Our hui commenced with a ground-breaking female-led pōwhiri, an historic first, made possible by the collaboration of the Waitangi National Trust and the mana of Ngāpuhi wāhine.
There is a claim that “one does not go to Waitangi: one comes from Waitangi” and that was certainly true for our collective, as we departed from the whenua as one, with a freshly unified purpose and vision for a thriving future for Aotearoa New Zealand.
And so during this year’s Matariki celebrations, as members, and active “participants” we take this opportunity to restate the significance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi to our organisation and to us as individuals, and to recognise the positive social and economic outcomes for all New Zealanders it underpins.
For us, the success of wāhine Māori is critical to the success of Aotearoa New Zealand. And indeed success for Māori is inextricably linked to success for all New Zealanders.
While the value of the Māori economy more broadly is already well understood, recent economic analysis undertaken by Manatū Wāhine, Ministry for Women on Te Ōhanga Wāhine Māori, The Māori Women’s Economy examines the economic and wellbeing contributions of wāhine Māori. It is the first formal calculation and inclusion of unpaid work and is also one of the first-ever studies of indigenous women’s economy internationally.
The report highlighted that wāhine Māori generated $5.9 billion value add to all sectors of the economy in 2022. With the inclusion of unpaid work, the size of the wāhine Māori economy nearly doubled to $12.5b, equalling 3.2% of national production GDP.
Looking to the future, our young, fast-growing wāhine Māori population will also play an important role in shaping the future workforce of New Zealand. By 2043, the wāhine Māori population is expected to grow by over 50%, meaning that by 2043, wāhine Māori will comprise 22% of the total wāhine working-age population.
Young wāhine Māori are one of the most rapidly growing cohorts of entrepreneurs in New Zealand business, achieving increasingly higher levels of education and starting businesses at a faster rate.
The number of wāhine Māori employers and self-employed grew by 31% between 2013 and 2018, much faster than in the case of non-Māori wāhine (7%). These entrepreneurs tend to be highly skilled, and the majority of growth has been from the younger groups.
The report also highlighted that wāhine Māori earn, on average, 20% less than non-Māori wāhine. (The overall gender pay gap is 8.6% for reference). Earlier this month I was at a gathering of the Champions for Change, a collective of over 80 of New Zealand’s CEOs and chairs convened by Global Women, with the aim of accelerating inclusive and diverse leadership in their combined workforce of 170,000 people.
There Minister Louise Upston announced the Government’s commitment to developing a universal gender pay gap calculation tool, which Global Women and Champions for Change have been supporting, and a move we view as a positive step forward against this stubborn gap.
What all of this underscores for Global Women, is the great opportunity for Aotearoa New Zealand, especially in these challenging conditions, to not only honour our commitment to Te Tiriti as partners and active participants but also to raise and realise the potential of everyone.
There is a beautiful whakatauki that was shared after our hui. “He kotuku rerenga tahi” – “a white heron’s flight is seen but once”, referring to a rare or special, once-in-a-generation experience.
A precious moment in time not to be missed. This feels to us to be an important moment in our life-time, to lift our voices in support of wāhine Māori, and all Māori. This Matariki and every day. For a prosperous and thriving Aotearoa New Zealand for all of us.
