranga district to act to achieve gender balance in the Royal Honours lists by nominating local women who make a difference.

Trish Hanlen. File

Dr Hanlen said women contributed a significant amount of skill and time to making Tauranga and wider community a better place. However, the Royal Honours awards did not adequately recognise this.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, in response to an Official Information Act request from the council, said 37 per cent of nominees for the 2015 New Year's Honours Awards were women and the number of awards given was proportionate to this.

The response showed since 2009, between a quarter and a third of all New Year and Queen's Birthday Honour nominations had been for women, and that in 10 of the 13 honours lists, the percentage of honours awarded to women matched or surpassed the percentage of those nominated.

"This gender imbalance is unacceptable," Dr Hanlen said.

"It is time for New Zealanders to better celebrate women, as well as men, who make a difference. Women make up half our population and certainly contribute more than 37 per cent.

"This lack of recognition for women is just another sign of the gender inequality that persists in our country. 122 years on from women winning the right to vote, we are still fighting for women's paid and unpaid contributions to society to be equally recognised and valued."

Anyone can nominate a person they believe is deserving of an Honour. To do so, download a nomination form from http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/honours/nominations/faq.