Women’s vice-president elect of the Tertiary Education Union, Sarah Proctor Thomson, is an academic at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, coordinating a degree. She’s been in this role since February and was in a general staff role at NMIT prior to that.Sarah moved to Nelson for family reasons from Wellington, where she had an academic role in Victoria University’s School of Management.Sarah has been on the National Women’s Committee for four years and has held other national roles in TEU.“I’ve really enjoyed the Women’s Committee,” she says. “The Women’s Committee has a really important role in always putting gender on the agenda. That might involve asking questions about the impact on women and different sections of women, for example Māori and Pasifika, to ensure equality is embedded in everything the union does.”Sarah says the committee initiates campaigns in terms of making women’s lives better. An example she cites is the work on sexual harassment the committee is currently doing, looking at sexual harassment policies and making a standard policy available.She sees the role of the Women’s Committee as “making sure equality is embedded in all we do”.Sarah has observed a change in mood following the change of government, with members feeling more positive and committing to get more active.A big commitment for Sarah is Te Tiriti framework. “I am keen on making Te Tiriti framework alive and well in all our practices,” she says. “I am really committed to that. It is big on my agenda to make sure that we really live that in everything we do.”