A bill seeking to legally define the terms “man” and “woman” has passed its first reading in Parliament.
The Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill, in the name of New Zealand First MP Jenny Marcroft, passed its first reading on Wednesday and will now move to the select committee process.
The bill would define “woman” in law as “an adult human biological female” and “man” as “an adult human biological male”.
Marcroft claims the meaning of being a woman was “under attack” and argued the legislation would provide clarity and consistency across New Zealand law.
She referenced a landmark ruling by the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court last year, which found the term “woman” refers to “biological sex”.
“New Zealanders should have confidence that their institutions, and the very language of their laws, reflect reality,” Marcroft said.
She said “progressive politics” had prioritised ideology over biology, and claimed the bill would prevent ideological interpretations from entering the law.
“Women have had a gutsful of the gaslighting. It is misogyny in a modern form to cancel women when we speak up, it is misogyny in a modern form to deny our biological reality.”
Marcroft said the legislation would not remove anyone’s rights, but would instead protect sex-based rights for women and girls.
Minister for Women raises concerns
National MP Nicola Grigg, who is also the Minister for Women, used much of her five-minute speaking slot to outline concerns about the bill before confirming National would support it at first reading.
Grigg said there were “real and substantive” concerns with the bill’s approach, including that many pieces of legislation had moved away from using gendered language.
She said she was not convinced the bill would deliver the clarity its supporters claimed.
“I’m not convinced that this bill would advance the rights and opportunities or the well-being of women and girls in any way, shape or form in New Zealand.”
However, Grigg said some people felt strongly about the issue, and National would vote for the bill so New Zealanders could have their say through the select committee process.
ACT MP Karen Chhour said the debate was not about science, but about whether people could speak plainly.
She said biological differences matter in areas such as sport, where males have physical advantages, and healthcare, where sex can affect diagnosis and treatment.
Chhour argued New Zealanders were under “pressure to pretend” those differences did not matter.
“At its heart, this debate is not about hate, it is about whether ordinary people are still allowed to trust their own eyes, speak honestly, defend sex-based rights without being shamed into silence.”
Opposition parties call bill “unworkable”
Opposition parties criticised the bill, saying the government should instead be focused on issues New Zealanders are facing, including the cost of living.
Labour MP Camila Belich said the bill would cause harm to the trans community and described it as “unworkable”.
She referred to a report from Attorney-General Chris Bishop, which found the bill would “give rise to discrimination on the basis of age” because it includes the word “adult”.
“There would be a wide range of presumably unintended consequences,” the report said.
Belich said that could mean women under the age of 20 may not be able to access abortions, because the relevant law refers to “women”, and where no age of maturity is specified, the law treats adulthood as beginning at 20.
“That shows how problematic this type of bill is. If you remove the word adult from this, which is the only way to fix this bill, then you would have to define women as meaning children.”
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said that if the government genuinely cared about women, it would not have taken steps such as removing pay equity rights or cutting funding for some sexual violence prevention services.
“I don’t think … this would have been a government that granted women the right to vote.
“This debate is a timewarp back more than 100 years when men in power sought to define and suppress women to our physical parts alone,” she said.
Te Pāti Māori MP Oriini Kaipara said the bill would achieve nothing in practical legal terms and would be harmful to trans people.
She urged Parliament to consider the founding principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
“That is to protect our taonga, our … most important taonga is people, tangata.”
The bill will now be considered through the select committee process, where the public will be able to submit their views.
