KEY POINTS:
New Zealand women are being encouraged to act like ladies and not "blokettes" on International Women's Day today.
The National Council of Women said New Zealand women were blazing across political and economic barriers, but socially seemed to be confusing empowerment with what had been historically classed as the domain of stereotypical male behaviour.
Spokeswoman Christine Low said along with a rise in unsafe sexual behaviour, one in four women had revealed they could not remember what they did when drinking alcohol.
She said that kind of behaviour led to women potentially putting themselves into situations with life-changing consequences.
"There is a raft of socially damaging impacts, the risk of contracting sexually-transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies - going hand in hand with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
"There is also the increased possibility of becoming the victims of physical and sexual violence."
Women needed to realise that empowerment does not disenfranchise them from being a woman, she said.
Ms Low saod women needed to know it was perfectly acceptable to act and behave like a woman and not a "blokette" with something to prove to their male counterparts.
- NEWSTALK ZB
