NZ's Women's Rights Party receives a (no surprises) anti-trans slur from "proudly non-partisan" Policy.nz

The first clue that a claim of credibility from Policy.nz could be viewed somewhat askance, is when we read on their website that they’re a “team from Wellington”. For the irreverent amongst us, those three simple words could be a comedy skit in the unfolding. Just saying.

For those who don’t live in New Zealand, Wellington is New Zealand’s capital city where our government sits, bureaucracy and public servants abound, and is the home of Victoria University. Whilst I have nothing against any of those things per se, when they’re mixed together in a small place, it can be hard to know when to be amused at the result, aghast, or admire it.

Policy.nz further states on their website that, in reference to NZ’s upcoming general election in mid-October, the purpose of the “team from Wellington” is to “help you decide who to vote for.” Okay, so this may be a combination of two out of the above three reactions. Wellington can also be referred to as Woke Welly, and right on cue, Policy.nz’s “assessments” – as they call them – inevitably have a touch of wokery scattered amongst them. Albeit “proudly non-partisan” wokery, which surely only a team from Wellington could deliver with completely unconscious irony.

A brief “assessment” of NZ’s registered political parties is provided, whereby some of the assessments come across as a tad more “non-partisan” than others, which, I’m assessing, depends on the personal preferences of the Policy.nz assessor.  For example, let’s compare two small recently registered parties of similar size, and being single-issue parties: the Women’s Rights Party and the Animal Justice Party.

The Women’s Rights Party has been formed to protect the rights of women and children, and the Animal Justice Party is committed to advocating for animal welfare and animal rights.

The animal Justice Party gets a fairly innocuous non-partisan assessment -

Although the party advocates a move away from animal-based agriculture, nowhere is it inferred that it is ‘anti-farmer’, nor would I expect it to be.

Conversely, the Women’s Rights Party’s assessment has an accusatory “anti-trans” slant to it. Anyone would think Policy.nz were putting their own interpretation onto the WRP’s policies – but only in a “proudly non-partisan” way, of course.

The Women’s Rights Party rejects the premise that women’s rights are only acceptable if they pass muster with trans activists. Party co-leader, Jill Ovens, says “Why must women define our rights in relation to whether we are for or against transpeople? Surely women exist in our own right, and should be allowed to express our concerns if our rights are being eroded, and the word ‘women’ is being erased from our language?”

This position was expressed in her letter to Policy.nz –

“Kia ora Luka

Your description of what our Party stands for is totally incorrect and I ask you to take it down immediately. We are NOT anti-trans! And I haven’t been in the Alliance for nearly 20 years! Tell me why support for women’s rights and priorities is only definable by being for or against transpeople.

A more appropriate description would be as follows:

The Women’s Rights Party was founded just five months ago by women, and men, who see a need for a strong voice to advocate for and protect women’s rights in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Women’s Rights Party is a political party that honours the women of Aotearoa New Zealand who won the right to vote in 1893, and for this reason, the Party is campaigning under the colours of the women’s suffrage movement.

The Party, which is registered for the General Election in October, grew out of women’s concerns that they are being actively shut down from expressing concerns about the erosion of women’s rights and erasure of the word “women” from our language, especially in relation to women’s health.

Co-leader Jill Ovens, former trade union leader and Labour Party activist, says the Party hopes this Election will be an opportunity for people to discuss different ideas and perspectives respectfully and safely. She says women have been excluded from raising concerns about the protection of safe spaces for women and girls and women’s sports, for example, within our unions, political parties, schools and universities. When women took the time to share their concerns to the Select Committee about legislation such as self-ID on birth certificates, they were treated by Labour and Green Party women MPs with disdain, if not outright hostility.

Many Party members are former Greens and Labour supporters, or activists in lesbian and gay rights, who were politically homeless and will now have an option on the ballot paper to send a message to the mainstream Parties that women’s voices and human rights matter too.

Yours Jill”

Ollie, from Policy.nz, replies -

“Kia ora Jill

My colleague Luka forwarded on your email – I'm editorial director for Policy.nz. Thank you for your email and I'm sorry to hear that you have concerns with your party description.

Party descriptions are drafted by our team based upon a journalistic assessment of publicly available information about the party. This means that we cannot simply publish the blurb you have provided but we can take it into account to ensure the description is fair and accurate. I will ask the team to review your party's description today to see if any changes need to be made in light of your concerns, and will get back to you within the next 24 hours.

Thanks for your understanding.

Kind regards

Ollie”

I’m not sure how Policy.nz assess “fair and accurate”, but that phrase has probably undergone the same metamorphosis as the word ‘woman’.

All in all, it’s fairly standard rhetoric from a team from Wellington. But no rhetoric changes the fact that a woman is a flesh and blood adult human female, and protecting the rights of women and girls cannot in all credibility be called “anti-trans”.

A final question for Policy.nz – you do realise, don’t you, that Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information when it’s wide open to trash-editing by trans activists?

One would hope so.

Policy - Women's Rights Party (womensrightsparty.nz)

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