MARCH 10 2018 LISTENER 3
EDITORIAL
Slight of hand
I
t’s the smallest things that are so often the most telling
in our progression as social beings – and they include the
simple handshake. An Iranian delegation to Parliament
last week refused to shake a female MP’s hand, and two of
our male MPs, in solidarity with their colleague, refused to
shake the visitors’. For this, the MPs were both congratu-
lated and pilloried.
Theirs was an awkward situation, and until recently
the interests of diplomacy would automatically have prevailed
so as not to risk giving offence to guests. No handshake for her;
offence on our side politely swallowed. Let’s not imperil our
hard-won meat access by causing a diplomatic incident. But
with the liberating currents of the
#MeToo movement now swirling
around ingrained male dominance
of women, even cross-cultural inter-
actions that may once have been
exempt are seen through a new lens.
Provided it is done respectfully
and not coercively, this has to
be healthy. Religion and culture
have for too long been places for
human rights abuses to shelter. As
the US Supreme Court judge Ruth
Bader Ginsburg recently said in
the Washington Post, “This pedestal
women are supposed to stand on
more often than not turns out to be
a cage.”
Labour MPs Rino Tirikatene and
Kieran McAnulty had little time to
react in an unexpected situation.
Their instinct was to show solidar-
ity for caucus colleague Jo Luxton
by demonstrating to the Iranian
delegation how seriously we take
women’s equal status in this coun-
try. For this they’ve been accused variously of immaturity and
showboating. But let’s remember that just last month, Jacinda
Ardern became the first female Prime Minister to be permitted to
speak on the marae at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. We have yet
to see whether the relaxation of the traditional ban is tokenism
or will extend to other women, but it created a context in which
the MPs’ actions seemed exactly right.
It is argued the Iranian visitors would have viewed it as intrusive
and disrespectful to touch a woman. That’s fine. No one would
have forced them to do it. Visitors to New Zealand are tactfully
excluded from hongi in official greetings if they’re not comfortable
with the practice. It’s our duty as hosts to ensure people’s bounda-
ries are respected. That why mannerly protocols are important.But equally, we’re entitled to make it clear to visitors what our
boundaries are. Discrimination against women will be viewed
as disrespectful in New Zealand, in the same way as we deplore
it on the grounds of race or sexual orientation. We need not be
confrontational about it, but we do need to be clear. Perhaps our
protocol should be that visitors have a choice: shake everyone’s
hand or no one’s.T
his is the time for Women’s Affairs Minister Julie Anne
Genter to step up. The only safe, practical way to steer
through the labyrinth of conflicting cultural practices is with
agreed guidelines. The handshake issue may seem trivial to some,
but it’s part of a bigger picture of
human rights infractions against
women. In many countries, wom-
en’s rights are restricted in ways
that cannot be excused as respectful
or reverential: they may not drive,
for example, or work or have legal
recourse when they are assaulted.
We don’t generally berate these
countries about human rights when
we visit, having found this sort of
diplomacy futile or even counter-
productive. But we do try to effect
change through such forums as the
United Nations and we seek to lead
by inclusive example: when people
visit New Zealand, they may not
demand that Kiwi women cover
their hair or refrain from wearing
swimming togs on the beach. No
one who lives here has the right
to insist that physical education
in co-ed schools be segregated
by gender for their daughters, no
matter how often immigrants
request it. Nor are they allowed to force female relatives into mar-
riages or circumcise them. Where people’s cultural or religious
practices don’t break our laws, they’re free to do as they wish. But
our commitment to human rights is sacrosanct.
We must find respectful solutions to inevitable cultural clashes
and not let differences fester or grow. World leaders offer little
inspiration: on one hand, US President Donald Trump classi-
fied culturally different nations as “shithole” countries; on the
other, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau engaged in an ill-advised and
embarrassingly ingratiating Bollywood-costumed tour of India.
New Zealand obviously needs to put thought into this, but
Tirikatene and McAnulty’s polite but firm “yeah nah” is a
promising path toward progress. lGETTY IMAGESPerhaps our protocol should be
that visitors have a choice: shake
everyone’s hand or no one’s.