N.Z. not ‘a land of milk and honey’

Press, 1 April 1985, Page 8

N.Z. not ‘a land of milk and honey’

'Making it happen I- — ■ - - . —

Would-be immigrants from the Pacific Islands to New Zealand should be told the unvarnished truth about this country before they

come. This is the view of a Samoan woman who is now working to improve conditions for migrant women in New Zealand.

Carmel Peteru, is a Samoan woman member of a Pacific Islands’ Women’s Project, run by the Young Women’s Christian Association in Wellington. She says she will do everything she can to discourage migration from the islands. Carmel Peteru told a meeting organised by the National Council of Churches’ Women’s Committee that it was time the established churches, and Christian women’s groups recognised the impact of migration on Pacific Island women’s lives in New Zealand.

Cultural differences, language, illiteracy, and poor work conditions put these women in situations of isolation and loneliness. They are exploited in many ways, and are often victims of

sexual abuse. “Women Pacific Islands' migrants greatly outnumber men, and are the easier targets for exploitation at many levels.” Ms Peteru described pressures om migrant Pacific Islanders in the Wellington region that have led to attempted suicides.

“This is a strange dilemma for anyone who says to me that the strong church affiliations of Pacific Islanders are a protection against social conditions.”

Carmel Peteru is developing orientation programmes about the realities of New Zealand life. She hopes these programmes will be used in the islands, and in all parts of New Zealand where Pacific Islanders settle.

“In a sense, I am trying to discourage immigration to New Zealand. This means doing away with the myth of the streets paved with gold, and a land of milk and honey.”

Topics will include prices and budgeting, unexpected needs, values, and realistic expectations. “How often do new migrant families get themselves hopelessly in debt with new television sets and flash cars, just because they think this is the New Zealand way of life?”

The Pacific Islands’ Women Project analyses the need for problems of migrant, Pacific Islands’ women in New Zealand. It aims to find ways of meeting these needs both at the community and the government level, and to initiate community-based projects. The project was established only three months ago. The Y.W.C.A. hopes that it can be funded for at least three years.

Ms Peteru assured her audience that migrant women in New Zealand have few problems compared to migrants elsewhere in Asia.

She drew on a wide range of first-hand information from her attendance at a Christian Church of Asia Consultation on Asian Women in Migrant Situations, held recently in Manila.

Ms Peteru condemned the Marcos regime for its “many oppressive policies.” and particularly those relating to migrant workers. “There are several problems facing Filipinos contracted to work overseas. The first comes in the form of Executive Order 857, which makes it mandatory for every Filipino contract worker to remit as much as 80 per cent of his or her earnings to the Philippines Government.

“Failure to comply with this means non-renewal of passports, and the withholding of earnings sent separately to families,” she Her impression of the

Filipino and Asian women at the meeting was “one of incredible inner strength and dignity, a love of humanity, and a deep belief in the spiritual essence of justice, freedom, and peace.”

There were two Pacific Islands women and two pakeha women from New Zealand among the 58 women attending. The group was a mixture of Christians, Hindus, Moslems, and Buddhists.

The experience had brought home to her how much the churches were out of touch with the sufferings of oppressed people, and the needs of women.

“There were women ministers at the consultation who were committed to challenging the structures of their churches not only to help women, but to give them a sense of hope within their struggles,” she said. Grey power Older people will have more of a voice in society following the establishment of a Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Association of Gerontology.

The aims of the association are to make people more aware of social services being offered to the aged, and to lobby for improvements, to do research on the aged, and to get older people involved in helping the older section of the community. The high proportion of women to men on the committee reflects the preponderance of women m the aging community, and their preponderance among the care givers.

The women-dominated

committee has a male chairman, Dr Dick Sainsbury, and two male committee members, John Fry and Norman Webb.

The deputy-chair-person is Peggy Koopman Boyden, a senior lecturer in Sociology at the University of Canterbury, who is also researching retirement.

The rest of the committee is made up of women. They are Jania Mathias (treasurer); Kath Fox (secretary); and Ann Malcolm, Daphne Manderson, Ailsa Bailey, of Timaru, and Janet Anderson.

Getting desperate?

Parentline offers a 24hour counselling service for parents with problem children, or problem feelings about their children. Their telephone number (from April 1) is phone 811-040. Quote

Being female usually makes you worse off than a man would have been under the same circumstances. Janet Radcliffe Richards.

Compiled by Jacqueline Steincamp.

News for consideration in Making It Happen should be addressed to Mrs J. Steincamp, Home and People Page, “The Press,” P.O. Box 1005, Christchurch.