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Enter an immersive digital art experience, bringing together more than 20 leading creatives from across Aotearoa. These multimedia works explore our relationships with the ocean and climate breakdown, highlighting indigenous voices and knowledge. This is art as activism.

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RNZ: Smart Talk at the Auckland Museum - Society & Culture

LATE at the Museum - He Mana, He Wahine

August 14, 2016

A panel discussion from the Auckland Museum about the about feminism in New Zealand and the everyday realities of the quest for equality. In this first of the 2016 Smart Talk series, you can hear from the writer and musician Courtney Sina Meredith; the Maori, women's and LGBT rights advocate Dr Ngahuia Te Awekotuku; the social and critical accounting researcher Dr Pala Molisa; and the Pasifika artist Rosanna Raymond. Mihingarangi Forbes in the chair for this RNZ recording.

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A panel discussion from the Auckland Museum about the about feminism in New Zealand and the everyday realities of the quest for equality. In this first of the 2016 Smart Talk series, you can hear from the writer and musician Courtney Sina Meredith; the Maori, women's and LGBT rights advocate Dr Ngahuia Te Awekotuku; the social and critical accounting researcher Dr Pala Molisa; and the Pasifika artist Rosanna Raymond.

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How Māori women can find our way back to equity through the stories of the past.
In 1993 a group of Māori women filed a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal, now known as the Mana Wahine Claim. The claimants included a list of dream dinner party guests - all of the Māori Women's Welfare League, Lady Rose Henare, Mabel Waititi, Dame Whina Cooper, Dame Mira Szászy, Ripeka Evans, Donna Awatere and Paparangi Reid. A group of women with enough mana to sink a fleet of waka.

They alleged that the Crown's actions and policies since 1840 had systematically discriminated against Māori women and deprived us of our spiritual, cultural, social and economic well-being which is protected by the Treaty of Waitangi.

The main motivation for the claim was the removal of a respected kuia from the shortlist of appointees to the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission. The fisheries settlement process ended up being overseen almost exclusively by the Crown and Māori men.

The Minister of Māori Affairs at the time, Doug Kidd, responded that the lack of status accorded to Māori women was the fault of Māori men - not the Crown. Of course to that I say a hearty bollocks. You can't pass a disease on to someone, and when they pass it onto someone else claim it had nothing to do with you.

However we are none of us entirely blameless.

As Māori, we have all absorbed and perpetuated the inherent misogyny of the Western world we were colonised into. Māori women know that there is a generation (or more) of Māori men that love the sound of their own voices and don't much care to be contradicted or told what to do by women, and I've heard plenty of Māori women tell feminists to suck it up. To think we might be exempt or somehow above the sexism that permeates the world around us is unrealistic.

But there are lessons in our history and our language that tell us it hasn't always been this way. I've talked to people way smarter than me and read countless essays, theses and stories looking at pakiwaitara and historical accounts of brave women and atua wahine, as well accounts of daily life and social structures in different hapū.

I've heard about our ancestors recognising more than two genders, and been given the excellent advice "...any opportunity we have to carefully think about heteronormative gendernorms being perpetuated through publication - either through atua narratives or tipuna narratives - we should be taking it."

And I've heard theories that stories of women ancestors have been lost or attributed to men by European ethnologists because our personal pronouns ( ia/ tana) are genderless.

I don't claim to be a history or tikanga expert, but I believe based on what I've learned that we once truly believed in equity among the genders, while acknowledging differences and strengths on all sides. We can find a way back to respecting and elevating mana wahine by listening to the past, and to the amazing Māori women that have spent the last 150 or so years fighting to be heard. Me āta whakarongo ki ngā tūpuna.

1893 was the first time New Zealand women were given access to the Westminster vote, but traditionally Māori women and children already had a say on important issues in their own communities. As that right was slowly eroded by encroaching colonisation, Māori women joined the fight for suffrage.

They gave up a lot in the fight for women's suffrage. In order to be included in the campaign, Ngā Komiti Wāhine made an alliance with the Women's Christian Temperance Union and so were required to subscribe to the rules and regulations of the Union in return for their support. They had to adopt practises that went against Māori beliefs about womanhood and family, but the greatest sacrifice was having to revoke the tradition of tā moko. In her essay 'The negation of powerlessness', activist Ripeka Evans writes: "I can think of no more firing manner in which to celebrate suffrage than to begin again the tradition of ta moko."

The Mana Wahine claim will finally be heard by the Waitangi Tribunal as part of the Kaupapa Inquiry this year, some 24 years after it was filed and 125 years after women were given the vote in New Zealand. Some of those fighting mareikura have now passed on but they look to us to carry the torch and continue to hold our leaders to account. But now we're more emboldened than ever to make those claims as Māori woman, with tā moko if we choose, with all of the experience, strength and perspective that entails, rather than taking the scraps given to us by Pākehā and Māori men.

In talks about decolonising media practise, I always tell people to follow the power. Look at who has power and who has none. Listen to those with less power and ask why. This still holds within feminist discourse. Māori and Pasifika voices need to be elevated for us to find our way back, to go forward.

Ask your mums and nannies to tell you their stories. Hold those stories tight.
Made with the help of NZ On Air Watch more episodes of Kaupapa On The Couch
Ripeka Evans The negation of powerlessness

Clive Aspin and Jessica Hutchings Sexuality and the stories of indigenous people

Annie Mikaere Māori women: caught in the contradictions of a colonised reality

He Hoeka Mana wahine

Amy McQuire Mainstream feminism still blind to its racism
The Bulletin is The Spinoff's acclaimed daily digest of New Zealand's most important stories, delivered directly to your inbox each morning.

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Kaupapa on the Couch: taking back mana wāhine (WATCH)

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How Māori women can find our way back to equity through the stories of the past. In 1993 a group of Māori women filed a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal, now known as the Mana Wahine Claim.

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According to Dr Pala Molisa, pay inequality is one of the most fundamental economic issues that a lot of women fought for in the early years of feminism, and it's still a problem today.

However, he thinks that it's really only one of the symptoms of gender inequality which exists in a patriarchal culture greatly affected by colonisation. "We really can't start to get our heads around pay equity," he adds, "until you start confronting the wider structural realities of colonisation as a whole."

Not necessarily so, according to Dr Ngahuia Te Awekotuku.

Thinking back to the formation of the very first women's groups in Auckland, she agrees that one of their slogans was equal pay for equal work. "45 years later," she says, "there are still huge disparities. Much of the bias comes from male privilege, and from the notion that what men do is worth that much more."

However, she takes issue with the notion that colonisation is to blame. "Before the Victorians came, before the colonisers came, Aotearoa was a battlefield. These islands, these lands, this very hill on which the Museum is constructed , were contested. To assume in any way that the 700,000 immigrants who arrived after 1840 and before 1890 were responsible for all the problems we have is unfair and untrue."

She holds that in the Māori world of many generations ago, "there was as much contestation, there was as much struggle, there was as much misunderstanding, rivalry and hatred" as in more recent history. "However," she says," it's considered impolitic to look at those realities."

That's not to say that the patriarchal attitudes of the colonisers didn't have an impact. Te Awekotuku criticizes what she sees as the neglect and misrepresentation of traditional Māori women's art, citing the absence of a single item made by women in the otherwise ground-breaking Te Māori exhibition which toured the USA three decades ago.

It's a different story now. "I come into the Museum thirty years later," she says, "I see Te Rongo Kirkwood and Areta Wilkinson's glorious show Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, and I'm reminded of the magic and mana of weaving."

She notes, too, the presence in the Auckland Museum of Te Toki-a-Tāpiri, the carved war canoe commissioned by a Ngati Kahungunu chief in the 1830s. Despite the artistry, the carving, the magnificence of that object, it was traded for a cloak, a woven garment known as Karamaene.

For Te Awekotuku, this is proof that an object created by women was once considered to have the same status and value as a carved Māori war canoe. And when she first heard the story, "it just made so much sense" as she thought of her own upbringing by women expert in weaving.

She considers that the story repudiates the notion that so many ethnographers, historians, Victorian gentlemen collectors (and privileged Māori men who curated the Te Māori exhibition), would have us believe: that women make craft, and men make art.

"That," she concludes, "is bullshit."

About the participants
Mihingarangi Forbes - Moderator
Mihingarangi is an award-winning investigative journalist, television interviewer and mother of four. She got into hot water when she investigated the much respected Kōhanga Reo Trust. Veteran broadcaster Derek Fox coined a new phrase when he accused her of being the root of the "pakehafication of Māori journalism". Mihingarangi is Māori Issues Correspondent for Radio New Zealand.
Courtney Sina Meredith
Courtney Sina Meredith is a poet, playwright, fiction writer and musician. Her play Rushing Dolls (2010) won a number of awards and was published by Playmarket in 2012. She held the LiteraturRaum Blebitreu Berlin residency in 2011, and in 2016 she will take up the University of Iowa's International Writing Program Fall Residency. Courtney's first book of short stories Tail of the Taniwha was published in August, following her much lauded 2012 collection of poems, Brown Girls in Bright Red Lipstick.
Dr Ngahuia Te Awekotuku
Ngahuia Te Awekotuku grew up in Ōhinemutu, Rotorua. She has been a fierce advocate for Māori, women's and LGBT rights for nearly five decades. Her PhD in psychology (1981), focused on Māori women and tourism. Her research on culture, gender, and sexuality has been published extensively. Her publications include: Mau Moko: The World of Maori Tattoo (2007) and E Ngaa Uri Whakatupu: Weaving Legacies (2015). In 2013 she worked on the exhibition Tirohia Mai: Look at Us Now, which celebrated 120 years of women's suffrage.
Dr Pala Molisa
As a child in Vanuatu, Pala Molisa was dragged along by his parents to protests about gender justice and conferences on Pacific development. Pala has a PhD in accounting and teaches at the School of Accounting and Commercial Law at Victoria Business School. His research focuses on the little-known area of social and critical accounting - a radical new accountancy that brings a whole raft of social indicators to your typical balance sheet.
Rosanna Raymond
Sistar S'pacific aka Rosanna Raymond, an innovator of the contemporary Pasifika art scene as a long-standing member of the art collective the Pacific Sisters, and founding member of the SaVAge K'lub. Raymond has achieved international renown for her performances, installations, body adornment, and spoken word. A published writer and poet, her works are held by museums and private collectors throughout the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A dynamic artist, her work is consistent in its celebration of Pasifika and the engagements it invokes and evokes; whether between museum collections and contemporary Pacific art or museums and urban spaces.
This programme was recorded in partnership with the Auckland Museum

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Was gender inequality in NZ caused by colonisation? Perhaps not

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According to Dr Pala Molisa, pay inequality is one of the most fundamental economic issues that a lot of women fought for in the early years of feminism, and it's still a problem today. However, he thinks that it's really only one of the symptoms of gender inequality which exists in a patriarchal culture greatly affected by colonisation.

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Desperately fighting to save indigenous land from development, Pania Newton leads a determined collective of protectors in the fight for Ihumātao.

Set behind the front lines at Ihumātao, Mana Wahine captures intimate access to SOUL co-leader, Pania Newton, in the weeks leading up to what is becoming New Zealand's most disputed indigenous land occupation.

As the magnitude of the fight ahead and pressures placed on her become all too real, Pania lays bare her personal struggles to find the strength to lead. As the cultural and political unrest reaches breaking point, Mana Wahine provides unique insight into an indigenous issue resonating around the world.
Mana Wahine is part of a collection of eight Loading Docs short documentaries.The full collection of shorts will be released on 29 August 2019.
Director: Corinna Hunziker

Corinna Hunziker (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) is a driven and gifted indigenous storyteller deeply committed to empowering minorities to have their voices heard. Her work is proof that storytelling plays a vital role in sharing knowledge across borders, communities and generations.

Corinna has been directing for five years, most notably on THREE's cultural diversity series, Both Worlds, providing a platform for minority youth to share their lives and experiences, and has recently held the trainee director position on the upcoming TVOne drama feature film Runaway Millionaires shadowing experienced director Danny Mulheron.
Producer: Mia Henry-Teirney
Mia Henry-Teirney (Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa, Te Rārawa, Ngāti Kuri) is a Māori producer that has produced short film My Brother Mitchell, series one of Baby Mama's Club, and was the intern producer on Mahana. Mia is passionate about sharing indigenous stories with global audiences, and has worked as a production manager and coordinator on various local and international productions.

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Desperately fighting to save indigenous land from development, Pania Newton leads a determined collective of protectors in the fight for Ihumātao. Set behind the front lines at Ihumātao, Mana Wahine captures intimate access to SOUL co-leader, Pania Newton, in the weeks leading up to what is becoming New Zealand's most disputed indigenous land occupation.

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Desperately fighting to save land at Ihumātao from development, Pania Newton leads a determined collective of protectors in the fight to save the site considered sacred.

Set behind the front lines at Ihumātao, Mana Wahine captures intimate access to SOUL co-leader Pania Newton in the weeks leading up to what is becoming New Zealand's most disputed indigenous land occupation.

As the magnitude of the fight ahead and pressures placed on her become all too real, Pania lays bare her personal struggles to find the strength to lead. As the cultural and political unrest reaches breaking point, Mana Wahine provides unique insight into an indigenous issue resonating around the world.

Mana Wahine is part of a collection of eight Loading Docs short documentaries. The full collection of shorts will be released on 29 August 2019.
Reading more:
Speaking to Morning Report today, Pania Newton said discussions were progressing but the land was significant to New Zealand's history and there was only one message: return it.

"For us this isn't a Treaty issue, this is a cultural heritage landscape issue in that this is the last remaining piece for mana whenua ... within the context of all the land that was confiscated and all the injustices our whānau and our marae have endured for many, many years at the hands of the Crown.

"This land is so significant to our nation's history," she said.

"The Crown need to take responsibility for the heartache that they've caused the people and the environment here in Ihumātao. For us it's just return the land to mana whenua [who] can perhaps consider holding it in trust for all New Zealanders to enjoy as a cultural heritage landscape."

The invitation to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to visit was still open and she would be received with respect and under the umbrella of peace, Ms Newton said.

Director: Corinna Hunziker

Corinna Hunziker (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) is deeply committed to empowering minorities to have their voices heard. She has been directing for five years, most notably on Three's cultural diversity series Both Worlds, providing a platform for minority youth to share their lives and experiences, and has recently held the trainee director position on the upcoming TVOne drama feature film Runaway Millionaires.

Producer: Mia Henry-Teirney

Mia Henry-Teirney (Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa, Te Rārawa, Ngāti Kuri) is a Māori producer who produced the short film My Brother Mitchell and series one of Baby Mama's Club, and was intern producer on Mahana. Mia is passionate about sharing indigenous stories with global audiences.

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Loading Docs: Mana Wahine - Behind the scenes at Ihumātao with Pania Newton

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Desperately fighting to save land at Ihumātao from development, Pania Newton leads a determined collective of protectors in the fight to save the site considered sacred. Set behind the front lines at Ihumātao, Mana Wahine captures intimate access to SOUL co-leader Pania Newton in the weeks leading up to what is becoming New Zealand's most disputed indigenous land occupation.

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New Zealand| Politics

COMMENT: I was recently asked if I knew of a Māori language translation of "feminist". "Mana wāhine" is now a fairly well-known term, which speaks of the unique power, spiritual essence and mana of women.

To me, that term is able to encompass feminist concepts, but I see mana wāhine and feminism as sitting in a Venn diagram -​ there are areas of convergence, but also distinct areas of difference.

As for "feminist", I found the term "kaikōkiri mana wāhine", which literally means "an advocate, champion" of mana wāhine.

A feminist as an advocate for mana wāhine works for me, as long as the concept of mana is deeply understood.

Mana recognises the individual essence of a person, the generations of ancestors it took to produce this one, utterly unique person.

Respect for the mana of all people breeds equality, because if we want to enhance the mana of females and males, we naturally value them both equally.

Mana wāhine is embedded in Māori world view. Our creation narratives speak of the specific power and qualities of female deities such as Papatūānuku, the earth mother, who had a loving relationship with Ranginui, the sky father.

The first human, in Māori beliefs, was a woman: Hineahuone. A woman gave the first breath of life, instigated by the male god, Tāne.

Their daughter Hine-tītama was the dawn maiden, who became Hine-nui-te-pō, the goddess and guardian of the underworld.

The affirmation of the spiritual power and charisma of women is threaded through our narratives, and our tikanga, as is the natural order and balance of men and women. It's when things get out of balance, and the mana of each person is not recognised, that we have problems!
Related articles
I consider myself a feminist, and I am also a champion of mana wāhine -​ not just for me, but for my daughters, sisters and fellow women.

As I mentioned though, the Venn diagram means I don't believe feminism and mana wāhine are completely the same, or offer the same experiences, or relevance for all women.

I'm used to walking in (at least) two worlds. I'm proudly both Māori and Pākehā.

That duality means my feminist self knows there are aspects of being a Māori woman that are different, and require an energy, and a fight that not all my feminist sisters will experience, or necessarily understand.

As an indigenous minority, a woman of dual heritage, I'm used to not being naturally included in a natty definition of feminism.

When you recognise the mana and difference of other women, we can see where our battles converge, and where we need to work harder to understand each other.

A friend, the artist Rebecca Te Borg, asked me for a statement for her artwork for the suffrage celebrations.

We came up with "Maimoatia te karanga a te mokorā": "Respect the call of the female robin".

The mokorā/female robin has a soft call, it's not famous or renowned like the tūī. But its distinct voice is to be respected. Listen out for the voice that is often not heard.

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Stacey Morrison: Mana wāhine embedded in Māori world view - NZ Herald

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New Zealand| Politics COMMENT: I was recently asked if I knew of a Māori language translation of "feminist". "Mana wāhine" is now a fairly well-known term, which speaks of the unique power, spiritual essence and mana of women.

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Whakamana to Tamariki | Empower your Children. We specialise in Korowai (feathered cloaks) for children 14 and under. We have a wide range of colors or choose to have a custom design made for your special occassion. Kids Korowai also houses NZ made brands like Tuhi, O Te Motu, Kawacure, NZ Poi Shop, Piri Paua and more.

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Kia Ora, I'm Qiane. We might live in a media-saturated world, but we're not exactly drowning in our stories. We all know Indigenous storytelling started in the stars, but like a night without stars, there was a blank space where our stories should have been shining. So I invite you to come and hang out with me and some kickass indigenous wāhine. See how the world can be shaped by our voice, the unique picture we see. Let US share who we are, not who we've been told to be. Nau mai, Haere mai, Welcome to NUKU!

NUKU invites indigenous wahine to look at the world through a different lens, a personal lens, a cultural lens, a lens made by and made for indigenous women - mā hine, mō hine, kia hine!

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for and about kickass indigenous women Changing the narrative Welcome to NUKU Kia Ora, I'm Qiane. We might live in a media-saturated world, but we're not exactly drowning in our stories. We all know Indigenous storytelling started in the [...]