New Zealand's Definitions of Woman and Man Bill and how the public can give submissions (www.rnz.co.nz)

submitted 1 month ago by Dave@lemmy.nz to c/politics@lemmy.nz

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Parliament is currently considering a bill that would officially define what a man and woman are in New Zealand law.

The Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill, a member's bill introduced by New Zealand First MP Jenny Marcroft, passed its first reading last month.

The bill is open for public submission through 2 July.

It's likely to draw a significant amount of public feedback as it works its way through the halls of Parliament.

They can be made direct to Parliament through their website.

Parliament offers a guide to making submissions, urging people to be clear, accurate and relevant. Submissions that have offensive language can be rejected or returned.

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[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 3 points 1 month ago

The amendment is pretty stupid

13A Meaning of woman or female

In any legislation, regardless of gender identity,—
(a) woman means an adult human biological female; and
(b) female means a human biological female.

13B Meaning of man or male

In any legislation, regardless of gender identity,—
(a) man means an adult human biological male; and
(b) male means a human biological male.

All it does is shift the definition burden from woman to "biological female" and man to "biological male".

Obviously this is a not so subtle dog-whistle to bigots out there in NZ. Effectively this bill raises a non-issue and then doesn't even bother to solve it.

this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2026

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