New Zealand Listener – August 10, 2019

AUGUST 10 2019 LISTENER 49

were several developments –

the arrival of the pill allowed

women to plan births more

strategically, and the women’s

movement, expressed most

strongly by the publication of

Broadsheet magazine and the

Women’s Conventions of the

1970s, led to partly success-

ful campaigns for equal pay.

Child-care centres appeared,

and the introduction of Satur-

day trading in 1980 allowed

families, including men, to

shop outside work hours.

Women diversified their job

aspirations and increasingly

filled roles as lawyers and

doctors alongside the “caring”

professions.

By 2014, no less than 58%

of solo mothers, and 70% of

partnered mothers, were in

paid employment. The work-

ing mother has become the

norm and it is accepted for

men to take time out to care

for children. Even the Prime

Minister gave birth while hold-

ing down the most important

1970s. It’s an iconic image that tells two tales at

once: 80-year-old Dame Whina Cooper was on

her way to Parliament, leading the 29-day, 1100km

land march or hīkoi that brought the sale of Māori

tribal land to national attention, and, wider, Māori

were on the move, with a cultural renaissance and a

strengthening political voice. From the early 1970s,

Māori protest groups raised long-held grievances

in ways that meant Pākehā could no longer ignore

them. There were Waitangi Day protests and the

occupations at Raglan and Bastion Pt. At the same

time, Māori artists and artisans with new things

to say appeared – Witi Ihimaera, Patricia Grace,

Ralph Hotere. Ihimaera wrote for the Listener about

the first conference of Māori writers and artists

at Tūkākī marae in 1973. It was, he wrote, “a small

sneeze, but loud and open-throated and vocal

against the restraints limiting Māori artistic expres-

sion ... the question was, would the sneeze be

sustained?” It was. Marae were rebuilt and tradi-

tional crafts learnt anew. Te reo became an official

language and was taught in schools. Kōhanga reo

were started. The hīkoi model left such a dent in

our consciousness that it has been reused many

times since.

When Aroha Fletcher was interviewed for the Lis-

tener Māori Renaissance cover at age 15 (pictured

below left), she said her ambition was to be a High

Court judge. Fifteen years on, she has a master’s

degree in law and a stellar legal career.

Māori renaissance

By 2015, more

than a quarter

of households

with children

were headed by

a solo parent.

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