Can New Zealand's most diverse ever cabinet improve representation of women and minorities in general?
Jacinda Ardern with new foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta, seen here in July before this year’s election.
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Two weeks after Labour’s landslide election win, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a ministry that is more diverse
than any seen before in New Zealand.
Of those inside cabinet, 40% are women, 25% are Māori (two in five of those are women), 15% are Pasifika (two in three
are women), and 15% are LGBTQI — one of whom is Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson.
Beyond the 20 cabinet ministers, there are four ministers outside cabinet and two undersecretaries. Of these six, three
are women, two are Māori, one is Pasifika and one is Indian. Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw are
also associate ministers outside cabinet. The diversity of Ardern’s new government runs deep.
There remain important voices missing from cabinet, however. As Jonny Wilkinson of disability support network Tiaho Trust noted, disabled people are the largest minority group in New Zealand but they lack representation in parliament and
cabinet.
Race and gender diverse: new foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta, flanked by other senior Māori ministers.
Greater diversity over time
In 2017 Ardern set herself a target of a gender balanced cabinet. She missed achieving this in 2020 despite demands for, and achievement of, increased gender parity in government executive branches globally in recent years.
As the proportion of women in parliament increases, it is argued, so too does the pool of eligible candidates from which
the prime minister can select women ministers.
Some leaders have ignored this, including former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, who claimed there were insufficient women parliamentarians with the experience needed for cabinet. That position has
become increasingly untenable over time.
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While large scale comparative studies suggest women leaders are no more likely than their male counterparts to select
women ministers, in New Zealand we know that it was Labour’s Helen Clark who substantially increased the proportion of
women promoted to cabinet (from 11% in 1996 to 35% in 1999).
National Party Prime Minister John Key followed her example, ensuring his cabinets comprised at least 30% women. Ardern
has moved the bar higher by selecting 40% women.
New to cabinet: Kiri Allan will be minister of conservation, minister of emergency management, associate minister for
arts, culture and heritage, and associate minister for the environment.
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The gender quota debate
That we have yet to reach gender parity may raise questions in New Zealand and elsewhere. However, our major parties
have long resisted implementing strict gender quotas, meaning incremental progress is the norm. That said, our global
gender ranking has gone from 50th equal to 26th equal.
This contrasts with Canada’s Justin Trudeau, who in 2015 made history when he selected his first gender parity cabinet. There had been criticism of the policy by pundits who argued diversity and merit could not co-exist, but
Trudeau’s response was pithy: “Because it’s 2015.”
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Five years on, Ardern may have anticipated similar resistance. Asked about the basis of her cabinet selection, she said
it was based on “merit, talent and diversity”. Gender balance was the byproduct, in other words.
We also know that not all ministries are created equal. Globally it is finance, foreign affairs, defence and other
highly resourced portfolios that are most prized. These usually make up the leader’s inner circle (remember former
Labour Prime Minister David Lange’s all male “fish and chip brigade”).
However, the Interparliamentary Union’s annual maps of women in world politics reveal these ministries continue to be allocated more often to men than women.
Women inside the inner circle
This is not the case in Labour’s new cabinet. Ardern’s inner circle (or top five if the photos are anything to go by)
includes two women. The top ten positions in cabinet are shared equally between the sexes, with the portfolios
alternating between women and men in order of seniority.
New Zealand’s first female foreign affairs minister is Nanaia Mahuta, former associate minister of trade and a senior
member of Labour’s Māori caucus. Fourth ranked Megan Woods, who holds a number of big-budget portfolios, has been made
associate minister of finance.
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There are four new women ministers (one of whom has come straight into cabinet from outside parliament), who have
portfolios of their own but who are also associate ministers working with other senior ministers. This is an important
strategy — if those senior ministers take their roles seriously, it will ensure these more junior women are likelier to
succeed.
The new Labour health team: from left, Andrew Little, Aupito William Sio, Chris Hipkins, Ayesha Verrall and Peeni
Henare.
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The challenge of wider diversity
One question that remains for women’s organisations, however, is whether this new-look ministry will enhance the substantive
representation of women and other minorities.
Women workers (as well as the young, Māori and Pasifika) have borne the brunt of job losses during the COVID-19
pandemic, meaning we need gender and diversity analyses applied to all future economic recovery commitments.
Similarly, our family and sexual violence rates remain high, although the cross-portfolio policy responses continue to be led by talented ministers from both
Labour and the Greens.
Whether this will be a feminist-focused cabinet remains to be seen. But the diversity of expertise, perspectives and
lived experiences among the women around the cabinet table offers an opportunity to bring more diversity into policy
deliberations and decisions. As it should — after all, it’s 2020.
Jennifer Curtin, Professor of Politics and Policy
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.