New Year Honours: Clarion voice for women

By CATHY ARONSON

When Jocelyn Fish is awarded the title of distinguished companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, she will receive it on behalf of all women.

The title has been bestowed on Mrs Fish for her services to women and the community.

But Mrs Fish says every step she has made towards equality for women has been made with the support of a collective of like-minded people.

These are people who believe that everyone has potential, irrespective of background or gender.

And she said a collective voice was what it took to change those policies and attitudes towards women which held the country back.

It is a collective voice Mrs Fish has represented in numerous roles, including that of president of the National Council of Women from 1986 to 1990. From 1983 to 1986 she was vice-convener and from 1986 to 1994, convener of the the International Council of Women's standing committee for the environment and habitat.

She has been active in the Federation of New Zealand University Women at local and national levels and is a past president of the Waikato branch. She was a member of the New Zealand National Commission for Unesco in 1989.

Mrs Fish said making the voice of women heard was essential to ensure decisions considered every aspect of the country to help it move forward.

It was a principle that raised eyebrows when she became the first female councillor on the Piako County Council between 1980 and 1989.

She had been a secondary school teacher until she married a dairy farmer and dedicated herself to raising three children.

She has been the chairwoman of the Hamilton District Community Law Centre Trust and a member of the Hamilton City Council Gardens Board, as well as taking on a wide range of other Government, local body and community roles.

Mrs Fish is at present chairwoman of the Anglican Social Services Trust.

She is a lifetime member of the National Council of Women, which, in recognition of the changing times, this year voted to allow individual women to join, instead of just organisations.

Mrs Fish said New Zealand had come a long way towards equality and was ahead of other countries, but there was still room for improvement.

She would like to see better pay equality and less physical abuse of women.

At 70, Mrs Fish has no grand plans, except to watch her four grandchildren grow into strong women.

"I remember when I was young and had to draw a picture of the person that had inspired me the most, I drew a picture of my grandmother as a lighthouse. I can only hope my grandchildren regard me in the same way."

Ironically, Mrs Fish's grandmother was one of the first women in the world to vote, in 1893.