He mana tō te wāhine / Honour the contribution of our wāhine on International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day on 8 March is a chance to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of all wāhine within our organisation, and everyone who supports them to succeed. 

The theme for this year is #EmbraceEquity and we are encouraging everyone to get involved. We would like you to take photos of how you interpret embracing equity and post them on your social media channels. Have a look at the IWD website(external link) for inspiration. 

We are also celebrating some of the many amazing wāhine in Fire and Emergency with these profiles. We encourage you to display the profiles yourselves by downloading the PDFs. You can also view the profiles on our website(external link). Here you can read how they talk about the challenges, rewards, and enriching experiences of their careers and how they not only give of themselves to their work but also to many others through networks, mentoring, and community engagement

We know from research that diverse groups are more productive and capable of reaching more creative solutions to complex problems. Employing people from different backgrounds, with different life experiences, learning styles, cultures and gender enriches our work environment. Diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams are higher performing teams.

We can all challenge gender stereotypes, call out discrimination, draw attention to bias, and seek out inclusion. 

Collective activism is what drives change. From grassroots action to wide-scale momentum, we can all embrace equity. 

Forging gender equity isn't limited to women solely fighting the good fight. Allies are incredibly important for the social, economic, cultural, and political advancement of women.

Everyone everywhere can play a part. Collectively, we can all forge positive change.

                                                                           IWD website

Women in Fire and Emergency NZ network

Finally, a quick reminder that to better support our women, we have set up Women in Fire and Emergency NZ (WFENZ) networks all throughout our regions. This network promotes and facilitates the participation and success of women within our organisation. If anyone is interested in joining the network or finding out more, head to the Portal or email women@fireandemergency.nz. 

Thank you to all the women within Fire and Emergency, and to those who support them to succeed within our organisation.