March 2024

March brings with us not only Autumn, and some suitably Autumn-ish weather but also International Women’s Day. March 8 was International Women’s Day, with the theme this year of “Invest in women: Accelerate progress”. It is a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements, and the diversity of women. We need to celebrate the value of women we know every day. Call out discrimination whenever we see or experience it. We do this not just for ourselves, but for those that aren’t strong enough to have a voice, are not in a position where their voices can be heard. And to pave a way for the young women and girls that will live in world that is hopefully a little bit better, and more gender equal.

UN Women called out five key areas that need action globally:
 Investing in women: A human rights issue
 Ending poverty
 Implementing gender-responsive financing
 Shifting to a green economy and care society
 Supporting feminist change-makers
Go the UN women’s website for more information. https://unwomen.org.nz/international-womens-
day

We will recognise International Women’s Day at our March 18 th dinner meeting. Wear purple, the
colour for International Women’s Day, to show your support for the women in your life.

Easter is coming up also. We want to organise a fantastic Easter hamper to raffle off at our April
dinner. Please bring along items for the hamper to the March dinner at SomeDay or contact one of the executive to collect it off you if you are unable to attend.

For those that missed February’s dinner – you would have missed that our lovely Rebecca Treeby
has stood down from the executive committee and secretary duties due to personal reasons. Our executive would like to extend its thanks again to Rebecca for all the hard work she has put in in keeping our club functioning so well. You will be a hard act to follow, but I would like to thank Desiree Bond for stepping up at short notice – you are a star!

We have been looking at the placemats we use at our dinners and will refresh the aims to reflect the
BPW International Aims. But before we do that, we will also ask our members to vote on whether
we continue with the 1904 collect that we currently have printed on the cards or update to the alternative collect adopted in 2020 at the Congress in Mexico City. The first collect was written in 1904 by Colorado member Mary Stewart. The 2020 version is an option that appeals to a broader group of women. You will be sent out in a separate email the two collects.

Save the date: Sunday 28 th April is the BPW NZ AGM. The AGM will be held online this year, and the face-to-face conferences will be held every second year going forward.

Reminder, if you are on Facebook and do not currently follow our page, I recommend you do so, you’ll find us easily at BPW Hāwera. We will be posting more information and content on our Facebook page to supplement our monthly newsletter, our monthly meetings, and our Web Site content.

Tip for the month: Want to know the difference between Equal Pay, Pay Equity, and Pay Parity –
here is a basic explanation:

EQUAL PAY Equal pay means women and men are paid the same for doing the same work.
PAY EQUITY Pay equity means women and men are paid the same for work that is different, but of
equal value.
PAY PARITY Pay parity means the same pay for the same work across different employers, organisations, and workplaces.

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