Mâori Women in Business as Leaders, Challengers and Achievers

Rau rangatira ma, tenei te mihi ki a koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te râ – Mana Wahine. Tçnâ koutou, tçnâ koutou, tçnâ tatou katoa.

[Distinguished guests, greetings to you gathered here for this purpose today – to celebrate the successes and achievements of Mâori women. Greetings once, twice, three times to you all.]

Thank you for the opportunity to celebrate with you this evening. I want to acknowledge the many talented women here tonight, and in particular our compère, Mabel Wharekawa-Burt, and the other speakers, Leiana Rei Perawiti, and Colleen Tuuta. These women are the embodiment of the theme for Mana Wahine this year, which is "Mâori women in business as leaders, challengers and achievers".

As many of you know, Colleen is a member of the National Advisory Council on Employment for Women (NACEW) and in my experience is definitely a leader, a challenger, and an achiever. From what I know of Leiana and Mabel, they also display these qualities in their own professions.

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs has celebrated Mana Wahine week since 1993, which was both the International Year of Indigenous People and Women’s Suffrage Centennial Year.

This year, there is again much to celebrate. Colleen, Leiana and Mabel are all remarkable women, and luckily New Zealand seems to be full of such strong Mâori women leaders. Mâori women have been instrumental in the Mâori renaissance that is not only shaping the future for their iwi, hapu and whânau, but is also helping to shape all New Zealanders’ sense of what it is to be a part of Aotearoa.

It was Mâori women who set up, and still run, the Kohanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa and Matua Whângai programmes, which underpin the renaissance in Mâori culture and language. And when you look at Mâori success in business – whether it is in health or social services by Mâori for Mâori, or in fashion or media or any other area – you will very often see a woman’s face.

There is much evidence of successful Mâori entrepreneurship. Some recent research indicates that Mâori women are more likely to set up new businesses than other New Zealand women.

Research on Mâori in business undertaken as part of the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that a high proportion of Mâori women go into business for the opportunities it offers, rather than going into business out of necessity.

Mâori were ranked very highly for business optimism, for use of the latest technology and for expectations of job creation. For instance Mâori were almost twice as likely than the general population to expect to launch a new business in the next three years, and they were also much more optimistic about the number of jobs they expected to create.

What this tells me is that there are a lot of confident, positive Mâori women who are full of ideas and are prepared to take risks to create a better future for themselves and their families. It is a view that is also supported by the positive examples of thousands of Mâori women, including those of you here tonight.

What it also tells me is that there seems to be a strong alignment between what Mâori women want for their futures, and the government’s vision for the future of Aotearoa New Zealand. In the Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament last month, Helen Clark put that vision in simple terms. She said:

“We want our country to be more affluent and dynamic.
”We want all our families, young and old, to enjoy more opportunity and security, and to share in the progress the country makes.
”And we want to build pride in the unique national identity of New Zealanders, and to celebrate the achievements and successes of our people ...

Mâori are making a huge contribution to the economic transformation of New Zealand, which is making New Zealand more affluent and dynamic.

They are undoubtedly focused on having their whânau enjoy more opportunity and security.

And Mâori culture and heritage is central to the unique national identity of New Zealand and the pride we all feel in being of Aotearoa.

There’s also plenty of other evidence of positive trends for Mâori women from statistics. Last year Te Puni Kôkiri published a Fact Sheet on Mâori Women in the Workforce that graphically illustrates the progress made by Mâori women in the decade following that first Mana Wahine celebration.

It showed that:

• Between 1994 and 2004 the number of Mâori women in the labour force grew 41 per cent, from 68,000 to 96,000.
• In the same period the unemployment rate for Mâori women was nearly halved, from 19 per cent to 10 per cent.
• And there was more than a 200 per cent increase in the number of Mâori women who completed tertiary qualifications - and an increase in the proportions of Mâori women in skilled and highly skilled jobs.
  These figures underscore the get-up-and-go attitude of Mâori women, and illustrate the huge contribution they make to the economy.

Key among the Ministry’s objectives in its Action Plan for New Zealand Women is that of increasing the success of women, particularly Mâori women, in enterprise. Tonight Colleen, on behalf of the National Advisory Council on Employment for Women, will launch a new brochure that is part of an awareness raising campaign encouraging women to make informed choices.

While we should never overlook the fact that there is still some way to go in areas like unemployment, the trends are in the right direction and there is a real sense of progress.

So there is plenty to celebrate. In addition to this evening, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs is also sponsoring a small film festival that provides an opportunity for Mâori women to present and communicate their craft and storytelling to a wider audience through film. That is on at the Wellington City Art Gallery Auditorium on 22 and 23 April and there is a panel discussion at the Gallery on the 22 April. I hope that you will also take the opportunity to see these films.

So, to the Kuia, Whaea, Tuahine, Tamâhine, Whanau Katoa, to you all, lets celebrate Mâori women’s strength and diversity, not just for today, but every day as we grow as a nation.