The Definitions of Woman and Man Amendment Bill is currently before Parliament.
The Bill seeks to provide legal definitions for the terms “woman” and “man” based on biological sex.
We support this Bill because we believe New Zealand law should use clear, biologically based definitions where legislation continues to distinguish between the sexes. If the law provides sex-based rights, protections and obligations, then the words “woman” and “man” should have clear legal meaning.
The Select Committee is currently inviting public submissions. The deadline is this Thursday, 2 July 2026, 11.59pm.
We know many people support the Bill but aren't sure how to say this. To make it easy, we've prepared a simple template that you can pick and mix and personalise. You can likely complete your feedback in just 5–10 minutes.
Those looking for more detail or an example may also like to refer to the draft VFF submissions attached here.
The strongest feedback is written in your own words and explains why this issue matters to you, your family, your work, your community, or your experience as a New Zealander. However, providing even very brief feedback (a sentence or two) using our template is still worthwhile.
PROVIDE YOUR FEEDBACK:
There are two text boxes which ask:
- I/We wish to make the following comments
- I/We wish to make the following recommendations
Any of the following could all go in the first box if you are using the boxes on the website. Otherwise. add any parts you would like to a Word document and upload that document as Word or PDF.
You do not need to include everything. Ideally, include at least one paragraph written in your own words.
Suggested feedback template
COMMENTS:
I support the Bill for the following reasons:
1. Legal certainty
- Laws should be clear and consistent.
- If Parliament continues to use terms such as woman, man, female, and male throughout legislation, those terms should have clear legal definitions.
- Without clear definitions, courts, government agencies, schools, sporting organisations, employers, and service providers may interpret these terms differently.
- Clear definitions help ensure laws are applied consistently and as Parliament intended.
2. Women's rights and protection
- It is important that biological sex remains clearly recognised in law where rights, protections, privacy, dignity, safety, or fairness depend upon it.
- Many laws, policies, and services distinguish between the sexes.
- Examples include women's health services, maternity provisions, women's sport, changing facilities, correctional facilities, and safeguarding policies.
3. Privacy, dignity and safety
- Many women and girls have concerns about privacy, dignity, and safety in situations where biological sex may be relevant.
- Clear definitions help decision-makers understand when sex-based provisions apply and how they should be administered consistently.
- Parliament should provide clarity rather than leave these questions to ongoing disputes and litigation.
4. Women's sport
- Biological differences between males and females can affect fairness in sport.
- I support maintaining clear sex-based sporting categories and believe legal clarity regarding biological sex assists sporting organisations when making policies and decisions.
5. Healthcare and data
- Accurate health information relies on accurate sex-based data.
- Biological sex can be relevant to medical research, health outcomes, screening programmes, reproductive health, and public health statistics.
- Clear definitions support the collection of accurate health information and evidence-based policy.
6. The rule of law
- The law should be capable of being understood and applied consistently.
- Where legal rights and obligations depend upon sex-based classifications, Parliament should clearly define those classifications.
7. Public confidence
- Many New Zealanders are confused about how the terms woman and man are currently interpreted in law.
- Clear definitions would help improve transparency, consistency, and public confidence.
- Parliament should provide clarity rather than leave fundamental legal terms open to competing interpretations.
8. My personal perspective
[Insert your own thoughts here. Totally optional]
Examples include:
- why this issue matters to you;
- concerns as a parent or grandparent;
- experiences in healthcare, education, sport, or the workplace;
- concerns about legal uncertainty;
- concerns about privacy, fairness, dignity, or safety;
- professional experience relevant to the issue.
RECOMMENDATION:
I support the Definitions of Woman and Man Amendment Bill and recommend that it proceed. I believe clear legal definitions will improve consistency, legal certainty, transparency, and public confidence in New Zealand law.
Thank you for considering my feedback.
Our Contributor
My submission is as per the VFF template
This relates to women's rights that have been hard fought for, for many, many years. Watch your words carefully because they come back at us if we are not honest and transparent with them.
A biological male is a man.
A biological female is a woman.
End of story
100%
I support this bill which gives clarity for everyone
I feel men and women should be honoured and respected ,and recognize by their God- given biological sex.
God created man and woman. Any deviation from this has and will created chaos and uncertainty.
I Katheryn Caldwell 100% support this bill that will respect the natural biological premise of man and women without amendment or inclusion of any man-made non-biological identity
Women and girls need to be protected .I dint care what these people want to be .but I dont want them in areas that should be defined as females only. ie it not Trans men..These people are not threatened and there's no evidence to say so.but the opposite has happened many times around the world.
I believe their are only two biological
Human sexes , male and female able to create new life .
There needs to be simple legal definition in place for many reasons. Womens sports are for women only, not biological men. Just like childrens sports are for children only, not adults. Female changing areas are for girls and women only, not biological men. Women need and deserve their own areas in various facets in life and need to be legally defined to protect this.
The sign at the top is simple. Two genders. Male and female. Keep it that way in law. Other peoples delusional thinking is not real. It can not be law.
I support the Definitions of Woman and Man Amendment Bill and recommend that it proceed. I believe clear legal definitions will improve consistency, legal certainty, transparency, and public confidence in New Zealand law.
Thank you for considering my feedback.
I agree with the law as it was a Male is a Man and a Woman is a Female.
Our Bodys are unmistakenly different, I never thought I would have to send a Comment to the Govt or vote about this issue
What is our country coming to.
I fully agree
To me it’s very simple, at birth you are born either woman or man. I do understand why there are gay people, it’s a karmic issue. All the other stuff is just people with no coping skills.
Thomas
It is impt that this issue is cleared up becos it is causing our young people to b confused as to who they are. As adults it is very simple as we were brought up knowing who n what we were.
There is so much utter rubbish n lies being tossed around these days it is causing mental health issues. Abroad things r even worse n we don't want our country to follow their lead.
I support the definitions of woman and man amendment Bill and recommend that it proceed
let sanity reign
I think this is a safety issues around changing areas and people should be able to feel safe in a women and me changing areas.
When we are born, we are either male (with a penis)or female(with a vagina). There are only two genders on planet Earth. Anyone who thinks different is delusional. End of story
It is imperative that we define a woman, (female) and a man, (male) as they were at birth. Minority groups have been given the power through vague law to challenge and distort the boundaries, as in Australia. Common sense has disappeared. It is an insult to women to be belittled and to have men in their safe spaces and sport. 50 % of the population are women and we will not be reduced by a woke minority.
I strongly support this bill.
All the above 8 bullet points I totally agree with. I am astounded at having to put this submission in, any decent person should be of a similar view as I am. I think UN the far left are behind this nonsense. Defining the correct gender. If a baby is born a girl that girl will grow into a woman, if a boy is born he will grow to become a man. Simple.
I enjoy swimming in the local council swimming pool, but I cannot go there now, because I have been there twice recently & found a man getting changed in the women's dressing room. My privacy & security had been breached.
What is female:
An individual of the sex, usually being able to produce eggs and bear offspring.
What is a woman:
A female adult.
What is a male:
An individual man or boy of the sex that is typically capable of producing sperm to fertilize eggs.
What is a man:
An adult male.
I think we have gone way too far with this gender ideology. To teach children in school they can choose their own gender and that it is not what you are born as is wrong. We are born as either female or male. It really is that simple. You cannot change that. Yes, you can change your appearance, so you look like the sex you want to be through lifelong hormone treatment and many operations. That in itself is crazy and courses so much harm. Sterilizing young man and women who suffers from gender dysphoria is wrong and leads to mental health issues because that cannot be changed when first done.
The world is going in sane when we start messing with Gods creation. One thing leads to another. Men in women's sports, Men in woman's toilets. You don't see women going into men's sports, not advantageous. Men in anything women, will benefit them regarding strength, the other way around is less popular. You do see I am stating the obvious. Do I need to go on?
A woman, that is, a female capable of bearing a child and was born with a vagina is a woman. the Male gender has a penis.
There is no confusion there. Common sense must prevail.
if you are born with a penis you are a man if you have a vagina you are a woman . simple for the simple.complicated for the crooked
A woman has a womb, a man in a skirt does not, simple biology, Chris Hipkins couldn't answer that question when a reporter asked him what is a woman! Let that sink in for a moment, this guy is asking to be elected as prime minister!?
Clear legal definition of man, woman, female ,male is required in law for clarity.
Accurate health data relies on accurate biological sex based information for correct health outcomes.
Therefore support the proposed bill definition of a man and a woman.
I have concerns about privacy, fairness, dignity, and safety. God created woman and man. A woman was designed to bear children and she has a womb for this reason!
You are born biological man or biological woman all else is a mental illness
I totally support the bill
I AGREE WITH ALL THE ABOVE COMMENTS, A BIOLOGICAL BORN FEMALE IS A FEMALE WHETHER SHE BARES CHILDREN OR NOT AND A BIOLOGIICAL BORN MALE IS A MALE WHETHER HE PRODUCES CHILDREN OR NOT.
THERE IS EVIDENCE COMING FROM SEX CHANGE PEOPLE THAT THEY ARE STILL THE GENDER THEY WERE BORN WITH, IN THEIR INNER MOST PERSON AND YEARS LATER, MANY FEEL REGRET TO HAVE FULL SEX CHANGE OPERATIONS. THERE ARE UNCOMMON EXCEPTIONS, WHEN INDIVIDUALS ARE BORN WITH BIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES, THAT IS A MEDICAL ISSUE.
WHEN OUR PETS ARE DESEXED THEY STILL BEHAVE LIKE THEY ARE THE GENDER THEY WERE BORN TO BE.
AN INDIVIDUAL'S SELF RESPECT AND DIGNITY IS VERY IMPORTANT TO GOOD MENTAL HEALTH.
I support the Definitions of Woman and Man Amendment Bill and recommend that it proceed. I believe clear legal definitions will improve consistency, legal certainty, transparency, and public confidence in New Zealand law.
Thank you for considering my feedback.
I believe wholeheartedly in clear legal definitions of a man and a woman. In sport .for example especially in a competitive situation. We need to know that biological men compete as men, and women compete as biological women. Otherwise it makes a mockery of sport. The question is then asked – is this a level ‘playing field’ for competitors if these boundaries are not made clear?
Also with girls and boys, men and women in a public dressing room, are deprived of privacy if there is no biological definition of who qualifies as a female to enter the female dressing room and who qualifies as a male to enter the male dressing room .
I support maintaining clear sex-based sporting categories and believe legal clarity regarding biological sex assists sporting organisations when making policies and decisions.
Why has something so ancient, historical and has existed before any of todays garbage now need be defined/reconfirmed?? If there are some out there who choose to be ferries, fine, be ferries but TRUTH to the matter is, what you came out as from your mothers WOMB can NEVER be changed/altered/falsified, whatever! You can be whatever you want to be, but YOUR DNA will remain and FOREVER be that! NO ONE CAN CHANGE THEIR DNA, BUT THEY CAN PRETEND TO BE WHATEVER THEY WANT ALL THEY LIKE! SIMPLE!!!! YOUR D.N.A IS WHO YOU ARE!!!!
This world is going nuts and will end if this continues man is male women is female simple
As per vFF template.
Double speak is saying someone is born in the wrong body. Who has their body?
I support this Bill.
It's time to stop pussyfooting around and use common sense.
A male has a penis, testicles (testes) and XY chromosomes. A woman has a vagina, ovaries and XX chromosomes, and ovulates.
Therefore, a male is an adult man, and a woman is an adult female.
Males should be kept out of female only areas and female only sports, otherwise it's unpleasant and / or unfair .
i support the biological definition of gender and in particular the Definition of Woman and Man Amendment Bill
Stop this craziness, a man is what’s it’s been for 2000+ years and the same with a woman!
I agree with the law as is as I don’t want my grandaughter to be confronted with a man in women’s toilets She is in her her Third year at medical school in ChCh but lived in Auckland
My elder grandson is also at Medical college in Cch I do not want him to find women in the men’s toilets although this would be very rare. The medical stufies are extremely hard work and I do t want him to be taken off course
there is only two sexs, male and female. We need to reopen all the metal Hospitals