Independent journalist Penny Marie has released a new investigation warning that UN-aligned “gender equality” frameworks adopted across New Zealand are quietly redefining what it means to be a woman, with far-reaching consequences for policy, data, and everyday life.
In a detailed article on her Substack, pennymarie.nz, Penny examines the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5), the NZ WEPs Survey Report 2024–2025, and the New Zealand Law Society’s Gender Equality Charter. She argues that these documents increasingly define “women” to include “those who identify as women”, blurring the line between sex and self-declared gender.
“Once ‘women’ becomes ‘those who identify as women’, every quota, pay gap statistic and leadership target supposedly for women can include men. The public sees ‘progress for women’ on paper, without any guarantee that female people are the ones actually benefiting.”
Penny also challenges the narrow model of “equality” embedded in these frameworks, which focuses heavily on women matching men in senior corporate and professional roles, while sidelining the realities of motherhood, caregiving and community life.
“Not all women want to live a male-pattern career. Many mothers want balance — time for family, community, and paid work. Yet the official ‘gender equality’ narrative treats women’s success as matching men in top jobs, while quietly devaluing the work of raising children and nurturing communities.”
Her Substack piece argues that this shift from sex-based to gender-identity-based policy is not occurring in isolation. It sits alongside:
- The Law Commission’s Ia Tangata report, which recommends adding “gender identity or its cultural equivalents” and “innate variations of sex characteristics” as new protected grounds of discrimination in the Human Rights Act, with direct implications for single-sex services, sport, data and women’s spaces. On February 24, the Government acknowledged the findings of this report, noted that there is no explicit protection in the Human Rights Act for the TQI portion of LGBTQI, and concluded that progressing the Commission’s recommendations is “not a priority at this time”. A decision has effectively been deferred temporarily.
- New Zealand’s recent stance at the UN General Assembly on disability rights, where officials backed the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) language in a resolution under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities — a move Penny has analysed in a separate Substack article. Although that SOGI wording was ultimately voted down, New Zealand’s vote in favour signalled an intent to embed gender-identity concepts into another rights framework, this time relating to disabled people.
Penny links these developments to the broader spread of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies, warning that identity-based targets risk displacing merit and undermining trust in key institutions.
“When board seats and senior roles are used to satisfy identity metrics, rather than to appoint the best people for the job, everybody loses. It’s bad for institutions, bad for the economy, and deeply unfair to women and men who just want honest, competent leadership.”
She is calling on both women and men in New Zealand to engage with these issues.
- For women: ask employers, professional bodies and unions how they define “woman” and “gender” in policy and reporting; insist on sex-based data alongside any gender metrics; and defend genuinely female-only spaces and opportunities.
- For men: support the women in your life who want biological reality acknowledged, speak up respectfully when language is used to obscure basic truths, and refuse token roles offered for optics rather than merit.
“New Zealand can treat every person with dignity without redefining women out of existence or treating motherhood and community work as second-class. That starts with honesty about what these UN-aligned frameworks are really doing — and who they truly serve.”
The full analysis, including references to the NZ WEPs Survey Report, the Gender Equality Charter, and New Zealand’s UN disability/SOGI voting record, is available here.
There’s only 2 genders Male and Female period
Male period?
Anyone in this country that takes seriously anything the globalist u.n. has to say must be consider corrupt or stupid or of course both.
To the NZ Government
Can you fly? No.
Why?
Because of gravity. This is an objective reality.
Objective reality is the cornerstone of the stability of civilizations. It is the basis of the Westminster system of laws that all laws should be objective. Subjective laws such as hate speech laws breach this fundamental principle.
If you legislate subjective laws this brings chaos.
Is it wrong to lie?
Of course.
It is a biological fact that if one has XY chromosomes they have XY chromosomes in every cell of their body. Having the freedom to state this biological fact is the freedom to state objective reality.
To be forced to use pronouns is to force people to ignore basic biological facts and lie. It is a form of torture. It is to force people to participate the subjective reality of others. Many have sympathy and tolerance for those suffering from mental health issues. However, the line is crossed when one person is allowed to force another to lie and participate in their subjective reality. It is the antithesis of “inclusive and equality.”
“In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
George Orwell
Would you give a sufferer of anorexia liposuction?
Of course not. Engaging in their mental health issues would result in their death. It is not “hateful” to want to tell the objective scientific truth. Those with gender dysphoria can live their subjective truth without bullying everyone else to join in, backed by the state.
To label those who support objective truth as “hateful” is to use ad hominem to obfuscate the issue of objective reality.
Forcing people to lie is right out of 1984 the novel by George Orwell.
Please see report by Dr. Hillary Cass
https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/
If you can force people to lie on the threat of punishment by the state then total subjugation is realised. This is the theme of 1984.
https://www.enotes.com/topics/1984/questions/the-significance-of-2-2-5-in-1984-by-george-orwell-3128785
If you can force people to say 2 and 2 is 5 then you have omnipotent power over them and a totalitarian dystopia is achieved. It facilitates the ultimate misogyny against women, erasing their rights.
The freedom of speech principles that have existed in the Western world allow open, civilized debate to find objective truth. Once legitimate questions are described as, “hate” freedom is lost the truth is silenced and accountability is extinguished. To maintain a vibrant creative society, it is essential to have free speech and open debate and a large degree of skepticism. This is required to be able to determine which ideas will be found to be wrong in the future. History teaches us that most of our ideas will be modified in some way. Censorship and propaganda extinguish open debate and prevents the search for objective truth. The use of censorship and forced speech laws to silence legitimate debate throughout history has always had the same result- totalitarianism.
Forcing people to lie is a breach of Section 14 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights. In a free society it can never ever be acceptable to justify limiting this right pursuant to section 5. It is not a free society if one cannot tell the objective truth. There can be no public interest reason to subjugate citizens utterly so they are forced to lie.
Well, if people with a claimed tiny percentage of Maori ancestry can identify as full blown 100% Maori then transvestites can identify as 100% full blown women. It’s only fair, especially if they get silicone tits and their dicks cut off.
Manipulating people to utter falsehoods is characteristic of totalitarian regimes. ‘Te Tiriti affirmed a partnership of Maori with the Crown’ is a current example. 8–7 decades ago characteristic Narzee slogans featured ‘The Slavs are sub-human’ and of course the definitive ‘The Jews have been causing almost all the trouble in Germany lately’.
Orwell’s ‘Politics and the English Language’ is more cogent than ever.
I failed to emphasise that the slogans have to be flagrnatly false – not arguably true but blatant lies.
R