International Women’s Day 2026, related reports and news

International Women's Day

The 8th of March marks International Women’s Day (IWD). This story highlights information and events related to IWD 2026 as well as relevant research, reports and news about issues impacting women and girls in Aotearoa and internationally. For more about the history of International Women’s Day see our 2024 IWD News Story.

‍UN Theme

The UN theme for IWD 2026 is ‘Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls.’ The theme encourages everyone to learn what their rights are and why justice matters, to speak out on social media and share stories, and to support women fighting for justice. It reiterates that justice doesn’t just happen – it must be built and it must be funded.

‍IWD 2026 Events

To mark International Women’s Day, Te Pai Ora o Aotearoa | Social Service Providers Aotearoa has invited Jo Cribb to present their next Kai & Kōrero: Learning over Lunch session. Jo will share her practical insights on how the Social Services sector can continue the fight for fair pay. For more information and to register, visit the event page.

The National Council of Women New Zealand | Te Kaunihera Wāhine of Aotearoa have also compiled a list of events happening around the country for International Women's Day.

Corporate website causing confusion

The www.internationalwomensday.com website, which started in 2001, is not connected to the UN or women’s movements. It is managed by a UK-based marketing company to promote themes and hashtag campaigns for International Women’s Day with corporate sponsorship. In 2026, the internationalwomensday.com theme is #GiveToGain. For more about the background on the website see the Women's Agenda article Don’t “Give to Gain” and get duped again this International Women’s Day!

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CSW70 and global launch of Secretary-General’s report

The 70th session of the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) is taking place in New York from 9-19 March 2026. The priority theme for CSW70 is “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers.”

A delegation from Aotearoa will be attending, including the CSW70 non-governmental delegate Tufuga Rhia Taonui.

Ahead of CSW70, the UN Secretary General has released their report ‘Ensuring and Strengthening Access to Justice for ALL Women and Girls’. The report finds that despite some progress, women and girls still struggle to gain access to justice, and that “failures of justice that threaten the lives of women and girls are often met with impunity – and sustained by it.” It further reports that:

"The implementation of legal frameworks continues to lag, as resources and norms fail to keep pace. As a result, even where formal equality – equal treatment before the law – is achieved, substantive justice – fairness in outcomes – remains out of reach for many. […] A multidimensional understanding of justice – one that recognizes justice as constitutive of the dignity, freedom, voice, and agency of women and girls – reveals how deeply barriers to justice persist."

In a press release about the report, UN Women comment:

"As backlash against longstanding commitments on gender equality intensifies, violations of the rights of women and girls are accelerating, fueled by a global culture of impunity, spanning from courts to online spaces to conflict. Laws are being rewritten to restrict the freedoms of women and girls, silence their voices, and enable abuse without consequence. As technology outpaces regulation, women and girls face growing digital violence in a climate of impunity where perpetrators are rarely held accountable. In conflicts, rape continues to be used as a weapon of war, with reported cases of sexual violence rising by 87 per cent in just two years."

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Wāhine Māori experience unequal treatment in criminal justice system

Te Tāhū o te Ture | The Ministry of Justice has published an insights report ‘Reducing the disproportionality of Māori in the criminal justice system: wāhine Māori’. The report found that wāhine Māori are overrepresented at every point of the justice system, and that this overrepresentation increases as wāhine Māori progress through the system. It states that:

"While some of this disproportionality can be explained by offending history or seriousness of offending, a proportion remains unexplained – and this unexplained proportion is also larger at later stages in the system. This indicates that the system’s response to wāhine Māori amplifies disproportionality. If the system’s response changed, then disproportionality could be reduced."

The report also notes that:

• Shoplifting was the most common charge for wāhine Māori.
• Most wāhine Māori were remanded in custody for non-violent offences.
• Wāhine Māori were more likely to be sentenced to imprisonment for shoplifting as their most serious offence.
• The disproportionality between wāhine Māori and non-Māori women is not only the biggest in the imprisonment population but also has the largest proportion of unexplained factors. 54% of this gap remains unexplained.

In an article by Newsroom, Green MP Tamatha Paul commented that “unexplained disproportionality” was a euphemism for “systemic racism and misogyny” and that:

“In my view, based on the work I’ve been doing in the justice space this term and going to the women’s prisons and talking to the women there, it’s clear to me that Māori women are carrying the criminal consequences of poverty.”

For more commentary on this report you can listen to an interview on Waatea News with Awatea Mita, Director of the National Youth and Justice Coalition.

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People’s select committee on pay equity release their findings

The People's Select Committee on Pay Equity have released their inquiry into the Pay Equity Amendment Act 2025. The inquiry was undertaken by a group of former Members of Parliament across the political spectrum in response to the passing of the Equal Pay Amendment Act 2025 under urgency, bypassing opportunities for public consultation. For more, see The Conversation: The work women do has changed. The case for pay equity in NZ hasn’t. The People’s Select Committee have also compiled a timeline of pay equity in Aotearoa.

Steve Chadwick, member of the People’s Select Committee, told Newsroom:

“It is worth remembering that the government introduced and passed legislation under urgency, without any notice, cancelling 33 live claims for pay equity settlements and adjusting agreed review provisions for settled claims. There was no consultation and there were no Parliamentary select committee hearings. At the same time, they introduced a new pay equity regime that increased the thresholds to even make a claim. Despite what the Government said at the time, this will make it harder for people working in occupations traditionally undertaken by women, to have their remuneration adjusted to achieve equity.”

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European Parliament passes resolution affirming trans women are women

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution declaring that trans women are women, as part of a broader package of recommendations ahead of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The resolution was passed on 11 February in a 340–141 vote, with 68 abstentions.

Among its key recommendations the European Parliament called on the Council to “emphasise the importance of the full recognition of trans women as women, noting that their inclusion is essential for the effectiveness of any gender-equality and anti-violence policies; call for recognition of and equal access for trans women to protection and support services”.