Right Honourable Helen Clark
Public Lecture on
“Gender Equality for Inclusive Development”
Mauritius, Monday 6 November 2017.
I am delighted to be visiting Mauritius for the first time,
and I thank all those who have facilitated my visit to this
beautiful country: the Office of the Prime Minister, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Gender
Equality, Child Development, and Family Welfare.
It has been a great pleasure for me to meet with the
Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Speaker
of the National Assembly, the Minister for Gender
Equality, Child Development, and Family Welfare, and
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with business leaders, non-governmental organisations
dedicated to environmental protection, and social
enterprises.
I also greatly appreciate the support of outgoing UNDP
Resident Representative, Simon Springett, and his staff
for my visit. It has been of particular interest to me to
visit initiatives supported by the Global Environment
Facility Small Grants Programme administered by
UNDP, and to see the difference which the projects make
for local communities and the environment.
My topic today is “Gender Equality for Inclusive
Development” – this covers a range of issues which I have
worked on throughout my life, both as a parliamentarian
in New Zealand and, more recently, as Administrator of
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UNDP which works around the world to support the
empowerment of women and gender equality.
But, first – let me say a little about me and my country. I
am a former long-time New Zealand Prime Minister, and
in that capacity attended four Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meetings with Mauritius Prime Ministers.
On this visit I have been pleasantly surprised to learn that
there is considerable knowledge in a number of quarters
in Mauritius about my small country on the other side of
the world.
People here have expressed interest in our extensive
public administration reform, our strict biosecurity
measures to protect both our very important primary
industries and our unique biodiversity, and in our
environmental and conservation management.
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I find, for example, that Mauritius and New Zealand have
learned a lot from each other over the years about how to
bring rare bird species back from the brink of extinction.
I saw yesterday the Mauritius kestrel - its population
plunged to just four birds, but, thanks to dedicated
conservation partnerships, it now stands at 52 breeding
pairs. New Zealand has similar stories –for example, that
of the Chatham Island robin population which plunged to
just five birds, but now stands at around 250.
New Zealand has been a pioneer in many things. In 1867
it established parliamentary representation for
indigenous people. In 1894 it enacted the world’s first
industrial conciliation and arbitration legislation, and in
1898 the world’s first old age pension. It was one of the
first countries in the world to establish comprehensive
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social security, free hospital care, and free education to
the end of secondary schooling – this happened in the
1930s. It also passed the most far reaching nuclear-free
legislation in the world in 1987, and has been at the
forefront of advocating for nuclear disarmament for
decades.
But, most relevant to my lecture today, in 1893, New
Zealand became the first country in the world where
women won the right to vote – legislation enfranchising
women was enacted in 1893. Next year marks its 125th
anniversary.
It took quite some time, however, for women to become
established as Members of Parliament – the first woman
was elected in 1933 - forty years after the passage of the
legislation.
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When I entered Parliament in 1981, there were eight
women MPs out of a total of 92 MPs - or under nine per
cent. At that time, very few women had ever been
ministers, and having a woman Prime Minister would
have been seen as a very remote possibility. Indeed, I can
never remember it being discussed as a possibility at that
time.
A lot has changed since then. New Zealand now stands
out as the only nation state which I can identify which has
had three women Prime Ministers. The latest one,
Jacinda Ardern, took office just eleven days ago at 37
years of age.
For the second time in our history, three of the top four
constitutional positions within New Zealand are held by 6
women, as the Governor-General and the Chief Justice
are also female. For close to a year in 2005/6, all four of
the positions were held by women with the election of a
new Speaker of Parliament before the retirement of the
serving woman Governor-General. As well, in those
times, the Cabinet Secretary was a woman, along with the
head of the country’s largest company, and professional
associations like those for medicine and law were headed
by women.
In the New Zealand parliamentary elections on 23
September this year, the proportion of women elected rose
from the 34.2 per cent of the previous election to 38.3 per
cent.
Does this mean that all is well for women in New Zealand?
Not exactly. The law does not discriminate against
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women, but the proportion of women in Cabinet and
Parliament stays below parity, there is a gender pay gap
in median hourly earnings of around twelve per cent, and
gender-based violence persists. Overall, however, the
Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum
ranks New Zealand in ninth best place, and it stood at
thirteen on the Gender Development Index in the UNDP
Human Development Report on 2015 data.
What this demonstrates is that New Zealand, like all
countries has work to do on gender equality. Despite
significant progress and good law and social provision,
inequality persists.
Why does this matter? Quite simply because as Hillary
Clinton once famously said: gender equality “is not only
the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.”
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Gender equality is a right enshrined in the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, and it is advanced through
what countries do to implement the United Nations
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women.
But it also stands to reason that if the full contribution of
women to economies and societies isn’t realised, countries
won’t realise their full potential.
Last year UNDP published a Human Development Report
for Africa titled “Gender Equality and Advancing
Women’s Empowerment in Africa”. It revealed that, on
average, a shocking $95 billion every year is lost to Sub-
Saharan African GDP as a result of gender inequality.
The loss peaked at $105 billion at 2014 – equivalent to 9
around six per cent of the region’s GDP. It is simply a “no
brainer” for countries to address gaps of this size.
So, you may ask: are the gaps reducing as we near the end
of the second decade of the 21st century?
Sadly, they are not.
In the past week, the World Economic Forum has
released its 2017 Global Gender Gap Report. It shows a
widening gap on all four dimensions measured:
educational attainment, health and longevity, and
economic and political empowerment.
On current trends, it would take 100 years to close the
overall gender gap, 217 years to achieve economic parity,
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and 99 years to achieve equal numbers of women and men
elected to parliaments.
The global economic gains from reducing gender
inequality are considerable – projected at $5.3 trillion by
2025 even if there were only a 25 per cent reduction.
So how is Mauritius doing?
I’ve mentioned the global state of affairs at length so that
the state of gender equality here can be put in its context.
Mauritius has work to do –as does every country. The
upside is that all countries can share experiences about
what works for them. The experiences of others can then
be considered for adaptation to a national context.
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On women elected to the national legislature, Mauritius
stands well below the current global average of 23.6 per
cent. The proportion here is twelve per cent currently.
This matters – a critical mass of women in parliaments is
necessary for the perspectives of women to be well
reflected in legislation – and even just to get issues on the
national agenda as high priorities. International evidence
suggests that when the numbers of women
parliamentarians reach significant numbers, issues
previously unaddressed will come to the fore.
On the participation of women in the economy.
Here too, Mauritius has some significant issues to
address. The proportion of women of working age in the
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work force is 46 per cent – as against 74 per cent of men. I
am told that the unemployment rate for women is around
eleven per cent, and that the pay gap with men could be
as high as fifty per cent. Overall this means that not only
are women poorer than men, but that Mauritius itself has
less income than it would have if women were in the
workforce in the same numbers and with the same
earnings as men.
So, what to do?
Mauritius has put in place important mechanisms and
frameworks to advance gender equality. It has the
Gender Unit in its Ministry for Gender Equality, Child
Development, and Family Welfare, and it has a National
Gender Policy Framework. There is also a detailed and
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measurable National Action Plan for 2017-2020 to end
Intimate Partner Violence.
I was delighted to learn that a Parliamentary Gender
Caucus has been established with the Speaker in the
chair. The objective will be to sensitise MPs to gender
issues in their important roles as legislators, advocates,
and monitors of government policy and spending.
The most recent report I saw from the UN Committee on
the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
identified a number of areas where Mauritius could
usefully change its laws, policy, and practice. I am sure
that the Government of Mauritius like all governments
will have studied these carefully and been taking the
Committee’s recommendations forward.
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Let me share from my own experience and knowledge
some thoughts on what might be useful in the areas of
increasing the numbers of women legislators and the
participation rate in the economy.
On political participation:
Five years ago, UNDP released an excellent Guidebook to
Promote Women’s Political Participation. It was based on
case studies of what had worked around the world to
boost the numbers of women elected. It took a “whole of
electoral cycle approach”, looking at what could be done
to boost the numbers of women selected and then elected,
and then looking at support for women when elected,
especially when the entry of women into such positions
had been relatively rare.
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There is little doubt that the nature of the electoral
system can have an impact on the numbers of women
elected. The First Past the Post, single member
constituency system of, for example, the United States, the
United Kingdom, and – until 1996 – New Zealand seems
to be the least conducive to electing women. This may
relate to the traditional occupants of constituencies being
male with their spouses playing a support role.
New Zealand changed its voting system in 1996 to a
Mixed Member Proportional Representation System
modelled on that of Germany. Now only half the
parliamentarians are elected from constituencies; the
other half come from party lists. In general, the parties
have made efforts to ensure that their lists are more
representative of women – after all, they do want women
to vote for them…. In the first MMP election in 1996, the
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proportion of women elected jumped from the twenty per
cent of 1993 to thirty per cent. That was a fifty per cent
increase in just one parliamentary term.
The UNDP Guidebook highlights the critical importance
of political parties with respect to women’s representation
– without their support, the numbers simply will not rise,
as most people are elected to most parliaments with the
backing of a political party. So, the parties need to be
convinced that boosting the numbers of elected women is
the right thing to do. That becomes easier with party list
systems, where women can be placed in electable
positions. Some parties rank their lists by alternating the
names of women and men on each list.
In other systems where women’s representation has been
slow to grow, legislation for quotas has been enacted.
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There are many examples of this approach in Sub-
Saharan Africa - and it does work. Rwanda is the
standout example, with 64 per cent of those elected to its
House of Representatives in 2013 being women.
Women standing for election need ongoing support from
their parties. In general, old girls’ networks do not have
the same financial resources as old boys’ networks, so
funding for women candidates is an issue. As well, in
some countries, women are exposed to greater danger
when campaigning, and need support for their physical
security.
Post-election, cross-party groupings of women
parliamentarians can ensure that women support each
other. These become especially important where elected
women MPs are either few in number, and/or where
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there are many new women MPs who are looking for
support to do their job to the best of their ability. UNDP
supports a number of such women’s parliamentary
caucuses.
On increasing the participation of women in the economy:
I referred earlier to the potential to expand the size of
economies by advancing gender equality in the world of
work. In my time as New Zealand Prime Minister, we
identified that one significant factor behind our country
having lower GDP per capita was the lower participation
rate of women. Prime Minister Abe in Japan has in recent
years been tackling a similar issue – Japan’s economy has
struggled to grow, and increasing the participation of
women in it has become an important government
priority.
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For Mauritius, it is a national aspiration to move out of
middle income status to high income status. Many factors
will play a part in that, including strengthening
institutions and embracing a culture of growth through
innovation. Mauritius has shown a remarkable capacity
to reinvent itself in the face of economic shocks, and
therefore can plan for and take the steps towards
breaking out of the middle-income trap if it so
determines.
Gender equality in the workforce will be conducive to
that, so, the question is, what policies to follow to make it
possible.
My own government took a number of practical steps to
make paid work a real option for women, and in recent 20
years I have observed Japan putting a number of similar
measures in place. The model for my government was
Scandinavia, with its excellent early childhood education
and care services, paid parental leave for parents, and
extended annual holidays enabling parents to have more
time with their children during school vacations.
Accordingly, in New Zealand we:
- made early childhood education available free of
charge for twenty hours a week for all three and
four-year odds;
- introduced paid parental leave as a right in law for
the first time; and
- extended annual holidays an extra week to a
statutory entitlement to four weeks.
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Globally, three of every four hours of unpaid work are
done by women. These pressures will increase as our
populations age, as it is women who do most of the unpaid
elder care work, as they do for children and for family
members who are ill or have disabilities.
So, for women to be able to be in and stay in the paid
workforce, our social services need to be operating well to
lift the unpaid care work burden which is such an
obstacle to participation for many women.
As well, there may be cultural barriers to women going
outside the home to work. These may take time to
overcome, but overcome they can be - and have been in
many societies. Governments can also play a role in
tackling the harassment and social norms which continue
to exclude women from paid work.
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Addressing the gender pay gap should also be a priority –
and in Mauritius the gap is a large one. On average
globally, women earn 24 per cent less than men do.
Women tend to be disproportionately employed at lower
levels of the workforce. Much can be done to ensure equal
consideration for women to be employed at all levels of
responsibility, not least through hiring and promotion
policies.
Currently the world of work is subject to major disruption
– as globalisation deepens, as the pace of technological
change speeds up, and as the need to tackle climate
change and prioritise the environmental sustainability of
our economies and societies forces change in industry
sectors, transport, and energy generation.
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The transition from old economies to the new will require
continual adaptation and innovation. Governments will
need to prioritise:
- Upskilling and access to lifelong education;
- Supporting the development of more
entrepreneurial skills, as more people are likely to
have to create their own jobs;
- facilitating the movement of people from declining
sectors to growth sectors.
In planning for the world of work of the future, it’s
important to plan with a gender lens - to ensure that the
disadvantage women already suffer in the world of work
is not expanded by the way we respond to today’s
challenges.
In conclusion:
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Gender equality is not just an idea whose time has come.
It is long overdue in coming, and women, families, and
whole countries are not maximizing their potential
because of that.
Achieving inclusive development requires gender equality
to be a top priority.
It means removing the persistent and pervasive barriers
to the full participation of women in all spheres of
national life.
These barriers may lie in law, policy, practice, custom,
and culture, and in a failure to provide the range of
services which help lift the burden of unpaid care work
from women.
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Let us also acknowledge the heavy toll on women and
their health, physical safety, and self-esteem of domestic
violence – that scourge must be tackled decisively.
All these issues are identified in the new global agenda –
the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
There is a standalone goal on gender equality and
empowering all women and girls – SDG Five. Gender
equality is also mainstreamed through the other sixteen
goals.
The new global agenda is universal – and all countries are
expected to work to achieve it That gives extra impetus to
the efforts here in Mauritius, in New Zealand, and in all
other countries to advance gender equality.
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