Submission Guide: Legislation (Definition of Woman & Man) Amendment Bill

Written By Jennifer Shields

Submissions are open for the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill. This is a guide produced by a collective of transgender people and their allies, to help others who are also opposed to the bill to make their own submissions. 

Get your submission in before submissions close at midnight on 2 July 2026. 

Scroll down to read our step-by-step guide for writing your own submission, and below that to read  some reasons why this Bill needs to be opposed. Thank you to People Against Prisons Aotearoa for making a comprehensive guide on which we could base our own!  

Upload your submission here. 

What is a Submission? 

Submissions are a way for the public to have their say on Bills. 

A Bill is a proposed piece of legislation that is being considered by Parliament. A Bill only becomes law if most MPs vote in favour of it.

Before that happens, the Bill is reviewed by a Select Committee made up of politicians from different parties, who examine it and gather feedback from experts, affected communities, and the public. 

A submission is your opportunity to share your views and try to persuade the Select Committee about what should happen with the Bill – in this case, to persuade the Select Committee to oppose the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill! 

All submissions are published and made publicly available on the Parliament website. Only include information you are happy to have made public. Do not include your contact details in your submission - these will be collected separately by Parliament’s website. 

Important: Write in Your Own Words! 

When the Select Committee receives multiple submissions that use the same words, or have been generated using a template, they group the submissions together. This means that multiple, even hundreds of submissions can be counted by the Select Committee as only one submission, if they share the same wording.

Worried that you don’t know what to say? Don’t be! You do not have to be an expert to make a submission. In fact, the most powerful submissions are those that come from the heart. Don’t copy-and-paste from other sources, and don’t use ChatGPT to write your submission for you. Content from AI will be abstract and impersonal, which will not be effective, and may end up looking similar to other submissions and thus disregarded. 

Your submission does not need to be long - and you don’t need to cover everything. Shorter submissions are more likely to be read in full, and even one paragraph can make a difference.

Writing your submission

1. Introduce yourself 

Start with any information about yourself that is relevant to the Bill. If there isn’t any, go straight to writing your introduction. Relevant personal information might include: 

  • Your own identity as a trans, intersex, or non-binary person, or other sex or  gender minority (and therefore directly impacted by the Bill), 

  • Your relationship to a person who is directly impacted by the Bill - perhaps your family member, friend, or colleague,

  • Organisations you are part of,

  • Communities you are part of,

  • Any other personal information that might make your opinion on this Bill more relevant.

E.g. My name is Jane Smith, I am a cisgender queer woman who plays on a social sports team that includes several trans women. These friendships and experiences inform my submission. 

2. Write your introduction 

Clearly state your opposition to the Bill, and summarise your reasons. 

You can use bullet points to outline your reasons if you want to. 

E.g. I am writing to voice my strong opposition to the Bill. It is bigoted, unworkable, and will cause significant harm to transgender and intersex communities. The Bill will legitimise discrimination against already marginalised groups of people, and provide a platform for anti-trans extremism to grow. 

Write the body of your submission 

This is where you go into detail on reasons why you are opposed to the Bill. 

One way to do this is to use each of the reasons you have thought of as a heading, and write a few sentences or paragraphs about each. Explain and justify your reasons by describing any relevant experience you have, and any data or research you’ve collected.

Scroll down to see our summary of why it is important to oppose this Bill. 

3. Write a conclusion 

Restate your opposition to the Bill, and your key reasons. 

E.g. Once again, I strongly oppose this Bill. I hope the Select Committee will consider the information I have discussed in this submission, and will recommend that this Bill does not proceed any further. 

4. Upload your submission 

Navigate to Parliament’s website to make your submission: https://www3.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/54SCSSC_SCF_9E8E8A14-A51C-4567-AB33-08DE9053A7D1/legislation-definitions-of-woman-and-man-amendment-bill 

Scroll down to the green button that says “I am ready to make my submission” and proceed through the form:

  • Select whether you are submitting as an individual or on behalf of an organisation,

  • If you also wish to make an oral submission on this Bill select yes. Oral submissions involve speaking at a select committee meeting, either in-person or via Zoom. They can be more effective than written submissions. If you select this option, someone will reach out to you to make a time for your oral submission, but you can decline if you have changed your mind.

  • Fill in your contact information on the next page. Only the name will be published, feel free to use a pseudonym but remember that the select committee may want to contact you about your submission.

  • On the next page you can upload your submission, or alternatively you can copy and paste it into the boxes provided.

  • The next page lets you review the information you provided. If it all looks good, check the privacy statement box and hit submit.

  • Congratulations, you made a written submission to a select committee!

Why should I oppose the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill?

The Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill is a bigoted, unworkable, expensive solution to a non-existent problem. It legitimises discrimination against transgender and, non-binary people, and other gender minorities and against people with innate variations of sex characteristics including those who identify as intersex. Despite being promoted as a bill which protects women, it will cause harm to all women. 

The Bill discriminates against trans and intersex communities 

The Bill does this by proposing to define - across all New Zealand laws - the word “woman” as “adult human biological female,” and “man” as “adult human biological male.” These are vague, circular, political slogans that do not have any scientific meaning.  These proposed definitions erase groups whose bodies or identities fall outside of rigid sex and gender binaries, including intersex people born with variations of sex characteristics. 

The Select Committee process places huge pressure on relatively small communities to once again advocate for their basic human rights. Last year the Law Commission produced a comprehensive, extensively researched report on human rights for intersex, trans and non-binary people. This report, called Ia Tangata, reported that these communities face significant discrimination and recommended that the Human Rights Act be strengthened to better protect them. Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission welcomed the Law Commission’s recommendations and has critiqued this Bill as falling short of the Government’s human rights obligations. 

The Bill is part of a far-right agenda

The Bill’s supporters claim that the Bill will “protect sex-based rights of women and girls.” This language is an example of  a “dog-whistle”, that those directly affected hear while many others are oblivious to the intended harm. The term ‘sex-based rights’ is used to erase trans people’s identity, exclude them from accessing services, and remove anti-discrimination protections.   When this position is defended as being  “reasonable”or “common sense”, the attacks on trans people are ignored or minimised. By hiding their anti-trans agenda behind the language of women’s rights, far-right groups claim the moral high ground while normalising hate. 

The Bill does not protect women, or women-only spaces

Claiming the Bill’s intent is to protect women is a particularly hypocritical move coming from a government that has also slashed pay equity and cut funding to sexual violence prevention services, forcing them to close. 

Supporters of the Bill claim that women only spaces are under threat, but this is not true - under the Human Rights Act, organisations in Aotearoa are already allowed to provide services exclusively to cisgender women if that exclusion meets one of the exceptions in the Act. As Qtopia has outlined, “The reason women’s refuges in Aotearoa allow trans women to access their services isn’t because they’re forced to by the law - it’s because the people running those services, the people with the experience running those services recognise that trans women accessing that support pose no harm to cis women.” 

The Bill violates Te Tiriti o Waitangi

The Bill violates Te Tiriti o Waitangi by failing to recognise that takatāpui (Māori of diverse genders, sexualities and sex characteristics) and takatāpuitanga are taonga, and threatening the right of takatāpui to bodily autonomy, and to equitable and safe healthcare access. The Bill seeks to impose a limited colonial view that there are only two genders and sexes, men and women. This is an erasure of te ao Māori, an erasure of takatāpui, and a means of consolidating patriarchal, colonial frameworks. 

The Bill restricts access to abortion - and potentially to other services

The bill defines “woman” as “adult”. And according to the Age of Majority Act 1970, if “adult” isn’t defined, it’s considered someone who’s aged 20 or older. This means under-20s may be excluded under legislation that only uses the terms  “woman” or “man” without mentioning age. One particularly worrying example is women’s access to abortion services under the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act. If the proposed bill passes, this could mean that women under 20  may lose their right to have an abortion. This could also enable anti-choice groups to push for even wider restrictions on women’s access to abortion.

Some helpful sources: 

Some initial examples of groups opposing the Bill:

Jennifer Shields
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Qtopia Condemns NZ FIrst’s “Definition of Woman” Bill