NEXT MONTH IT COULD ALL CHANGE
Since Jenny Shipley took control in December 1997, New Zealand has had a female prime minister.
Ours is the only country where women have held all the top constitutional positions: Queen, Governor-General, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Parliament's Speaker, as well as the senior Cabinet roles.
In 2000, women held those top five positions at the same time. If John Key and National are elected, how will young women cope, living in a country run by men?
For some approaching 30, it will be the first time that's happened in their adult lives.
Does it matter to them? Who do these women look up to? Debrin Foxcroft reports
Girl POWER FIRST-TIME VOTER RACHELLTAMOUA. RIGHT, DAME CATHERINE TIZARD PHOTO HERALD ON SUNDAY
A WELL-PLACED KNEE can put Rayna Ramsay on top of the world. Follow it with an uppercut or two, an elbow, and the fight is hers.
Standing 1.37m tall, she takes on men much bigger than her - and keeps coming back for another round.
Training in the Israeli martial art of krav maga, Ms Ramsay is a 'feisty' girl fighting in a room filled with boys.
In some ways, life outside the training room resembles the fight taking place on the mats. Some 115 years after women won the right to vote in national elections, one in three women in New Zealand
believe they are still battling for equal rights with men, according to statistics released by Research NZ last month.
Looking back, 21-year-old Ms Ramsay says she didn't have that many role models as a child, although there was a time when she did obsess over the Power Rangers, she admits with a grin.
"I was always the pink one when I played with my friends," she says.
They were battling imaginary bad guys who were trying to take over the school. See, women could do anything as long as there was pink lycra involved.
"When I was a little girl I wanted to be an artist, fire fighter or computer person, not that I really understood what that was. Just 'computer person'.
"Firefighter was out of the question; I am only 137cm tall! I also wanted to be an assassin but, then, I was five."
Her mum ran a business from home in a "sort of stay-athome" role. Family eventually influenced Rayna to study business and commercial law.
"My parents owned a business, so it was good for me to go into."
Ms Ramsay places great emphasis on the importance of female business leaders and politicians for everyone.
"There need to be women standing up there for others to see. We are not just at home, looking after kids and cooking eggs."
She worries what a changed 0political landscape might do. "Suddenly having female role models disappear might make it harder for people to see that women are just as capable. We could be going backwards."
But Ms Ramsay recognises that visibility has come at a cost for women.
"Women can't be elegant, not in a position of power. We see women as nurturers and in high-power roles there should be room for a softer side, but there's not," believes Ms Ramsay.
"We are not very forgiving towards women. Men can be hard. If women are shown as being soft once, they are considered as always being soft and not good to lead."
Ms Ramsay's not sure how her life will change if the Government does.
"It's a hard one. I know that I could manage to pull through without it. It won't change in the prospect of reaching my goals in life, but I feel proud when there is more female leadership out there," she says.
"Perhaps, without the clear female leadership, it would be harder to rise up the ladders in the workplace without these role models, those public female portrayals."
We're talking in a cafe, and she notices the reading material, a gossip magazine, on the table. Ms Ramsay says she has no time for this fodder.
She looks for strong female characters in books, admits to a penchant for horror and thrillers. That was where she got the idea to take up martial arts.
ELIGIBLE TO VOTE for the first time, Rachell Tamoua is a bubbly 18-year-old psychology student who confesses with a hearty laugh that she used to love Barbie dolls.
She, too, scoffs at the idea that women might find their role models in gossip magazines. "I read a magazine once that had pages and pages about who Jennifer Aniston was dating and what Angelina Jolie was doing, and they had one page about three women fighting against female sacrifice in Africa. One page. I was so disgusted."
Ms Tamoua's putting a lot of thought into her first election. She is trying to separate the women she admires from the policies of their parties.
"I guess a lot of young women admire Helen Clark. When she gets criticised for her opinions she stands up and fights. But I am not sure who I will vote for. I am still thinking."
A change in the political landscape could be a backward step for equality, she says, simply because it will reduce the visibility of strong female leaders.
"I think women, especially young women, need encouragement and support and others to look up to."
The possibility of losing women from leading roles is "a bit of a scary thought," says Ms Tamoua.
"I reckon, in my life, I would have to fight harder to find leadership examples. It's possible I could lose motivation to reach my goal of being a leader if these women aren't there as an example. I think a lot of young women could struggle," she says.
For her, it's hard to imagine not having prominent women in leading roles: Miss Tamoua is young enough not to remember anything different.
"It's something a lot of young women don't think about. They don't think they could lose that leadership, the examples. They don't think what could happen if it all changes."
She has a story about meeting Dame Catherine Tizard, former Mayor of Auckland and Governor- General, at a formal function. They discussed contraception. It's women like this, who talk about issues, that she tries to emulate.
"She is hilarious, a very funny and vibrant woman and she has achieved so much." A former student at Auckland Girls Grammar School, Miss Tamoua was involved in the YWCA's Future Leaders programme.
Her mentor was a big influence on the young woman's life, showing her how to combine business leadership and motherhood.
But Miss Tamoua's mother was no slouch either. "Mum is in a high position at her work. She is a leader and an example."
A LONGTIME woman about the House, Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel believes challenges still face women. She told the Women Leaders Network meeting in Australia last year:
"We may have broken through the glass ceiling, but the floor remains very sticky." One of the greatest challenges New Zealand faces is to ensure the next generation of women does not take hard-won gains for granted.
"They could take their eyeoff the ball and risk losing some of those gains. Ms Ramsay and Miss Tamoua are both clear on the only way to ensure that doesn't happen: there have to be leaders out front that young women can look up to and emulate.
GIRL POWER
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.