Feminism in New Zealand

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Feminism in New Zealand began in 1840, when the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi created New Zealand as part of the British Empire under Queen Victoria. The British government passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 which granted limited-self rule, an estimated three-quarters of the adult male European population in New Zealand had the right to vote in the first elections in 1853. Māori first voted in 1868 and women voted in 1893.

In New Zealand there was a distinct history of settler capitalism and homogeneity from subsequent migrant flows, thus the feminist challenges primarily arose from Maori women. Feminists began to emerge throughout the 1960s. Unlike feminism that reguarded race, or post colonialism, New Zealand feminism was connected with the existing progressive political organizations. By the 1970s the 1st ‘women’s liberation’ groups began to appear, many of whom were middle class Pakeha women.

New Zealand was the first country in the world in which all the highest offices were occupied by women, between March 2005 and August 2006: the Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II of New Zealand, Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Margaret Wilson and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias.

Pre-colonisation

Prior to European settlement of New Zealand, kinship systems in Māori tribes were often arranged matrilineally.^[1] Diplomacy and rituals of exchange between Māori tribes were also often arranged according to the concept of mana wahine, the prestige and political power held by a woman or the women of a tribe. Today, numerous Māori iwi and hapu descended from such women insist on identifying themselves as being "the people of" that particular female ancestor. For example, on the East Coast of the North Island a prominent iwi group is Ngāti Kahungunu, eponymous of the male ancestor Kahungunu. However within the Mahia area of that region, there is a local preference for the name Ngāti Rongomaiwahine; Rongomaiwahine being known as the more prestigious ancestor of the people there.^[2] Similar insistence is made by members of Ngāti Hinemoa and Ngāti Hinemanu.

Recent scholarship has challenged the popular notion that pre-colonial Māori societies were strictly patriarchal; some Māori scholars have suggested that the solidification of a patriarchal structure in Māori societies was shaped by colonial contact, largely through the expectations and prejudices of European settler-traders and Christian missionaries.^[3][4]

History

• 1860: married women’s Property Perfection Act, allows women to keep their earning and belongings if deserted.^[5]
• 1864: Heni Pore, fought for the King movement and distinguished herself at Gate Pa. Later, became the Secretary to the Māori Women's Christian Temperance Union, and later became known as an expert on Māori land title.
• 1867: The Municipal Corporations Act and The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act was created and enforced
• 1873: Employment of Females Act enforced
• 1884: Married Women's Property Act
• 1893: Pākehā and Māori women won the right to vote in general elections due to the Electoral Act, and Elizabeth Yates became New Zealand's first woman mayor in the British Empire
• 1895: the first women's hockey team was established, and Minnie Dean, was the only New Zealand woman to hang
• 1896: National Council of Women of New Zealand was created, Emily Siedeberg became the first woman doctor to graduate,and Mary Ann Bacon became the country's first woman stockbroker
• 1897 Ethel Benjamin became the first woman to be admitted as a barrister and solicitor.
• 1898: The Divorce Act of 1898 allowed the dissolution of marriage virtually equal for women and men.
• 1933: Elizabeth McCombs becomes the first woman elected to Parliament^[6]
• 1938: Catherine Stewart becomes the first woman elected to Parliament not via Widow's succession
• 1947: Mabel Howard, who was elected to Parliament in 1943 becomes New Zealand's first Woman Cabinet Minister.
• 1949: Iriaka Rātana becomes the first Māori woman elected to Parliament
• 1951: Māori Women's Welfare League founded with Dame Whina Cooper as president
• 1975: Marilyn Waring at age 23, becomes the youngest member of the Parliament of New Zealand
• 1983: Catherine Tizard becomes the first woman Mayor of Auckland City
• 1984: Ann Hercus appointed first Minister for Women's Affairs
• 1988: Lowell Goddard and Sian Elias become the first women appointed as Queen's Counsel of New Zealand
• 1989: Catherine Tizard becomes the first woman Governor-General of New Zealand
• 1997: Jenny Shipley becomes first woman Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1999: Helen Clark becomes first elected woman Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1999: Sian Elias becomes the first woman Chief Justice of New Zealand
• 2005: Margaret Wilson becomes the first woman Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. As a result, all five of the most senior positions of state are simultaneously held by women, as Wilson served with Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of New Zealand, Sylvia Cartwright as Governor-General of New Zealand, Sian Elias as Chief Justice of New Zealand, and Helen Clark as Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Gender Shift

In the 1870s the government initiated a campaign to encourage more women to move to New Zealand. They did this by giving them the prospect of working with more pay than being at home. By 1916 and 1941 the inequality issue began to dissipate, and the gender differences were about equal. By 1971 the gender shift began and women began to outnumber the men. By 2001 there were 104 women to every 100 men.The female population is soon to outrank the male population by 2051,^[7] because of the high mortality rate among men aged 15–24, and the female life expectancy is expected to increase much faster than males.^[8]

Age structure

The average age for the people of New Zealand is 36 with 12.6% being over the age of 65 and 21.5% under the age of 25.^[9] Yet, for the Māori people the average age is 23 years old with 4.1% aged over 65 and 35.4% aged under 15.

Issues

In 2001 the gender differences in New Zealand were exponential having 63,000 more women than men.^[10] According to current census records, this trend is expected to continue. There are other anticipated key issues expected to occur in the lives of the New Zealand women including:

• a decline in the birth and fertility rates in the younger women, and childbearing in later years
• the family structure has changed with the decline in marriage rates, increase in divorce rates, and increase in reconstituted families
• women's incomes are still below men
• continuous segregation in occupations as women still make up more than 90% of the secretarial, nursing, and maid positions while men are often carpenters, joiners, mechanics, fitters, and heavy truck drivers.
• there are more younger Maori women than older women Maori women.
• There is a higher fertility and childbearing rate among the younger Maori women than the non-Maori women
• There are higher mortality rates among the Maori women, especially the very young and middle-aged
• the younger women are more qualified educationally in all ethnic groups than the older women.^[11]

Important Changes and Initiatives

• Increase in the number of women in self-employment
• increase in organisations/networks such as WISE, Women into Self-Employment.
• development of gender analysis methodology
• increase in "out of school" care offered to low income communities
• increase in government cooaporation to overcome gender bias in employment towards the Maori, Pacific Island, rural and urban women.
• more attention to child care provision and paid parent leave, thus allowing more women to participate in employment
• renewed look on retirement income, especially those of Maori women.
• increase in participation of women in local governmental affairs, including taking office such as mayors.
• improvements on the anti-domestic violence legislation (1995)
• national breast screeneing programme
• Free visits to medical practitioners for children under 6 years old
• In 2000 the Property (Relationships) Bill was introduced which allows women to have access to property and earnings following a marriage or de facto relationship break down. This law also applies to same sex couples, given they have lived together for three years.^[12]

Families and households

From 1971 and 2001 some differences have occurred in how new Zealand families. In 1971 the family was commonly a legally married husband and a wife with about 3 children. The men were the ones that went out to get the money for the household, while the women stayed at home and raised the children. over the past 30 years this idea has changed due to bringing in different cultural ideals, family patterns, and contributions. Mäori women are less likely to marry and more likely to live in extended family situations.

Opposition to Change

Though the past century has brought about many gains in women's rights and feminism and they continue to effect levels of attainment for the women in New Zealand.There are women in power positions available to be seen for the public eye, but for the average New Zealand women there is still a constant reminder of male domination in matters of decision making, occupation and income, retirement provision, home ownership, and family responsibility. The government favors the state initiatives for the sake of strengthening the economic base and communities. The Right-Wing governments have also taken a hold of the neo-liberalism reform that subverts the gender compromise grasping the metropolitan welfare system. It also undermines the progress in sex-reform that include anti-discrimination provisions, child care services, etc.

See also

• Women's suffrage in New Zealand
• Anno Domini 2000, or, Woman's Destiny, an 1889 novel written by a former Prime Minister who foresaw a time when women would have the vote and hold positions of authority
• Category:New Zealand suffragists
• Category:New Zealand feminists
• Timeline of the Feminist art movement in New Zealand

References

Further reading

• Focusing on women. Wellington: Statistics New Zealand. 2005. ISBN 978-0-478-26926-0. 

External links

• Ministry of Women's Affairs