New Zealand Women Talk About the Next Big Fight

While this year marks 125 years since women’s suffrage in New Zealand, 2018 seems to mark as many battles for women as ever. New front lines for equality keep emerging: over the last few years we’ve seen the rise of the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements—and the conversations around reproductive rights, equal pay and representation women have been fighting for generations are still ongoing. For this year’s upcoming International Women’s Day, we asked a number of influential New Zealand women about the issue, or fight, that’s most present in their mind this year. Here’s what they had to say:

Aidee Walker, director
The biggest issue I’m facing in 2018 is motherhood with a career. The world can think "she’s pregnant, she can’t do that, we need to look after her", but no, I can absolutely do this. With men, there’s no question about them being fathers and working, and what responsibilities they should have. And with women, I think that’s a constant battle of what our priorities should be.

Miriama Aoake, writer
The biggest fight for me continues to be equity. Equity is such a broad term and is often used but rarely understood or practiced correctly. I’ve grown wary of co-opting and integrating diversity, which is so often transparent, performative and does nothing to dismantle structural oppression. I want substantive representation that challenges the power dynamics that see those born into privilege and generation wealth succeed. I want to democratise access to resources and opportunities. I want control of narrative afforded to those who have traditionally been excluded, with lived experience. My hope is that we acknowledge the transformative power of tino rangatiratanga, and look to the Māori worldview to help resolve these issues. It is imperative we affirm the role of tangata whenua and embed tikanga into the everyday. Tikanga is inclusive by default, and can adapt and respond to social currents. The fire that burns within me every day, that burned in the hearts of my tūpuna, is to make this our reality in Aotearoa.

Samara Autagavaia , actress
The most important issue for me that I’m facing in 2018 would be misogyny. Being mixed-Polynesian I was born into an understanding that I was less. That is because of patriarchal misogyny. And so misogyny being rooted in racism, I am inheriting that being a woman, and being Samoan-Tongan-Māori.

Falencie Filipo, artist
Domestic violence. A lot of women in our culture don’t like to talk about being hit. If they’re more aware that there’s more help elsewhere, than I think more women would speak out about it.

Pip Hartley, Tā Moko artist
To sum it up in a couple of words: cultural appropriation. I’m a Tā Moko artist and the main objective is to educate people on how sacred our art forms are to us as indigenous people. I understand a lot of people are drawn to Tā Moko for example, but just out of respect it would be great if people did a little more research and tried to understand our culture and our people and our world.

Zeenat Wilkinson, editor
It’s really important that I’m kind of more true about myself. On a personal level I think I really want to bring out more of me, my true self. And bring my culture and things that I’ve learnt over the years, growing up in Mumbai, and there’s a lot of things I think I have to say to celebrate beauty in every shape and form. To really kind of celebrate diversity, I want to stand out, I want show who I am.

Brya Pilbrow, graphic designer
Tackling imposter syndrome and feeling like when people coming into the space that they’ve worked for, that they deserve, that they don’t feel un-welcomed and that they feel it’s a place they can be a part of. As a graphic design student, I feel like I am slightly afraid to step into the industry knowing that it is mostly male-dominated. And feeling like I have to perhaps, prove myself to get a space or get a place within the industry.

Lydia Hollister-Jones, NGO worker
There are 35.8 million people stuck in slavery. We have more slaves in the world now than we have ever had in recorded history. It’s 2018 and I think that it’s time we did something about that, so that’s what I really care about.

Annabel Liddell, medical student
Our access to basic human rights. I think there’s a huge discrepancy between the Western world and the developing world in terms of access to equitable health care, education and literacy, voting rights, all of those really important autonomous things that make us human. In the developing countries we have 60 percent of women in India completely illiterate. It’s really unacceptable as I think we’re only as strong as our weakest player.

Jordan Rondel, baker
We’re fed so much information on social media, important social issues and we brush things off because we’ve liked them and shared them and feeling like that’s enough. And then sort of just scrolling on to the next thing. One thing I’m going to work on this year is picking something that I really care about and learning about it to the full extent, and then actually trying to help fix it, lend a hand in fixing it.

Damaris Jeanne Coulter, restaurant owner-operator
Do I actually like who I was today? Did I leave the planet a bit better? Have I actually helped anyone? Or did I just take?

Ghazaleh Golbakhsh, filmmaker
In New Zealand, you still have to get two doctors to sign off to say that you’re not mentally sane to have an abortion. It’s also quite morally wrong to say, "I can’t have a kid because I’m not mentally sane"—as opposed to, "I choose not to".

Jackie Clark, women’s refuge donations co-ordinator
Women, trans women, non-binary people’s access to services and resources that they need are incredibly poor internationally, because the system deliberately under-resources the agencies. The most important issue that I face is making sure the women that I work with have access to the resources they need, so that they’re thriving and not struggling.

Laura Taylor, marketing manager
Protection of our most vulnerable. While there are still girls and women globally without access to basic menstrual care, who are struggling to give birth safely, unwillingly forced into marriages, unable to read or walk safely to school, experiencing forced genital mutilation and femicide—then our fight is not over. While they suffer, we suffer too. To not be immobilised by fear, lack of empathy or motivation. As the discourse surrounding feminism evolves and gains traction, we need to remain grounded in the desire for equality for all.

Abigail Egden, filmmaker
There is more rhetoric surrounding feminism than ever. But women have always been in the spotlight, that's nothing new and I think what it means to actually have a voice can get lost in some of the hype of discussion. It's easy to think 'we've been given a voice', but what does that sound like? If we're not just another image, or a product, or a selling point, or a marketable substance under a male gaze. I want to know how to become the person holding the spotlight, how to become a woman in the world with a lens of my own, and I don't think we've had time to find out what that looks like yet. A voice isn't given to you. You've got to fight for it, and you've got to have the space to listen to it. I see that as the biggest battle.

To celebrate International Women's Day, VICELAND NZ is extending the moment to last the entire week. From March 5-12 we're celebrating all our best female hosted content—including STATES OF UNDRESS, WOMEN, RISE, SLUTEVER and more—available on Sky Channel 13 and SKY On Demand.