MAORI WOMEN TODAY

Kaea, Issue 4, 1 September 1980, Page 5

MAORI WOMEN TODAY

Hineani Melbourne

Much has been said about women in traditional Maori society—usually by Maori men and Pakehas, but rarely have Maori women spoken about how they see their role. Perhaps the two most interesting social phenomena today are feminism and the resurgence of Maoritanga but are they compatible? For many Maori in the north, the most scandalous incident on Waitangi Day was not the jostling of the Governor General but Ti Harawira’s insistence on speaking on the marae. That incident brought into focus an issue which has been simmering particularly among younger women for some time. What is the role of Maori women today? Are our young women content with childbearing and the karanga? This article looks at Maori women today and how a number of women see their role in Maoridom.

Today the bulk of the Maori population is under twenty five years of age. Most Maori people live in urban areas. Almost half of this population is female. Maori women are more likely to gain some sort of educational qualification than their male counterparts, and also outnumber their men in the professional occupations. Yet within traditional

Maori society women still have only limited and strictly regulated rights. Tilly Reedy, one of the few Maori women to write about her place in Maori society, says in He Matapuna: “This Maoriness, which is at once a strength, can also be my greatest obstacle. It can give me mental agonies, but I have learned to come to terms with it, to adapt and to adjust my urban Wellington life to fit into those values I bring from my Maori source, my Maori beginnings. In my own home for instance, the men are always served before the women.”

Many young women are demanding more say in their lives, including on the marae, wanting to contribute more than just singing and the karanga. However, the more traditional view as expressed by Keri Kaa suggests that in fact women already wield the power. Keri says: “They are the first and the last to be heard on the marae. They are the power at the back. The most important place is not the marae proper but the kitchen not that the marae proper is an empty showcase, but it is over-emphasised.”

Women from Tairawhiti like Keri do have speaking rights but as she explains, the rules are slightly altered when a woman speaks. “Women don’t speak before the men, although some powerful women who have asserted their mana have spoken first and have even represented their tribes in other areas. There is, however, always some controversy whenever a women speaks.” Rangimarie Rose Pere, in an article titled “Taku Taha Maori: My Maoriness”, writes: “As a woman, I know my specific role complements that of the men, and is based on the traditions of the kinship group. I know the protocol that applies to my own marae and the importance of every member working together to retain the customs that have been passed down.”

The Maori population is a young urban one with lives based less around kinship groups, with changing values and different knowledge. For instance, Alice Dargaville from Te Kuiti says that Maori society has changed radically over the years and recounts that not long ago she took a busload of youth to her marae at Kihikihi. They had no one to do the karanga for them so the locals just told them to come on. The home crowd did the karanga in Maori and then translated it for them. Everything else was conducted in English. “It was quite sad,” said Alice, “the people at home felt so sad for our group.” The two eldest of Alice’s children are at boarding school. “They come home and teach me Maori. That’s one of the main reasons I sent them to boarding school, to learn their Maoritanga and to get a good education.”

Nicole Atareta Poananga freely admits that she did not have a so-called traditional Maori upbringing, spending most of her formative years overseas. “I have been accused of being Pakeha in my thinking but more and more Maori people are going to be brought up like me—in urban areas and even overseas. There are going to be less and less Maori people who will have had ‘traditional’ upbringings.”

Nicole, who works for Foreign Affairs, believes that no culture is ever static and that the roles within cultures are always evolving. “From when I was about ten to fifteen years old,’’ she relates, “I lived in the Middle East. Here, in countries like Syria, women were covered from head to toe in heavy dark veils. Most never left their houses. Those middle-class women who did go out occasionally were always chaperoned by parents or older women. Women had no public role whatsoever.” Such influences made her very aware of women’s position in society at an early age. “I cannot accept the argument so often put forward,” she says, “that women have equally complementary roles to the men in traditional Maori society. Men and women have their roles but they are not equal.”

Maori women throughout the country are becoming more and more involved in groups, from so-called activist groups combating sexism, capitalism and racism to groups who come together to discuss other common problems. Most of the groups are mixed racially and have both men and women, but in all the groups Maori women play dominant leading roles. The problems associated with their roles in Maoridom are often voiced. Merata Mita from Te Arawa, for instance, talks of the roles in the home and the effect on roles on the marae. “So many Maori men are in the pub that their women are in effect playing the role not only of mother but father too. Why, therefore, should they not be able to play the so-called man’s role on the marae?

And even when he’s not in the pub but they share their jobs in the home, surely then they should share their roles on the marae.”

Nearly always the roles on the marae are questioned. Rosina Huriwai from Palmerston North is an advocate for women speaking on the marae. She considers it belittling and offensive that even if she was the greatest speaker in the world and had something of vital importance to say, she would have to have a man say it for her. Worse still, “Pakeha men with only a poor grasp of the Maori language or who can only say ‘tena koe’, and then mispronounce it, can speak on a marae while our own women are denied this right.”

Traditionally it is the women who are responsible for bringing up children; it is from their mothers that children learn to speak. While the Maori language is not used and taught in the home as much as it used to be for a number of other reasons the fear that it is an impediment to social, educational and economic progress, for example another reason has been put forward. This is that at a ceremonial level at least Maori is fundamentally a men’s language.

Throughout this article the changes in Maori society have been emphasised. What we must be asking ourselves is, do we as Maori people fit ourselves around a rural small village culture, or does our culture fit itself around us?

Some of the issues raised here are currently the subject of much heated debate on and off the marae, particularly among young people and particularly (of course) among women. What do you think? We invite your comments, whatever your sex. Drop us a line (address on page 1) and we’ll print the most interesting letters.