Standing in the Sunshine - Power

In 1893 New Zealand women won their right to vote, but it took another 40 years until Elizabeth McCombs entered Parliament as the country's first female MP. Series Standing in the Sunshine was made to celebrate the suffrage centennial year. In this episode a gallery of female MPs including Helen Clark, Ruth Richardson, Jenny Shipley and Marilyn Waring discuss Parliament's overwhelmingly male environment and its slow recognition of women's realities. For other political players like Eva Rickard, Donna Awatere Huata and Hekia Parata, political power and gender roles are more nuanced in te ao Māori.

What we did in the 70s was to recapture a vision that had been there all along. In 1840 our people had sovereignty, we had no idea of giving it up, we had a notion of sharing it in partnership with the settlers who came here. We lost it down the track. In the 70s we simply brought that vision back to the public fore.

– Donna Awatere Huata on Māori political activism in the 1970s

Key Cast & Crew

Carol Archie

Narrator

Hineani Melbourne

Associate Producer

Jan Preston

Composer

Sandra Coney

Writer, Executive Producer

Wendy Jackson

Narration Script

Judy Rymer

Director