“When it comes to addressing sexual violence, primary prevention is absolutely vital, to prevent all trauma and potential long-term harm,” said Centre spokesperson Leonie Morris. “In an overlooked field at a dangerous time, RespectEd is doing important, necessary work with schools, workplaces, prisons, and other communities. We need to be increasing investment in such work exponentially.”

But this term, the government has defunded women’s self-defence organisation Kia Haumaru; it has removed a key tool of violence prevention from schools – the Tiriti-based relationships and sexuality education guidelines; and it has removed promised ACC funding for community-based sexual violence prevention programmes elsewhere, affecting RespectEd and other organisations.

“Right now, women, girls and their whānau face destructive campaigns of sexism and disrespect linked to sexual violence – and the government is assisting that misogyny,” said Leonie Morris, Auckland Women’s Centre spokesperson. “What, exactly, is the government prioritising over our safety and freedom?”

“The state should be fighting gender-based abuse – rapidly becoming the number one threat to our democracy – with all it’s got. Aotearoa New Zealand could and should enable women’s freedom with world-leading investment in prevention of all disrespect and violence.

“We were once world leaders in gender equity – and we can be so again.”

-ends-

For comment Ph Leonie Morris: 021 209 8842

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She and her partner have been heckled at men’s games for being queer, and she won’t go back because it’s unsafe. The “horrible toxic misogyny” surrounding men’s rugby is “not nice. It’s not a fun experience. […] People don’t want to be a part of it.”

But guess what? That’s not all sport -that’s men’s sport (men’s rugby specifically, in this case). “If you’re not a fan, you’re just not a fan – yet,” said Alice at our online sports kōrero at the end of March. All of you [can] find a sport that you will love. It might be curling. You never know! There’s so many.”

The kōrero was an informal and lively discussion about why women’s sport is so much cooler than men’s sport – and where there may be room for improvement.

Pride in leadership (and grunge)

Chair Stacey Morrison – who was a winger in her own rugby-playing days – asked all the panellists what they were most proud of about their respective sporting codes…. All apart from AUT social sciences researcher Prof Camille Nakhid who joked “I have a very sporting relationship with my sofa, and I’m very proud of that.”

“I love that our Māori can show up first as Māori. And by doing that, we bring all of those natural leadership qualities that my mum had, my grandmother’s got, and all of our ancestors”

Panellist Mere Rangihuna (Ngāti Hine, Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Manu, Te Uri-o-Hau) is Aktive Māori Participation Manager and Event Producer of Iwi of Origin, with a history of managing performance teams such as the Māori Football Aotearoa Senior Mauri team, the Bay of Plenty Volcanix women’s rugby team, AVIS Magic Netball team (Waikato/BOP) and the Kiwi Ferns women’s league team… the list goes on. Her sporting pride is that when spaces are whānau friendly, safe and inclusive then “our wāhine Māori show up. Not as only athletes, but as cultural holders in our spaces, as strategists, kaitiaki of our team environment, like [at] the marae. […] So I love that our Māori can show up first as Māori. And by doing that, we bring all of those natural leadership qualities that my mum had, my grandmother’s got, and all of our ancestors.”

Former mountain biking champion  Kate Weatherly said she was proud that her code has a history of reasonably high gender equity, as a small and individual sport that started as “a bunch of grungy people in the bush riding their bikes down crazy things”: “From basically the start, the World Cup was really built around men and women competing together on the same tracks, on the same day. [..] So we’ve always been together in those environments. And as a result of that, things like prize money being equal, filming rights, all of those things have really been equal basically from the start.” Stacey was amazed: “what is this pay equity thing you speak of? I don’t know her.”  Kate clarified “the pay is terrible” so it’s more equally bad than equally good, but still!

Alice said she was proud of the DIY 1991 Rugby World Cup, “organised by four women who mortgaged their houses, sent out faxes, [and] pulled a world tournament together.” She showed off the event logo tattooed on her arm.

But what could be improved?

When passion is labelled aggression

Camille and her colleagues have found that where media sometimes discuss racism in men’s sport, there’s very little public acknowledgement of racism in women’s sport.

Pākehā women often “see gender as their determining factor in their identity, but that is not so for indigenous, Māori, people of colour”.

That doesn’t mean the racism isn’t there – it just means we’re letting the powers that be off the hook. “If we ignore the racism against our female athletes, it suggests that the concerns of women play a far less important role in society,” said Camille, noting that racism can be “a barrier to Māori, Pacific and Black female athletes from participating in sports”, and urging an intersectional approach that takes racism, classism and other discrimination into account, as well as gender inequities. Pākehā women often “see gender as their determining factor in their identity, but that is not so for indigenous, Māori, people of colour”. She’d like to see research into different groups’ coping strategies and also into specific potential barriers to sport such as “expense, availability, proximity to fields, safety, getting home at night, absence of role models.”

Stacey – host of TVNZ’s I’m Not Racist But – asked Mere to share some of the racism she’d seen in sport: “it can show up every day,” answered Mere. “Not always in a big, dramatic moment, but in those subtle patterns that you start to recognise over time.” Māori players are judged “more harshly for things non-Māori athletes get away with. A Māori kōhine [girl] shows up, passionate, and suddenly she’s labelled aggressive, while someone else doing the same thing is called ‘competitive’, or ‘a natural leader’. I’ve seen our wāhine Māori overlooked for leadership, captaincy roles, not because they lack talent, but because there’s an assumption about what leadership looks like. And it really affects us – them.

“Off the field, it’s more systemic. It’s in the decisions made without Māori in the room. or when tikanga, reo – simple things like correct pronouncing – are treated like optional extras. […] For our sportswomen, it means constantly having to navigate environments where they feel they need to fit in rather than be who we are.”

To play without shrinking: A Te Tiriti -based mana wāhine sporting authority

What would a non-racist sporting system look like? “When we talk about what a Te Tiriti -based mana wāhine sporting authority could create, honestly the picture is powerful,” said Mere. “Imagine spaces where our Māori sportswomen don’t have to negotiate their identity just to play. Where we’re told Māori isn’t something they bring in from the side, but the foundation the system is built on. A place where wāhine and kōhine Māori leadership is normalised, not the exception.”

“Stop calling it a lack of cultural competency, it’s racism”

Decision-making and power would be genuinely shared. There would be “pathways designed to uplift Māori kōhine from the start, not retrofit them later. Our sportswomen would have access to culturally-grounded support from hauora approaches to coaching that actually understands the realities of being Māori and being wāhine. And most importantly, they’d be able to play, lead, and excel without having to shrink any part of themselves. They could be strong, loud, strategic, emotional, analytical, fiercely competitive, you know, all of it. without being misread or racialised.”

Mere went on: “That’s what mana looks like when it’s backed by systems that honour Te Tiriti. So for me, you know, it’s our wāhine Māori walk into any sporting environment and feel: ‘this place was built for me’.”

How do we get there? Pressure has to be maintained, says Alice, who pointed out “backsliding” has already happened on recommendations to combat racism made to Black Ferns administration just four years ago. For example, a recommended cultural lead position has already been abolished. “Stop calling it a lack of cultural competency, it’s racism,” said Alice. “Racism isn’t always just yelling a slur at someone, it is just a lack of understanding or a lack of curiosity, often, in order to make these spaces fit-for-purpose.”

One of the reasons Alice (Pākehā) has always been outspoken – even when she was playing in the domestic league – was that she was more allowed to be. “I knew that my whiteness always would provide me with more security than it would some of my teammates,” she said. With privilege comes responsibility.”

“They were my community first”

As a trans athlete, Kate has faced a different kind of discrimination, being ineligible to continue her professional mountain-biking career since 2023, when international trans-exclusionary rules came in.

“That was really powerful for me because as a young person […] I was able to have these people to lean on who loved me and cared for me.”

But it was heart-warming to hear how supportive the mountain-biking community was in general, when she was a teenager, “and going through the process of figuring out my gender identity,” she said. “I never really had that hard a time. They were my friends, they were my community first. And so when I came out to people, it was this thing that I was really anxious about and no one really cared. They kind of were like, ‘oh, okay, that’s a bit weird. Sure. Whatever.’ [..] And that was really powerful for me because as a young person […] I was able to have these people to lean on who loved me and cared for me. And that has built up so much confidence that I’ve been able to take through the rest of my life.”

By the time she swapped to the women’s races, she had been transitioning for several years. Later, when she started getting some better results in races, she got “nudged” by the national governing body letting her know she was eligible to compete at an international level. “And it wasn’t until that point that I really started dealing with some of that backlash and the lack of understanding around [the trans eligibility rules].”

“Our Black Ferns are about to be outpaid by the NRLW next year, at base level”

She wishes the scrutiny on trans sportswomen had led to more positive outcomes for women’s sport (leaving unspoken the idea that of course it hasn’t, because the scrutiny is not in good faith, but driven by cloaked patriarchy). The energy “that has been focused on trying to stop men competing in women’s sports” could instead be going towards equal funding, equal coaching programs: “I wish we could apply that [energy] in a way that is uplifting everyone, not trying to remove a specific group.”

More women in coaching would be a start. “I am forever and a day an advocate of quotas,” said Alice. “People hate them because they f**king work.”  And better pay and conditions: “Our Black Ferns are about to be outpaid by the NRLW next year, at base level”.

We have power to flex

To get financial and cultural respect – to achieve any vision – politics are required, and working together is required.

“see who’s missing and bring them in and feed them”

Alice again: “Sports and politics absolutely mix for me […] I’ve seen them mix the whole time I’ve been involved in this space.” She sees the need for both the radicals and the diplomats, using the UK suffragists as an example: “You had a woman that was willing to throw herself in front of a horse to make a point, and then you had a woman who was willing to go around and have a bunch of cuppa teas. […] We have so much more power than we like to flex, and I think that’s the first thing we need to do is understand that we actually do have a vote in this conversation.”

Mere agreed. “When I’m in my spaces, I’m quite intentional and deliberate about being the system change, when I’m there, in the roles that I hold […] You mirimiri it and massage it and all of a sudden we’re making these changes while we’re in there. […] We all have a responsibility, regardless of the spaces that we hold […] rather than waiting for somebody else.”

That could be talking to politicians, or it could be buying boots for someone you think is a great talent, said Alice. Or if you’re involved in sport, suggested Camille, look around you “see who’s missing and bring them in and feed them.”

Or – for the not-yet fans out there – it could be turning on the television and watching women run after a ball, or a curling stone, or a runaway mountain bike, and enjoying their joy, and celebrating their success.

For every donation you make to Auckland Women’s Centre, you can claim 33.33% back as a tax credit, and you can claim up to four years’ worth of donations if you haven’t already done so. Below are details on how to claim this yourself through the IRD.

IRD Process

You can claim your tax rebate online using your tax receipt – this can be a PDF, photo, or scanned copy of a physical receipt.

You will need either a myIR login or a RealMe login.

Please note:

If you make a one-off donation, submit the receipt you receive each time.

If you are a regular giver (Fab Feminist), you will receive an end-of-year receipt summarising your monthly donation amount.

If you made both one-off and regular donations during the year, you will need to submit both the single donation receipts and the end-of-year receipt.

We’ve put together a step-by-step guide to help you:

1. Register, or log in to your myIR account. If you do not have one, please take note when you are signing up that you want to be able to receive donation tax credits. You will need your IRD number.

2. Once you have signed in and are are on the home page you will see on the page, underneath ‘accounts summary’, there will be a ‘donation tax credit’ option. Click on this to begin the process.

3. This will bring up a page, which says ‘Enter donation tax credit receipts’. Select to ‘Add a receipt’.

4. You will need to enter the details of the donee/organisation name. This is The Auckland Women’s Centre. 

5. Our charity registration number is CC27188

6. You will also need to enter our IRD number which is 030-286-049 and the amount you have donated. This has been collated on your donation receipt.

7. The form will ask what type of organisation- religious, school, kindergarten or other. For The Auckland Women’s Centre this will be ‘other’.

Then select ‘Next’

8. Next you will click ‘Add receipt attachments’. You can attach the receipt by saving the pdf to your own computer and uploading it. If you have a physical copy the IRD will also accept a scan or a photo of the receipt. You will need to select the type of attachment and put in a description of the document ‘eg – Tax receipt 2025’

9. Once all of the required fields have been filled you can press ‘OK’ to go through to the following page. This will summarise the receipt details. If it all looks correct, press ‘next‘ again.

10. On the final page it will ask you if you would like to transfer your credit. You can press ‘yes‘ if you wish to do so (for example back to The Auckland Women’s Centre) and ‘no‘ if you would like the credit to come back to you.

Then press submit!

If you would like to donate your credit back to Auckland Women’s Centre, thank you so much! You are able to do this at the end of the online process.

Once you have filled in all your details to re-gift the money back to the AWC, select ‘Submit‘. Then you are done!

Alternatively, please feel free to get in touch with us at 09 376 3227 or becca@womenz.org.nz

Your tax refund could help ensure:

•   Someone doesn’t delay getting therapeutic support because of cost
• Our courses remains accessible to someone rebuilding after abuse
• We can continue to serve many more women like Sarah, for years to come.

Thank you for supporting Auckland Women’s Centre and helping advocate for the rights and wellbeing of wāhine and our gender diverse community. 

Low-tide spot

Thorne Bay: Tucked in the Takapuna-Milford suburban elbow and “honoured” with a 95bFM ad shout-out, this is Auckland’s most famous secret beach. The power of its One Simple Trick cannot be denied: it’s swimmable even at low tide. On sticky afternoons when both east and west coast tides are conspiring to leave us all stranded in mudflats, Thorne Bay comes to the rescue and is rammed like a lifeboat (people watching is part of the charm). Adding to the glamour, it is accessible only on foot, most easily by turning left on the coastal path at the bottom of Minnehaha Ave – but adventurers can walk down the coast all the way from work-picnic fave Long Bay.

Credit: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections T2385

Resplendent, ridiculous ramble

Te Atatu peninsula walk: This inner-harbour coastal pathway has fantastic reach-out-and-touch-it views of the iconic Chelsea sugar factory, Harbour Bridge, and Ōwairaka the maunga … and a reasonably well-formed path for pedestrians all the way from Taikata Sailing Club, on the Henderson Creek side, to the motorway end of Orangihina Park on the Whau River side (stoney and sandy sections and a few steps may prove impassible for wheels). But the amusing icing on the coastal cake are the wild explanatory panels dotted along the western arm of the path. To wit, see pic. Smiley face indeed. (We also love the steep Hillsborough-Lynfield coastal walkways on the Manukau Harbour, but no silly panels!)

Tranquillity

Kaitarakihi Beach: Bring a mate with you to this secluded quiet spot, fringed by grass beautifully shaded by Pohutukawa trees, round the back of Cornwallis – and stay lazing the whole day. Not as tidal as some of the nearby beaches, so you can swim – or kayak – for miles and miles.

We couldn’t find a Creative Commons pic of the beach – so here’s the beach’s namesake – the tarakihi fish – instead, from Te Papa’s collection.

It’s the journey/s

Pine Harbour: It seems a bit presumptuous of “Pine Harbour” to be the gateway to the “Pohutukawa Coast” which features “Beachlands” – when there are pines, pohutes and beaches all over Tāmaki Makaurau and its outskirts – however! To get to this easterly outcrop, the fun-size ferry moves at fun-speed, and you get unusual views of Mission Bay and all the waterfront beaches, before magnificently sweeping down the eastern side of the Howick Peninsula and crossing over to your destination, all in 35 minutes. Once there, you can watch the boat forklift, or hike to Maraetai Beach via a few suburban streets, Kellys Beach Cove and small Omana Regional Park – it’ll take 1.5-2 hours, or you can take the bus. The return ferry trip from downtown to Pine Harbour is $26.40 with your HOP card or credit card (free with a Gold Card) (compared to $70 ferry return for a Waiheke day trip).

Explore the rest of the ferry timetable! There’s liveable Auckland-alien Hobsonville Point, Gulf Harbour (Whangaparaoa), Half Moon Bay – even Rakino Island, or (pricier) Rotoroa Island.

Image: Logan Clarke (Auckland Boatspotting) 

Retro bach vibes

Karaka Bay: The beach that time forgot can be found down the bottom of a bush-clad cliff walkway –  only 10 houses sit here, eschewing road access for MOAR TREES. Not to be confused with rural/horsey/Spookers Karaka township, this suburban/bird-song slice of quaintness – and a Tiriti o Waitangi signing site – is only just over the headland from neighbouring St Heliers, sitting at the mouth of Tāmaki Estuary. So close!

Image: Karaka Bay Predator Free NZ project    

Togs in Town

Karanga Plaza: ok, we confess! The Auckland Women’s Centre team is planning to take a dip right here in the lap “pool” in the middle of the Viaduct precinct for our Christmas Party… but we haven’t actually tried it out yet. We were dubious at first – all those boats! – but, as always, we check Safeswim, and Safeswim thinks it’s as good as anywhere else, and sometimes better (side note: we’re deeply mourning the loss of Judges Bay, which seems permanently polluted since the Parnell sinkhole). Meanwhile, at Karanga Plaza, you can watch the bridge go up and down, and there are lifeguards on duty. Perfect for a midday dip if you’re a central city worker? We’ll report back!

When Auckland Women’s Centre received a donation offer several weeks ago from Metallica representatives, staff thought it might be a scam – even though the email specifically stated “this is not a scam”.

“But it was for real!” said centre manager Maia Hall. “We are thrilled with the support – and with Metallica demonstrating people from all walks of life can support grassroots feminist care and advocacy.”

She was told Metallica – who performed in Eden Park last night – makes donations in every city they perform in. “And the Auckland Women’s Centre mission of empowering wāhine and women with care, community kōrero and voice aligns with the band’s gifting priorities,” said Hall.

The donation, via the band’s “All Within My Hands” Foundation is equivalent to roughly two weeks of the Centre’s operating costs.

“We don’t receive government funding, so we encourage people to sign up to contributing $5 a fortnight in our ‘Fabulous Feminists’ programme and support the rights and wellbeing of women and our gender-diverse communities.”

“We’d love people to follow the lead of Metallica – rock legends and feminist allies!”

• Ladi6: 50th Birthday Fundraiser – 31 July
• Community kōrero: 50 years of Feminism, Womanism and Mana Wahine – 17 Sept
• 50th Birthday Community Picnic – 18 October

50th Birthday Community Picnic 

View the Photo Gallery 

Come have fun in the sun: Party with us at the grand finale community celebration of our 50^th birthday on Saturday afternoon, 18 October!

Hugo Grrrl! – drag king winner of House of Drag NZ! Facepainting! Birthday cake! Pixel Photo booth! Sausage sizzle! Samāori Coffee Cart! DJs! All free!

(Plus, some awesome Women’s Centre merch!)

Bring the kids! Bring the fam! Bring your friends! All genders welcome, 1pm-4pm (cake cutting at 3pm) at AWC headquarters, 4 Warnock Street.

RSVP so we know to expect you –>

Next up! Community kōrero: 50 years of Feminism, Womanism and Mana Wahine

Come join Stacey Morrison in kōrero with special guest stars Naomi Simmonds (Raukawa), Melani Anae and Dame Judy McGregor on the last 50 years of activism for women everywhere. What have we gained? What have we lost?

[more info & tickets]

This page will be updated with 50th birthday event details as they come to hand – and they’ll also be in our newsletters (sign-up at the end of the page)

You can also help kick-off our next 50 years of feminist action by joining the Fab 500!

We survived disco! And bean sprouts! And Rogernomics and stolen answerphones and uninsulated villas … we’ve welcomed homosexual law reform and the Cartwright Inquiry and the #MeToo movement and abortion law reform – we’ve also supported Pūtiki protection and pay equity (and continue to do so!) – and we’ve hosted hundreds of speakers, including Margaret Mutu and Alison Bechdel and Clementine Ford. We pioneered telephone counselling several decades ago and spun-off a programme for teenage mums in the 2000s that has become the mighty E Tipu E Rea Whānau Services…

It is A LOT. 

It’s a legacy to be proud of, and a legacy that we’re proud to continue – we’re still here, making a difference – thanks to you!

Thank you so much for being part of our community today – whether that’s online only or includes coming to our kōrero, film nights, Feminists Are Funny, Rainbow games nights, sole mums group, arts classes, self-defence classes and/or counselling – or using Women’s Support or being part of AVA, Intersectional Feminist Club and/or our campaigns like stalking law reform….

We’re all here together, and we care – and we’re loud! Come join the celebrations!

We are delighted Rotorua artist Steph agreed to make our 50^th anniversary image – and absolutely thrilled with the image she created: a funky retro nod to our 1975 birth date and a full-noise blast of energetic activist colour – juicy jelly-tip hues – starring a wahine wearing her values on her heart … just as we aim to do every day.

We asked Steph about her approach to all her art – her words below have been edited for clarity:

“I wanted to create art that was modern, funky, cool, relatable to Māori – art for my own whare and for whānau and friends. I do some really heavy pieces too – like whakapapa-inspired ones and protest pieces – but mostly I want bright and light and fun. And you know, my kids love that. They can relate.

“I also just love it. I love being Māori and celebrating wāhine Māori. My piece showing Hiwa i te Rangi is about hope and aspiration and how it’s cool to be Māori –that’s the kōrero I want to teach everybody. I work in a kaupapa Māori law firm so we live and breathe being Māori every day and it’s just who we are. [Impressively, Steph is the managing partner (i.e.: the boss) of Kāhui Legal.]

Hiwa i te Rangi

“I’ve made art my whole life. Historically I worked on larger canvases but they take a really long time and I’m out in the shed on the weekend and my little one goes out there and has a tutū, and she actually painted over something! It gets a bit chaotic. So now I make my art on A4 paper and I just literally can carry it around the house; I sit at the kitchen table, and tutū round with it, and I can draw while the kids [aged 5 and 10] are watching their movies, or my husband’s watching the news. It’s a lot easier than the big canvases, and printable and scalable. I started sharing that type of art because it was a way I could create lots and lots of different pieces of art in a short time. I’ve got pictures everywhere – semi-horder vibes!

“I use alcohol markers – felt pens basically – and watercolour paint. Sometimes I just use my kids’ stuff and we share… I mean I did splurge the other day and bought myself some really nice paints but generally I just use whatever I’ve got around the house.

“Some of my favourite paper is just office paper. I quite like how it goes all crinkly [with the damp markers].”

“I get asked this pātai [“when do you find the time for art?”] all the time but if someone exercises, we don’t say: “when do you exercise?” Art for me is a necessity for my mental health, for my well-being. Making art fills my cup up and my wairua in ways I can’t probably articulate. Part of my hauora and my well-being is doing things that enhance my joy in a regular consistent practice.

“I get up really early, though. I am a super nanny! I’m in bed by like eight or nine, I’m awake by 4 a.m. So when my kids are in bed, I’m off to bed too. Creating art is a way to set myself up for the day. I’m trying to create more than I consume as well.

“One of my favourite pieces is “Me he tē”, which means “Like a boss”. That one I created for the wāhine in my life –inspiring, powerful, strong, beautiful wāhine Māori. My art is about showing wāhine energy that is bright, light, vibrant, and fun. That’s how I express being a wahine Māori leader, and that’s the energy  power I want people to feel from my work.”

“I have been a predominantly family lawyer, and I’ve represented wāhine and tamariki my whole life as a professional, so creating art and using my style for the Auckland Women’s Centre was really cool. The Women’s Centre entirely aligns with my kaupapa as an artist and my personal kaupapa and values, such as improving outcomes for all tamariki. And if outcomes improve for Māori, then they improve for everybody. I’m quite passionate about that. I probably could talk to you for another 10 hours about that. Ultimately our shared values are about tautoko and it’s about support of wāhine and that can’t be a bad thing, eh?”

You can find tote bags sporting Steph’s Auckland Women’s Centre 50^th anniversary image here!

And check out more of her glorious artwork on her insta and on Look NZ.

The below article as originally posted on the NZ Herald. Find it here

“Every day I’m like…. ‘Shame on your undies, why are you doing that?’ You can’t just say ‘we don’t care about equity’. That means you don’t care about humanity.”

Boom. That mic-drop quip was from public health physician Dr Elana Curtis at a recent community kōrero organised by Auckland Women’s Centre (where I work a few hours a week). She was talking about the government’s appalling blocks to health equity between Māori and non-Māori, but her eloquence also describes (for example) the government’s appalling blocks to pay equity between differently-gendered industries. The unflagged, undemocratic policy reversal is set to steal nearly $13 billion over the next four years from low-paid women, their co-workers and their families. Shame on your undies.

So nurses and teachers are striking, and we’re all invited to a Woman’s Day of Action on [Saturday 20 September], the day after Suffrage Day (see you there!). Meanwhile lower-profile government attacks on women are also causing damage – some fuelled purely by bigotry, not budgets. While accused rapist influencer Andrew Tate and his ilk are normalising youth misogyny, Erica Stanford’s Ministry of Education has removed perhaps the key tool of primary violence prevention from circulation – the country’s gold-standard 2020 guidelines for relationships and sexuality education. This has left schools without guidance to teach and normalise respect, consent, self-esteem and healthy relationships.

Replacement guidance is in the works but it erases all mention of te ao Māori (sound familiar from Stanford?). Plus – aping cynical right-wing politics globally – it removes all mention of trans people and diverse gender identities. Such tacit intolerance is acutely dangerous for the targeted communities, and is also terrible for cis women: I don’t want gits judging whether I’m “feminine” enough to use the public loos.

So the proposed abusive, disrespectful changes are the opposite of evidence-based violence prevention. Discrimination – against Māori, against trans and non-binary people – in relationships education will lead to further violence against women. Shame on your undies.

Elsewhere, the Minister of Family Violence and Sexual Violence Prevention, Karen Chhour, is cutting frontline support for victim-survivors (North Shore Women’s Centre is to close in November – a huge blow). Chhour also recently disbanded Te Pūkotahitanga, the government’s key Māori leadership group on violence prevention. Tangata whenua responded to this extreme, destructive move by taking back the gifted name of “Te Puna Aonui” from the government’s violence prevention unit, while multiple sector organisations (including the Auckland Women’s Centre) declared reduced confidence in the Crown’s commitment to violence prevention.

If you care about our country – whatever your gender or ethnicity – it is rational to feel chronically in shock – numb or reeling – right now. Many of the government’s destabilising attacks are without precedent; they target the nation’s near-consensus about how the world works and should work. Research shows the vast majority of New Zealanders want people – whatever their gender – to be able to live and let live in a just, supportive, polite and non-violent society based on te Tiriti o Waitangi (which generously permits non-Māori to live here) – the proverbial “level playing field”.

As tempting as it is to crawl under a rock, that’s too lonely. Instead, try encouraging others (a quick note of admiration to a tall poppy can boost their stem strength). Put your money where the loudmouths are: it’s getting tougher out there, but crowd-funding means independence – or even survival.

Auckland Women’s Centre is turning 50 this year. Fifty years of friendly feminists offering community, creative classes and crisis support. But dare we celebrate, amid sustained attacks on women? Absolutely. To quote another of the Centre’s kōrero guests, Professor Tracey McIntosh, we “have to have emotional states of hope, we have to have joy, we have to work in our collectives and be well” – even when it feels inappropriate. Hope and community turn worry into action.

The Centre is delighted to have survived disco, Rogernomics and grunge to reach menopause. We’re pleased to have helped smash several waves of feminism into the patriarchy for half a century, by standing up for women’s rights to health care, abortion, safety, family support and to love who we choose. Currently, we’re spearheading a successful push to make stalking a crime – hopefully supported by public information campaigns, specialist victim advocates and robust police training.

Watch our wonderful speakers from our Kōrero here as they share their insights, experiences, and stories that inspire and inform.