Christine Rankin and Kylie Hawker-Green speak at International Women's Day events in Taupō

At home in the boardroom, business leader and politician Christine Rankin was a keynote speaker for International Women's Day 2022 celebrations held in Taupo. Photo / Rachel Canning

Taupō District deputy mayor Christine Rankin is absolutely delighted her 68th birthday falls on International Women's Day this year. She was a speaker at a breakfast held at Baked With Love cafe.

She knows all about "beating the bias", the theme for this year's International Women's Day.

Other speakers were young entrepreneur from Reach Media Paige Nairn, and local business owner and hospitality staff and management trainer Marg Main. The event was sponsored by Baked With Love and home-based care business Stepping Stones.

Christine says the theme relates to her own experience of gender bias from corporate New Zealand when she was chief executive for Work and Income New Zealand (Winz) between 1998 and 2000.

After the birth of her second child, Joshua, she was on the domestic purposes benefit for a short time and says she "had the experience of being treated badly" by the social welfare staff.

As Winz CEO, her goal was for beneficiaries to be treated with dignity and respect, "starting with ending the references to 'bennys' and treating the people who came to see us as clients.

"I changed the mentality of the organisation and made it as much like a business as possible. Winz became known as the best welfare agency in the world."

The aim of Winz was to get people off the benefit and into work. She says they were so successful in1998 they were under budget by $26 million, and the next year they were under budget by $5 million.

As CEO of the country's welfare agency, Christine came in for criticism for being too glamorous.

"Detractors said my earrings were a sexual come on, my skirts were too short and my heels were too high" - opinions Christine vehemently disagrees with.

"I fought my way there. I came to it from the point of view that a leader should be an inspiration and have purpose.

"I say concentrate on the results - they were off the scale. As CEO I was giving money back to the minister."

Christine Rankin and her wardrobe. 2 May 2006 Herald on Sunday Photo / Chris Skelton

In 2001 Christine sued the Labour Government for wrongful dismissal and was in the news every day.

"There was the jet crisis: one of the management team hired a jet to go to a conference in Taupō and I didn't know and when asked by the minister said we didn't do it.

"The media were camped outside my house. I was the most hated woman in New Zealand. I couldn't go to the supermarket because I would get abused. I was sent bullets with my name on. I had to have police protection and there was a panic button under my desk in Wellington."

She lost the court case but says she won over public opinion because people could see she was being bullied.

"It was in the world news. My son rang me from Canada to say 'Mum, do you know they are talking about you in London?'."

Supporters dressed in high heels and short skirts for "Christine Rankin Day" and the All Blacks rugby team sent her a note of encouragement.

What kept her going throughout was her belief in herself as a leader. After the court case she studied leadership at Stanford University in the US.

Speaking at another International Women's Day lunch at The Brantry eatery on Tuesday was Northern Districts Cricket Association chairwoman Kylie Hawker-Green.

Other speakers were Taupō District Council representative Kylie Leonard, and Taupō senior sergeant Phil Edwards.

Kylie says for the past six years research has been carried out to find out more about the barriers to young females being involved in sport.

Compared to boys, girls are far less active than boys and this translates into less resources being put into sports and recreation for women, and ultimately fewer opportunities for women to play sport or recreation.

"We wanted to know why young women and girls were either stopping playing or not taking up sport," Kylie says.

The research shows that by the time girls are 15 years old, 29 per cent have stopped doing sport or recreation. By the time they are 17 years old, a further 17 per cent have ceased to do sport or recreation.

Northern Districts Cricket Association chair Kylie Hawker-Green was a speaker at an International Women's Day event held at The Brantry, Taupō. Photo / Supplied

Kylie says the main drivers for girls giving up sport are peer pressure, keeping up with school work, and swapping sport for a part-time job.

"But the main finding was that it just wasn't fun anymore.

"The research also found that 68 per cent of teenage girls cited lack of body confidence as a reason to avoid participation in sport or recreation."

She says addressing these issues requires a multi-headed approach.

"In cricket, for instance, girls don't want to spend eight hours on a Saturday on the field - that's what boys want. Girls want to play cricket for an hour or so after school on a Thursday, with music, a hot chocolate and the chance to buy merchandise."

She says sport needs older women to be present at all the different levels within a club, because they will look after the needs of younger ones coming through.

A big challenge for a small community like Taupō, is creating an environment where girls feel valued and respected in a male-dominated environment.

Kylie says the media is getting better at making top-level women's sport more visible, and is looking forward to watching on television the women's Super Rugby Aupiki, Women's World Cup Cricket, and New Zealand hosting the Fifa Women's World Cup football next year.

"When we shine a light on women's sport, then maybe our young girls will think 'I can do this, I can represent Aotearoa, I can be a wāhine toa'."