Boston, who is co-chairman of the Children's Commissioner's advisory group on solutions to child poverty has discovered a significant gender divide, in terms of the level of male and female leadership and involvement in addressing child poverty and deprivation.

Boston believes everyone in society needs to care for our children and be concerned for those who are least advantaged. "Poverty is not just a women's issue, it's a societal issue.

"Men need to step up and take responsibility for these issues, along with women."

But economist and social researcher, Dr Paul Callister, says interest in children's wellbeing is not a gender issue. "The bigger issue is that both men and women don't care enough about child poverty. If we did, we'd have a Swedish or Norwegian system in place."

Callister believes men do engage with the challenges facing kids but they demonstrate it differently. "They are not necessarily at Plunket but they might be working with Big Buddy (which recruits male mentors for fatherless boys)."

He also points to the work of sports coaches, and organisations such as Rotary and the Lions, as examples of where he believes men are stepping up.

Callister concedes caring organisations remain dominated by women.

Boston says there are three myths about Child Poverty in New Zealand:

Myth 1: There is little or no child poverty in New Zealand.

Myth 2: Children are poor and deprived mainly because their parents are bad, mad, foolish or indifferent. In other words, children are going to school hungry, have worn-out clothes and shoes, and live in cold houses because of poor, incompetent parenting. Every family has enough income, it is claimed. The problem is simply that some people don't know how to live within their means.

Myth 3: We cannot reduce child poverty simply by increasing the incomes of poor families. Throwing more money at the problem, it is argued, doesn't work. For instance, it is claimed that the additional funding for low-income families provided via the Working for Families package, introduced seven years ago, has not reduced poverty.

Boston is professor of public policy at Victoria University and co-chair, together with Dr Tracey McIntosh, of the University of Auckland, of the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty, established by the Children's Commissioner.

Over the past seven months the committee as been assessing the best available international and domestic evidence on how to reduce child poverty and mitigate its effects.

The Committee has also prepared 20 Working Papers on a multiplicity of policy issues. These are available on the website of the Children's Commissioner.

A Unicef report ranks New Zealand 20th out of 35 countries for child poverty.

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• Image: TV3