The old boy network in action

We know National doesn't care about women, but what does that mean in practice? Here's an example: since taking office in 2008, National has purged almost 100 women from state sector boards:

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs today released their latest Gender Stocktake of State Sector Boards and Committees, which is done yearly to monitor the number of women appointed by the government to state sector boards and committees. The latest figures show that the percentage of women on state appointed boards has dropped to 40.5% from 41.1% last year. In 2008, when National first took office, the total number of women in these positions was 1153. It is now 1059.

This isn't any sort of deliberate policy; rather, its the absence of a deliberate policy. Refusing to promote equality means that National returns to its usual practice of shoulder-tapping its mates. And when you're a party of dead white males, that means less equality on state boards, and an administration that doesn't look like New Zealand.