Understanding Māori Women

A carving of Tāne nui a Rangi, a Māori god, sited at the entrance to the forest aviary at Auckland Zoo.

Māori women are generally portrayed as lesser than men by scientific anthropologists due the traditionally Christian European lens with which they analyze Māori culture. For example, under English law established in colonial New Zealand, the husband/father is considered the head of the household with all children, spouses, and property belonging to the man of the home. Until 1985, a husband was not legally accountable for raping his wife in New Zealand because she was considered his property. When missionaries arrived, they re-wrote Māori myths to reflect values more similar to Christianity, such as the traditionally domestic role of women. Many scientific anthropologists will blame pre-colonial Māori view of women as the reason Māori did not participate in treaty making. However, the reason why most treaties between the Māori and the British colonial government (representatives of the Crown) were signed by men is due to the influence of Christianity and the low regard for women that Crown representatives seeking signatories had of women in politics. “154 years after the signing of the Treaty, is the gravamen of a claim recently lodged against the Crown before the Waitangi Tribunal. According to Denese Henare: Māori women [have seen] that injustice and said to each other, ‘... There's something wrong with the way the Crown continues to perpetuate this attitude of no value in Maori women’” [2]. Scholars who write from experience with Māori culture generally agree that Maori women were an important, valuable asset to society and considered equal to men [3, 6].  We can see that it was the Crown who viewed Māori women negative via New Zealand adoption laws in the 1900's. In many cases, children were taken from Māori mothers who were deemed “unfit” to be a parent.  Abuse of adoption laws was common in New Zealand until the late 1900's [2].

Group of Maori women including Maggie and Bella Papakura, ca1900s

Last time we spoke about how New Zealand Parliament’s longest serving female MP Annette King and her colleague Maryan Street were asked to move from the front bench during the start of a powhiri, or Māori  welcoming ceremony in 2014. First of all, the two women showed up late to a government ceremony and wandered across the area separating the Māori and New Zealand government groups, which is rude at minimum. Secondly, Māori women are the considered leaders of the powhiri due to their religious significance (i.e. women are viewed as the makers of the next generation). Women “lead from the back” so that they are more protected in case proceedings go awry [7]. Thus, the problem does not lie in how the Māori treat their women but in the lack of understanding of Māori by New Zealand government officials. Overall, there is no doubt that colonialism has reduced the important role that Maori women once had in society [4]. The changes imposed by colonialism, resultant historical trauma, and continued misconceptions of Māori women have resulted in the slew of health and social disparities such as intimate partner violence and rates of chronic diseases that were discussed in the previous blog [5].


Citations:
[1] Heuer, Berys. Maori Women. Wellington: Published for the Polynesian Society by A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1972. Print.

[2] Mikaere, Annie. MAORI WOMEN: CAUGHT IN THE CONTRADICTIONS OF A COLONISED REALITY. Te Piringa - Faculty of Law. The University of Waikato - Te Whare Wānanga O Waikato, n.d. Web. 03 Aug. 2010. <http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/research/waikato_law_review/volume_2_1994/7>.

[3] Salmond, Anne. "THE STUDY OF TRADITIONAL MAORI SOCIETY: THE STATE OF THE ART." The Journal of the Polynesian Society 92.3 (1983): 309-31.Www.jstor.org. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/20705798>.

[4] Fanslow, J., E. Robinson, S. Crengle, and L. Perese. "Juxtaposing Beliefs and Reality: Prevalence Rates of Intimate Partner Violence and Attitudes to Violence and Gender Roles Reported by New Zealand Women." Violence Against Women 16.7 (2010): 812-31. July 2010. Web. <http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/16/7/812.full.pdf+html>.

[5] Brewer, Naomi, Barry Borman, Diana Sarfati, Mona Jeffreys, Steven T. Fleming, Soo Cheng, and Neil Pearce. "Does Comorbidity Explain the Ethnic Inequalities in Cervical Cancer Survival in New Zealand? A Retrospective Cohort Study." BMC Cancer 11.1 (2011): 132. 12 Apr. 2011. Web. <http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/11/132/>.

[6] http://www.kaupapamaori.com/assets/PihamaL/tihei_mauri_ora_chpt7.pdf

[7] Cameron, Graham. "Pōwhiri Have a Purpose; and It Is Not to Dominate Women."Wordpress.com. N.p., 7 Jan. 2014. Web. <http://grahamcameron.wordpress.com/tag/powhiri/>.