I submitted the following letter to the NZ Herald.

According to your article on 3 August, Dame Silvia Cartwright in her farewell speech described her hope in New Zealand for “…better health and human rights, especially for women and children”. Why should men also not be accorded better health and the same human rights as women? It is incredible that our society has been so captured by feminist ideology that the nation’s most senior statesperson believes it is acceptable to discriminate openly against men. Her statement is made all the more insensitive by the fact that men already fare much more poorly in health statistics than do women and men die more from most of the leading causes of premature death in developed countries.

Dame Silvia went on to make condescending jokes about her husband who has supported her through her illustrious career. This included a joke about his baldness. Imagine the outcry if a major statesman publicly made jokes about his wife’s sagging breasts or expanded thighs. One might contrast Dame Silvia’s speech with that usually made by a man. You are likely to hear him express heartfelt gratitude and respect for the wife who supported him.