International Women’s Day, Aotearoa New Zealand - Opinion piece
International Women’s Day invites reflection and as I write this from Sri Lanka, the first country in the world to be led by a woman, I am reminded how far women’s leadership has come globally.
In New Zealand, we’ve had three female prime ministers since that milestone, and women now occupy senior roles across business and public life. There will no doubt be many events and panel discussions this month celebrating women’s achievements in the workplace and bemoaning the challenges we continue to face.
These are important conversations. But beyond the gains in the workplace, the realities of women’s health reveal a stark gap between visibility and wellbeing. While we celebrate leadership, we must confront inequalities that quietly cost women their lives.
Investing in women’s health is foundational to the world envisioned in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Gender equality (SDG 5) is inseparable from health, economic participation, and reduced inequalities. Globally, closing the women’s health gap could add seven healthy days per woman every year - more than 500 extra days over a lifetime - and contribute up to US $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040.
Here in New Zealand, some progress has been made. In 2023 the Ministry of Health launched the first Women’s Health Strategy, which highlights specific issues that health entities need to address with a focus on access to preventive care, health education, and primary services. Implementing the Strategy will take time and gaps still remain. Cardiovascular disease, for example, is still the leading cause of death for women, claiming around 3000 lives annually.
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) illustrates the stakes. A recent report by Hato Hone St John shows women have roughly 50 per cent lower odds of surviving an OHCA than men, and 60 per cent lower odds of receiving life-saving defibrillation from a bystander. Survival more than doubles when an automated external defibrillator (AED) is used before emergency services arrive - yet only around six per cent of people in the community receive defibrillation in time.
These disparities are not inevitable. Women are more likely than men to arrest at home, where AEDs and trained responders are less available. Their symptoms, including fatigue, indigestion, breathlessness, jaw or back pain are often atypical and minimised in primary care. By the time cardiac arrest occurs, the window for early intervention may have already passed.
Social and systemic factors worsen outcomes. Resuscitation training predominantly models male anatomy; public health messaging rarely depicts women as cardiac arrest patients. Hesitation to expose a woman’s chest, combined with implicit bias, subtly but powerfully reduces timely action. This is a system design failure, not a biological inevitability.
We can fix it. Equity in survival requires deliberate, practical change: expanding community AED access in residential areas, strengthening public awareness of women’s heart symptoms, increasing the number of GoodSAM responders (currently there are 12,500 registered – with around 32 percent being women), and redesigning resuscitation training to normalise female anatomy. Courses which explicitly address pad placement on breasts, and public messaging depicting women as cardiac arrest patients, reinforce that anyone can suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and anyone can save a life.
International Women’s Day is not only about celebrating women’s achievements; it is about confronting structural inequities that quietly cost lives. When women’s health is taken seriously in clinics, in training, and in communities - survival improves.
This year’s theme of “Give to Gain” invites us to give people the knowledge and tools to save a life:
- Learn the 3 Steps for Life — call 111, start CPR, use an AED (yes, on women).
- Normalise female anatomy in resuscitation training so that no one hesitates when it matters most.
- Advocate for more public access AEDs in residential neighbourhoods — where women are most likely to arrest, and too often have no one or nothing to help.
These are not abstract policy goals. They are practical, immediate actions that save lives. In doing so, we gain women, their families, and their futures.
Equity in survival is not a slogan. It is action. It is deliberate change. On this International Women’s Day, let us commit to building a system where a woman’s positive health outcomes are not halved simply because she is a woman. Her life should never depend on someone feeling comfortable enough to save it.
ENDS
About Hato Hone St John:
- Hato Hone St John provides emergency ambulance services to 90 percent of people in New Zealand across 97 percent of the country.
- Hato Hone St John is made up of a mix of full-time paid staff and volunteers.
- Along with the emergency ambulance service, Hato Hone St John operates a significant number of community health programmes and other activities which help build community resilience. They include Waka Ora Health Shuttles, ASB Caring Caller, St John Youth, and St John in Schools.
- Hato Hone St John also delivers event health services, medical alarm services, first aid training, and operates retail stores across the country.
For further information please contact:
Hato Hone St John media team
PH: 0800 756 334 | E: media@stjohn.org.nz
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