It was an honour to attend Aotearoa’s CEDAW review in Geneva on behalf of NCWNZ. 

It was a long stretch between reviews with COVID and a lack of funds making the UN reflect on how it does things.  But the CEDAW Committee of elected experts in gender matters was alive and fiery and brought impressive understanding of New Zealand to their questions.

In the first week I attended the International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW) Global to Local training alongside P.A.C.I.F.IC.A. President Repeka Lelaulu, Caroline Herewini of Women’s Homelessness Coalition and Dr Rogena Sterling representing Pacific Women’s Watch (PWW). This training gave us a good overview of CEDAW and how the process works. However, the real benefit was getting to know fellow attendees from Aotearoa and figuring out our rhythm for the week ahead.

(left to right): Repeka Lelaulu (P.A.C.I.F.IC.A.), Dr Rogena Sterling (PWW), Ana Peláez Narváez (Chair, CEDAW Committee), Dellwyn Stuart (YWCA), Caroline Herewini (Women’s Homelessness Coalition)

The National Association of Women in Construction NZ (NAWIC) in partnership with the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) hosted a panel of industry leaders and role models in Wellington on Suffrage Day 2024. The topic was "We Belong - Women Pioneering the Future in Construction."

Panellists were Prof Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) an architectural historian and head of Te Pare School of Architecture and Planning; Beryl Anderson ONZM, NCWNZ; Antoinette Howard, a BCITO apprentice; and Alice Carmody, Director of Choice Commercial and Quantity Surveyor; and, Kate Saunders, chair. There were around 100 people in the audience.

Panellists at the National Library in Wellington - l to r: Deirdre Brown, Beryl Anderson, Antoinette Howard, Alic Carmody, Kate Saunders.

A photo of those NCWNZ Life members attending the Annual General Meeting in Christchurch: (from left) Beryl Anderson, Rae Duff, Christine Knock and Christine Low.

Some photographs from Hamilton's Suffrage Day event at Zenders Cafe, Sunday 22 September 2024.

View of guests enjoying afternoon tea.

(l-r) Judi Goldworthy and Christine Knock

Christine Knock, NCWNZ Life Member, approached Papatoetoe War Memorial Library to see if they were interested in the Manukau Branch of NCWNZ undertaking a presentation at the Library regarding the Auckland Women's Suffrage Memorial at Khartoum Place and Te Hā o Hine Place, in Auckland Central.

The Library staff agreed, and so this was undertaken on 17 September 2024. 

The Wellington Branch of NCWNZ had a fantastic time co-presenting an encore screening of Marimari with P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A. at the end of August as well as interviewing the people behind the film for the Conversations with Wāhine podcast.

From left to right: Mele Wendt of P.A.C.I.F.I.C.A., Sophie Kelsall and Katherine Dickerson of NCWNZ, Evelyn Kunda, Director of the film, Paul Wolfram, and Eleonora Bello of NCWNZ.

“Where you are is where you are meant to be,” is the encouragement given by Mordecai to his cousin Queen Esther, wife of King Xerxes during a crisis in Persia around the year 750 BCE.

Those words seemed to epitomise the various stages in the life of Trish Lindsay ONZM, as she related them to a gathering of around fifty women, including a group of secondary students, as the NCWNZ Southland Branch celebrated 131 years of women’s suffrage. Trish said, “I’ve called my talk This Looks like Fun because that’s what I thought every time I was invited to be part of a new opportunity that looked different and interesting.”

Those gathered here for NCWNZ Southland Branch’s Suffrage Day breakfast, held on Thursday 19 September at the Ascot Park Hotel Invercargill, interacted socially and listened to this inspirational speaker.

Trish was a country girl, growing up in Aparima at the foot of the Takitimu Hills. From primary school there she went on to St Philomena’s Secondary School in Dunedin, where the teachers encouraged their students to be open to the issues in the wider community. This was followed by University of Otago, Auckland University and Auckland Teachers’ College. Trish returned south to a position at the then James Hargest High School, followed by marriage to a local farmer/stock agent and living in Waianawa.

“This is where I cut my teeth on community involvement while bringing up four children, working on the farm, doing part-time teaching and running a little music school teaching piano to local children,” said Trish. She added, “This community involvement scenario fits in well with Malcolm Gladwell’s theory about doing 10,000 hours practising for future roles.” During this time things happened that caused Trish to do two pieces of research. The first was Rural Children’s Access to Libraries. After much exploration and lobbying the outcome was the creation for the Southland District Council’s Bookbus, which still runs today.

Ōwairaka, Statue of a Cloaked Woman, Alice Wylie Reserve, Mt Albert, NZ. Photograph by Rich Greissman, September 2024, used by permission.

In Jill Pierce's The Suffrage Trail: A guide to places, memorials ad the arts commemorating New Zealand women (1995) on page 31 is a description of a sculpture erected in the Alice Wylie Reserve in Mt Albert, Auckland in 1995. According to Pierce, the women of Mt Albert had fundraised for eighteen months to pay the artist for a suffrage memorial to represent all women. it was "Ōwairaka, Statue of a Cloaked Woman" by Christine Hellyar who cast it on site. Standing at 3.6 metres, the statue was made of 1200kg of bronze and patinated in blue patina on the botanical side and a black patina for the volcanic side. Hellyar told onlookers that the cloaked woman was inspired by Wairaka, an ancestor of Mount Albert. According to an information panel originally installed at the site in 1995:

"The mould was made of sand with a rock placed in the centre and vegetation pushed into the sides. The plants were removed before the liquid metal was poured, leaving a texture on the surface. Once set the sculpture was lifted into place with a crane. The statue sits on a mound of scoria representing the significant volcanic history of the area, Mt Albert/Ōwairaka having erupted more than 30,000 years ago."

This is the first of a series of articles focusing on the NCWNZ Past Presidents Oral History Project with interviews by Carol Dawber in 2016. See the introductory article in The Circular at "NCWNZ Past Presidents oral history interviews from 2016" (August 2024).

Janet Hesketh at Celebrating Women reception, Government House, Wellington, on 26 November 2013. From Wikimedia Commons.

Janet May Hesketh née MacKenzie QSM, CNZM, was the President of the National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) from 1994 to 1998. Her work as president included advocating for the 1995 UN Beijing Platform for Action and hosting the executive committee of the International Council of Women (ICW) in 1996. 

In recent years, the NCW Manawatu branch has had the policy of inviting speakers every few months, for our own edification as well as advertising an NCW presence in the local community. Our combined networks have generated a variety of remarkably interesting and educational presentations.