Maori Women and the Politics of Tradition: What Roles and Power Did, Do, and Should Maori Women Exercise?

Abstract

The central problem investigated here is the conflict between the predominant role that Maori women are playing in the contemporary Maori movement and the statements made by certain Maori and Pakeha scholars and Maori leaders that Maori women did not play leading roles in precontact times and should not today. The effect of these statements is compounded by the widespread Maori belief that women have an inimical influence in relation to matters of sacred significance. The meanings and usage of the term tradition are explored, and a brief view of typical attitudes confronted by Maori women activists today is presented. The significant, participatory activities of Maori women in community life in the early contact period are established using Pakeha evidence and, more briefly, mythological evidence is given to reveal similar roles for women in earlier periods. The impact on women's lives of precontact ideas about women's potent spiritual powers is also explored. Focus then turns to the changes that have occurred over the past one hundred fifty years in certain aspects of Maori life, in particular Maori definitions of Maoriness, the structures of Maori meetinghouses, and the protocols of various Maori gatherings. These changes have enhanced, not undermined, the legitimacy of the matters reviewed. In conclusion it is suggested that the flexibility and legitimacy accorded certain key features of Maori life in the years since contact could be extended to the roles that many contemporary Maori women have assumed.