Nursing Ethics: Feminist Perspectives by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030491048
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

2 Pre-colonisation and Gender Roles

Although feminism is considered a western construct and social movement, First Nation peoples traditionally supported clearly defined and complimentary roles for men and women. On the marae (cultural meeting place) in New Zealand, the woman’s voice is the first to be heard before people can approach as visitors. Women traditionally and in modern times in New Zealand provide a waiata (song) to support the ceremonial speeches normally provided by a male. If the woman decides that they do not agree with what has been conveyed, then the woman or women will not stand to sing in support of the speaker. I have witnessed this occurring first-hand whereby the act of not taking action provided a clear indication of disagreement of the words that have been spoken.

With the introduction of colonisation in the 1700s, the role of men changed and this had a detrimental effect on the family (whānau) unit (Durie 2007). Traditionally Māori men would contribute to the collective well-being of the tribe (iwi) through the provision of their labour. When European men arrived in New Zealand, Māori men observed key differences between European men and their own. For example, European men provided labour outside of the whānau unit and were paid a wage. This practice was alluring to Māori men as they could see that status could be gained within the new evolving society by selling their means of production. Over a relatively short period of time, Māori men became more aligned to European men’s values and practices and they began to view Māori women quite differently (Pihama 2001; Wepa 2016).

Finally, language can be considered the window to a culture because it provides insights and understandings that cannot be acquired elsewhere. It can explain why certain aspects are privileged in one culture and not another. The language that identifies gender roles between males and females has been fluid for First Nations’ people. For example, for the Inuit people, when a soul leaves a man’s body his gender is no longer of importance. The soul itself is neither male nor female (Waldram James et al. 2006). Within the Māori language in New Zealand, the word ‘ia’ is gender neutral and means he or she. Most of the phrasing does not distinguish between genders. Other examples include parent or parents which is ‘matua’. The male and female-specific terms are ‘tuahine’ sister or ‘tungane’ brother. A girl is called ‘hine’ and a boy ‘tama’.

The gender-neutral language used by Māori in traditional and modern times provides an insight into the gender-balanced nature of the culture. Both males and females were considered with equal merit in terms of roles within the whānau unit and females were revered within many origin stories as the giver and taker of life. For example, the well-known demi-god called Maui who demonstrated great strengths and prowess came to an early demise because of his hedonistic tendencies. Despite his many achievements, he wanted the one thing that eluded him the most—eternal life. As the story goes, Maui was able to change his form into a variety of creatures.

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