50 Years of Feminism

50 years of Feminism, Womanism and Mana Wāhine

It’s the 50th birthday of the Auckland Women’s Centre!

In the lead-up to Suffrage Day, come celebrate at our very special “collector’s edition” community kōrero on how wāhine and women have been smashing waves of intersectional feminism, womanism and mana wāhine into white patriarchy in Tāmaki Makaurau and beyond, over the last half century.

What have wāhine Māori and tauiwi women gained, and what have we lost in the last 50 years? When has solidarity worked – and when has it not? How do we as women, trans and cis, face the challenges of contemporary misogyny?

Featuring incredible stars in women’s rights thought leadership and advocacy:

Dr Naomi Simmonds

(Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Huri, Ngāti Wehiwehi)
Mana wāhine scholar and land-based researcher (including ancestral hīkoi and Māori maternal wellbeing)

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR MELANI ANAE, QSO

Holds two chiefly titles: Lupematasila from her father’s village of Falelatai and Misatauveve from her mother’s village of Siumu.
Polynesian Panther & Pacific studies scholar (including women & power in Samoan communities)

Dame Judy McGregor

NZ’s first EEO Commissioner, pay equity scholar and our very own Auckland Women’s Centre patron

The “beautiful and powerful diversity that we are as Māori women”: Naomi’s mana wāhine and land-based research has included leading a group of wāhine Māori following in the footsteps (figuratively and literally via hīkoi) of Ngāti Raukawa tupuna Māhinaarangi, who walked over 500kms while heavily pregnant.

“Once a Panther, always a Panther”: Melani Anae holds the title of Lupematasila from her father’s village of Falelatai and Misatauveve from her mother’s village of Siumu. She snuck out at age 17 to go to the first Polynesian Panther meeting in 1971, and has worked to liberate minds since then: “The colonisation of the mind is such a strong force — and our work as academics is to try and change these attitudes. […] It’s shining a light on people’s mindsets.”

“A rebel with a cause from an early age” (NZ Herald): Judy was suspended from her high school for publicly supporting Māori rights, she later went undercover as an aged-care worker as Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner… her damning report helped promote and achieve gender pay equity for aged care sector workers in 2017.

Chaired by Stacey Morrison (Ngāi Tahu, Te Arawa) award-winning broadcaster, author and advocate for te reo Māori.

You don’t want to miss this!

Dates Wednesday 17 September 2025
Time 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location Western Springs Community Garden Hall. 956 Great North Road
Cost $0 – $40
Tickets

All genders welcome, NZSL interpreters provided. This event will be livestreamed via our Facebook page, and a high quality video version will be uploaded to YouTube in the days following the event.

with
Stacey Morrison

(Ngāi Tahu, Te Arawa)

Award-winning broadcaster, author and advocate for te reo Māori.

Feedback from previous forums:

“The forum was loving, challenging, honest, heartfelt and relational. Perfect and left me feeling positive about change and possibilities and hope in lessening the harm that happens for wahine Māori”

“Excellent session in every way. The kōrero was smart, powerful and totally accessible; it was filled with wisdom and warmth in equal measure. Ka pai and ngā mihi nui”

“This really was a wonderful event, with inspirational wāhine toa and packed full of real life experience insights and wisdom. Ka mau te wehi! Many thanks to all involved”

Tickets

Which ticket price should I select?

We want everybody to be able to come to our events, and hope you’ll help us with this. We use a sliding scale to take into account different levels of financial well-being, so those of us who can, “pay forward” so those of us who are on a low income can also attend without stress. As a gauge, we expect that people in full time employment without dependents would pay the full amount to assist us, and people in part-time employment pay somewhere closer to the mid-range. It’s appropriate for students and benefit recipients to pay closer to the base end of the scale.