Former Prime Minister Helen Clark Receives Award at International Women’s Day Breakfast

This morning former Prime Minister RT Hon Helen Clark was awarded International honorary membership of Zonta an international women’s rights and advocacy organisation.

When making the award Zonta Governor Janet Hope read a citation drawing attention to the Rt Hon Helen’s Clark’s extensive list of achievements furthering the lives of women and girls nationally and internationally firstly as Prime Minister of New Zealand and more recently in her role at the United Nations.

Ms Hope says ”I was delighted that the RT Hon Helen Clark was available to receive the award given how closely her life’s work resonates with the objectives of our organization.”

The sold- out event held at Parliament this morning was also live streamed and is available to be viewed on YouTube.

The event was hosted by Hon Julie Anne Genter, Minister for Women and included a speech by Governor General, Dame Patsy Reddy introducing the event and was followed by a Q & A session with the Rt Hon Helen Clark facilitated by Dr Gill Greer, Chief Executive of the National Council of Women.

Rt Hon Helen Clark thanked Governor Janet Hope for the award. During the interview with Dr Greer, Ms Clark talked about Zonta’s international projects, the Sustainable Development Goals and her own career in New Zealand and with the UN. When discussing gender equality and the importance of marking International Womens Day, she commented that the job isn’t done. Research from the World Economic Forum in 2017 showed negative trends in gender equality. But the interview ended on a positive note. “Every person’s contribution makes a difference. It all adds up.”

Attendees were entertained by the 25-member, women’s choir with the soundtrack, ‘I Can’t Keep Quiet’ in Te Reo while they enjoyed their breakfast.

Founded in 1919 in the USA, Zonta International has 30,000 members in 1200 Zonta Clubs in 67 countries. Members volunteer their time, talents and money to support women and girls in their local communities, run projects in many parts of the world to improve the lives of women, and advocate on women’s issues at all levels of society. There are scholarship and award programmes for furthering women’s education and also youth leadership development through Z Clubs and Golden Z Clubs.

Zonta runs International Women’s Day events in multiple locations each year. In Wellington the Breakfast at Parliament is run in conjunction with UN Women.

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