By Tony Reid
New Zealand's first woman prime minister, Dame Jenny Shipley, is calling for a closing of the gap between the number of men and women receiving top Queen's Birthday honours.
Men dominated the honours this weekend, with twice as many being made Knights compared to Dames, and six times as many being made Companions.
Dame Jenny was the 36th prime minister of New Zealand, the first woman to hold the top job.
Now Dame Jenny has decided to speak out about inequalities in the prestigious Queen's Honours system.
“We've had a gap and we need to do something about it, because I don't accept that women do less in the community or achieve less than men,” she says.
Women were dominated by men at the top tiers of the Queen’s Birthday honours list.
Two were made Dames compared to five who were made Knights
Only two women were made Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit, compared to 13 men.
As prime minister from 1997-99, Dame Jenny received the long-list of people nominated for Queen’s Honours.
Finding good women was always a challenge.
“When I was in office I always used to ask and indeed send the team back, and say we have to find more, this is unreasonable,” she says.
Dame Jenny was and remains the only female to lead the National Party.
Current leader and Prime Minister John Key says he is trying hard to get the honours gender balance right.
“We also have to make sure those honours reflect someone that's worthy of what they're getting and we wouldn't want to put someone up simply for the sake of the fact that they are a woman as opposed to a man,” says Mr Key.
But a senior lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology says the glass ceiling is still holding women back.
“What that means is that women are expected to work and not get any accolade or achievements or recognition or pay,” says senior lecturer Ruth Irwin.
Dame Jenny says it is not the boys club holding women back it is women themselves, they must step up and nominate each other, if they are to get the honour they deserve.
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