Celebrating Suffrage Day - From the Right to Vote to the Power to Lead in Corporate Aotearoa
Description
From the Right to Vote to the Power to Lead in Corporate Aotearoa
Celebrating Suffrage Day through the Women's Empowerment Principles
Friday 18th September 2026 | 12.00pm – 1.30pm NZST
Zoom
133 years ago, New Zealand changed history. What's the next chapter?
In 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to grant women the right to vote. Today, that legacy challenges us to ask a new question:
How do we ensure women not only have a voice, but the opportunity to lead, influence and shape the future of corporate Aotearoa?
As organisations navigate workforce change, leadership succession, skills shortages and increasing expectations around diversity and inclusion, creating environments where women can thrive has become more than an equity issue, it is a strategic advantage.
This special Suffrage Day event brings together business leaders, current Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Signatories, governance leaders and organisations from across Aotearoa to explore how the legacy of women's suffrage continues to shape leadership today.
As the second event in the WEPs Learning Series 2026, we'll celebrate the progress that has been made while exploring practical ways organisations are embedding the Women's Empowerment Principles to strengthen leadership, culture, governance and long-term organisational resilience.
Hear from organisations already leading this work, learn from inspiring women leaders, and take away practical ideas that can support your own organisation's journey.
Together we'll explore:
What New Zealand's suffrage legacy means for today's organisations.
From representation to leadership, how organisations create pathways for women to lead.
Practical examples from current WEPs Signatories.
Building inclusive leadership cultures that strengthen organisational performance.
The business case for advancing gender equality.
Preparing your organisation for the 2027 Women's Empowerment Principles Survey and White Camellia Awards.
Featured speakers
Hear from:
UN Women Aotearoa New Zealand
UN Women Empowerment Committee partners
Current Women's Empowerment Principles Signatories
Business and governance leaders
Inspiring women sharing their leadership journeys
Who should attend?
This event is designed for:
CEOs and Executive Leadership Teams
Board Directors
HR and People & Culture Leaders
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Leaders
Sustainability and ESG Professionals
Current WEPs Signatories
Organisations considering becoming WEPs Signatories
Why attend?
This is more than a celebration of Suffrage Day.
It's an opportunity to reflect on the role organisations play in shaping the future of leadership in Aotearoa.
You'll leave with practical ideas, inspiring examples and new connections that will support your organisation to strengthen leadership, embed the Women's Empowerment Principles and prepare for the 2027 WEPs Survey.
A Suffrage Day Challenge
As part of this event, we'll invite organisations to consider one practical commitment they can make over the next 12 months to strengthen opportunities for women to lead.
With New Zealand's local government elections taking place this year, we'll also explore how organisations can celebrate Suffrage Day by encouraging civic participation, supporting employees to vote, and recognising the important role workplaces play in strengthening democracy.
Wherever your organisation is on its WEPs journey, this series is designed to support you to move from commitment to meaningful and measurable impact.
Across the three events, we’ll explore the Seven Women’s Empowerment Principles as a practical framework for organisational change—moving from understanding, through leadership and reflection, to action.
Join us to learn from evidence and organisational experience, strengthen your approach, and prepare for the 2027 WEPs Survey with greater clarity, confidence and purpose.
The UN Women Empowerment Committee NZ is lead by UN Women Aotearoa NZ in partnership with Zonta, Business & Professional Women and The Human Rights Commission.
Gallery
Description
This event is part of the WEPs Learning Series 2026
Join us across three online leadership forums designed to support organisations on their Women's Empowerment Principles journey—from understanding the framework, to celebrating leadership, and preparing for the 2027 WEPs Survey and White Camellia Awards.
Part One | Building Future-Ready Organisations through the Women's Empowerment Principles
Thursday 3 September | 12.00pm–1.30pm
Explore key insights from the 2024/25 New Zealand WEPs Survey Report, hear from current WEPs Signatories, and discover how organisations are embedding the Women's Empowerment Principles to strengthen leadership, culture and organisational performance.
Part Two | From the Right to Vote to the Power to Lead
Friday 18 September | 12.00pm–1.30pm
Celebrating Suffrage Day, this inspiring leadership forum explores the legacy of women's leadership in Aotearoa and how organisations can continue creating workplaces where women can lead, belong and thrive. Hear from business and community leaders sharing practical examples of organisational change and inclusive leadership.
Part Three | From Reflection to Action
Wednesday 21 October | 12.00pm–1.30pm
A practical session designed to prepare organisations for the 2027 Women's Empowerment Principles Survey. We'll walk through the survey, discuss evidence gathering and measurement, and provide practical guidance to help your organisation confidently prepare for the 2027 White Camellia Awards.
We encourage organisations to register for all three events to gain the greatest value from the series and build a strong foundation for embedding the Women's Empowerment Principles across your organisation.
Lineup
Opening Remarks: Tara Singh, UN Women Aotearoa NZ
President, UN Women Aotearoa NZ and Chair - Women's Empowerment Committee NZ
UN Women Empowerment Committee NZ - Suzanne McNabb, Trustee, UN Women Aotearoa NZ
Suzanne McNabb | UN Women Aotearoa New Zealand & WEPs Committee NZ Suzanne McNabb is a long-standing advocate for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and a member of the Women’s Empowerment Principles Committee NZ, representing UN Women Aotearoa New Zealand. Through her involvement with WEPs, Suzanne has championed the importance of moving beyond good intentions towards concrete organisational action—using the Seven Women’s Empowerment Principles to support businesses to identify opportunities, develop initiatives, measure progress and continually strengthen their impact. Suzanne brings a strong belief that gender equality is not simply an organisational aspiration, but a fundamental human right, and that businesses of every size have an important role to play in accelerating progress. As part of the WEPs Learning Series, Suzanne brings the perspective of someone who has been closely involved in advancing the framework in Aotearoa and encouraging organisations to translate commitment into meaningful and measurable change. Her message to organisations is clear: “Gender equality is not a ‘nice to have’. It is a basic human right. WEPs gives organisations a practical framework to turn that belief into concrete action, measure progress and keep moving forward.”
Facilitator: Catherine van der Meulen, UN Women Aotearoa NZ
Catherine van der Meulen has spent the past four years on the Board of UN Women Aotearoa New Zealand, including three years contributing to the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Committee NZ. Today, she is focused on driving the next generation of impact of UN Women Aotearoa NZ through strategic partnerships and philanthropy, bringing businesses, leaders, communities and capital together to accelerate meaningful change. What drives Catherine is deeply personal. At the current rate of progress, the prospect of gender equality remaining generations away keeps her up at night. She believes we need to move beyond conversations about equality and create the conditions, systems and organisational cultures that will accelerate it. As a mother, Catherine’s measure of impact is also the world the next generation will inherit. She is passionate about creating a future in which her children, and all young people, can thrive, where equality is embedded into how we lead, work and live, and where businesses recognise the extraordinary role they can play in shaping that future. Through WEPs, Catherine is working to shift gender equality from being seen primarily as a people or DEI initiative to becoming part of how organisations think about leadership, resilience, risk, performance and their long-term impact on society.
Keynote Speaker: Professor Gail Pacheco, PhD
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Professor Gail Pacheco is the Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission. A leading economist, she has previously been the Director of the NZ Policy Research Institute at AUT and a Commissioner at the NZ Productivity Commission. She has an extensive track record of social policy-focused research, often leading large-scale collaborations between academia, community organisations, and the public sector. Gail has been the recipient of numerous awards. These include: the 2018 NZIER Economics Award for outstanding contributions to the advancement of economics and its applications in NZ; the AUT Medal in 2019 in recognition of her use of integrated data to inform social policy and wellbeing; and most recently, in 2025, she was awarded Life Membership of the New Zealand Association of Economists, an honour reserved for individuals who have made significant contributions to both the association and the economics profession in NZ. "I would like people to leave the presentation feeling empowered, having greater knowledge on pay equity, pay gaps, and women's rights."
Speaker: Erin Ebborn, Portia Law
With 28 years of legal experience, Erin Ebborn is Director and part-owner of Portia, where she leads a team of ten lawyers and has built a strong focus on gender equity, culture and female-centred advocacy. Working across family and civil litigation, including family harm and digital abuse, Erin brings a powerful perspective on both how far women have come since Kate Sheppard and how much remains to be done. At our Suffrage Day event, Erin will bring the Women’s Empowerment Principles to life, sharing practical examples of how Portia embeds equality within its own leadership, culture and business practices, and demonstrating the difference one organisation can make when it chooses to take equality seriously. Join Erin and our other speakers as we explore: From the Right to Vote to the Power to Lead in Corporate Aotearoa.
Speaker: Evan Bateup - Chief People and Inclusion Officer at KPMG
Evan Bateup is Chief People and Inclusion Officer at KPMG, bringing more than 15 years of experience as a People Executive across culture change, talent attraction and retention, employee experience, and inclusion and diversity. Originally from Northland, with strong connections to Kawakawa, Kaikohe, Kerikeri and Paihia, Evan brings a deeply people-centred and values-led approach to leadership. His career has extended beyond People & Culture into marketing, sales, programme and change management, and operations, giving him a broad perspective on how people, culture and business strategy intersect. Joining us for From the Right to Vote to the Power to Lead in Corporate Aotearoa on 18 September, Evan will bring a practical organisational perspective to the Suffrage Day conversation—exploring the role leaders and workplaces can play in creating cultures where women have the opportunity to belong, progress, influence and lead. His contribution will help us consider an important next chapter in Aotearoa's suffrage story: how we translate the right to participate into the conditions and opportunities to lead.
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