Definition of Woman and Man Bill – GFANZ Recommends Binning It

2nd July 2026
Members of the Social Services and Community Committee
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

Tēnā koutou,

We fully oppose the Definitions of Woman and Man Amendment Bill progressing any further.

We wish to speak to our submission.

Genomics for Aotearoa New Zealand is an incorporated society with a number of purposes. In regards to this submission we speak primarily to objects 4, and 6. These being:

4) To promote and support education and public engagement in the field of genomics.
6) To provide guidance to stakeholders in regards to genomics.

As a scientific discipline, genomics seeks to better understand the complexity of living things through the study of the DNA that underpins much of that complexity. Learning to be a practicing genomics scientist takes many, many years of training. We do not start our journey by trying to understand the most complex parts that are known. That would not be very fruitful or practical.

Instead, like in many other things people learn about, we start with more simple ideas. Often learning in biology and genetics starts with very old ideas. It progresses by showing how the old ideas were replaced by better ones as people did more research over time. In this way, we build the foundational knowledge so we can learn more and add to (or correct) what had been thought before. A key point to know about this is that there is always more to uncover. Finding things we did not know before. That is the scientific method in action.

In the discussions around this bill, there have been people saying that what they are proposing is ‘just basic biology’. They have said that it is science. And they have said many other things as well. We have a different point of view. One that has the benefit of being built on a strong foundation of research beyond basic biology. In suggesting that the bill is basic biology, they are taking the position of a student in their early teenage years. One at the very beginning of understanding about the complexity of life. One where ‘woman’ or ‘man’ do not reflect reality in all its wonder and diversity.

This bill is akin to the Indiana Pi Bill1 of 1897 in regards attempting to legislate reality instead of observing it for what it is. That bill was sort of an attempt to legislate the number Pi. Neither maths nor biology care what legislators do. At the same time, harm for real people can result.

Genetics science has been used in the past as a cover for ideas that are not scientific at all. Eugenics is one that comes to mind in this moment. It seeks to define what is the right kind or best kind of person. In doing that it defines many real people as less than. Vast harm has been done to people, in the past and present, due to this non-science. By this, we mean many people have been killed. Eugenics is at the heart of this bill.

Our recommendation is that those ideas and this bill are best chucked into the dustbin of humanity’s past mistakes never to return.

Nāku iti noa, nā,
Robert Elshire
President, Genomics for Aotearoa New Zealand
On behalf of the Genomics for Aotearoa New Zealand council.