Mötika Tangata më Te Tiriti o Waitangi: Mate Korona më te Noho Rähui i Aotearoa Taumata 4 Women - Te ira wahine In the era of COVID-19, women have been disproportionately impacted by job losses in retail, hospitality and tourism. This will lead to a rise in poverty for women, particularly Mäori, Pacific and women from ethnic minority groups, who worked in large numbers in those industries. Some of these issues are also considered in the next ‘snapshot’. Most single parent households are female led. Single parents have been disproportionately impacted during the Level 4 lockdown, shouldering a burden of responsibility to care for children, home schooling and carrying out domestic tasks while working from home. Under Level 4, children were initially unable to accompany adults to the supermarket, making it more difficult for single parents to obtain food and essential supplies. The impact is increased poverty for women, ongoing hardship and stress for single parent families, an increase in child poverty and an increased burden of unpaid care work for women. For wähine Mäori and their whänau, the impacts of COVID-19 exacerbate systemic failures to uphold Te Tiriti. Wage-subsidies that were put in place quickly by the government have cushioned the economic impact of large-scale job losses and have kept workers tied to jobs. The government pressed ahead with raising the minimum wage on 1 April despite opposition. This will positively impact women who make up the majority of people on the minimum wage. Impacts on women during the COVID-19 crisis are human rights issues. There is an obligation to ensure no discrimination based on sex, and a positive duty on the government to eliminate discrimination against women. In addition, there are obligations on business to ensure workers’ rights are respected. Applying Te Tiriti and human rights to economic and social policies will reinforce existing initiatives that strive to revalue low paid “essential” occupations, eliminate pay inequity by gender and ethnicity, alleviate poverty for single parent families, value unpaid work and enable flexible work. Human rights will help to lift the economic, social and cultural value of women’s lives and work, and advance gender equality. Collecting demographic data about people receiving the wage subsidy will provide better information for planning and help to advance gender equality in Aotearoa New Zealand. These exercises must include quality data collection on ethnicity. Employment - Whakamahingia The government’s decision to move to Alert Level 4 inevitably led to a crisis of employment. As at midApril, the government had paid in excess of $10 billion to support 1.6 million workers. It had also launched a $6.25 billion business finance guarantee scheme for small and medium-sized businesses to protect jobs and support the economy. This is a huge investment and an act of human rights guardianship. Also, the government has introduced a 6-month rent freeze and 3-month protection against terminations. Poverty During Alert Level 4 many people worked on reduced wages or were made redundant. There have been allegations of poor redundancy procedures, including discrimination. There have also been significant increases in poverty and hardship for many people, including working households. The crisis has had a disproportionate effect on those who were already living on or below the poverty line, with insecure housing and work. Certain industries, such as tourism and hospitality, are likely to take longer to recover than others. There is a real risk of prolonged unemployment within regions, and for Mäori, Pacific peoples, women, sole parents, disabled people, the rainbow community and migrant communities. Many people are moving onto government benefits for the first time. As unemployment rises, foodbanks have reported a “tsunami of need” with some people queuing for four hours. In the first week of Level-4 lockdown, the number of Ministry of Social 15