Editorial: Genter on gender: maybe a little gentler?

Friday, 23 March 2018

EDITORIAL: Maybe it's because she's young. Maybe it's because the red mist remains in eyes still glazed over by a fresh access to power. Maybe it's plain ignorance of the gender imbalance in her own parliamentary team.

But Women's Minister Julie Anne Genter imploring old white men to move on to help close the gender pay gap was insensitive, ignorant and certainly not becoming of an elected official holding high office.

There's an argument that it also undermines the effort to address the issue of gender equality in boards and elsewhere, both in terms of pay and putting more women in those higher roles.

Genter delivered her blunt, ageist, misandrous message to students at Christchurch's Cobham Intermediate.

* Gender pay gap 'a reality' for many in New Zealand

* Gender pay gap has dropped to its lowest since 2012**

Presumably in the audience were a number of young men, some maybe even white, who would have been able to do the sums and realise that, in barely 50 years, they would be part of a large group now deemed unwelcome in pleasant society.

Their older, more experienced, counterparts have been getting the message for some time, often put in very forceful terms. It has been delivered loud and clear through a variety of forums, both official and not.

Many of them have been good leaders and co-workers who have toiled long and hard to improve the lot of their families and others, both male and female.

Their contribution is now increasingly undermined and underestimated.

Just recently, celebrated high-profile business leader Theresa Gattung declared that Fletcher Building would not have found itself in such deep financial waters had a woman been at the head of the waka.

As if failure now has a genetic code that favours the X rather than the Y.

Interestingly, Gattung ignored the involvement of former prime minister Jenny Shipley on the board of Mainzeal, another significant construction firm that waded into financial collapse.

Genter had the opportunity to inspire the young girls in her audience to match her own achievements, and even maybe those of Gattung, among others.

She could have implored the boys to encourage, celebrate and respect the success of their female colleagues, while aiming for the top themselves.

Instead she chose to divide and conquer, to contribute to the growing narrative of suspicion, mistrust and resentment that pits women against men. To echo the worst of what appears in divisive posts in social media and other dubious channels.

That's disappointing.

Women in leadership roles are clearly in a position to act as mentors, guiding lights leading the way for others. No doubt they made it that far not only because they were good enough but also with the support of others, both men and women. Like their male counterparts they have a responsibility to recognise the power and value of that position and carefully measure their own contribution. Especially if their role has a public profile.

Hopefully Genter learned a little herself later on that day, as one of 1000 guests at a dinner with former US President Barack Obama.

He may not be white but he is pushing on 60. And he still has a great deal to offer a world that is increasingly preaching the politics of division.