GWNZ Fellow Dr Nina Earles at the November branch meeting
Nina is studying for a Masters of Public Health at Yale University with an emphasis on health policy.
Nina shared insights about the US health system, and inspired us with her vision to reduce the inequities in the New Zealand health system so that the best outcomes are available to everyone within the limited health budget. She impressed us with her ability to work as a GP while parenting 3 young children, and with her determination to continue her studies to gain higher qualifications. Lorelle George (GWNS President) and Nina are with our new GWNZ banner.
News and events
At the AGM on 21 October 2019 the following branch officers were selected:
President: Dr Jo Innes
Immediate Past President: Dr. Sita Venkateswar
Treasurer: Gretta Mills
Cluster Leads were also selected:
Education/Awards: Dr Bridget Percy, Dr Julia Raynor
Advocacy/Projects: Leola Meynell, Dr. Sita Venkateswar (social media)
Community/Membership (incl friendship bridge, programme, social media): Dr. Sita Venkateswar
News and events
10 October, 2019
PhD in French for North Shore member Helen Sturm
Helen’s thesis comprised an analysis and translation of 1840 letters to Marist Superior General, Fr Jean-Claude Colin in France, from Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier and the French Marist missionaries working with him in New Zealand.
For her thesis Culture, politics, religion and language in the letters of French Roman Catholic missionaries in 1840 New Zealand Helen used the views of Māori and the writings of Jacques Derrida and Pierre Bourdieu to inform her linguistic and historical examination of cross-cultural encounters in the new colony. One of her examiners’ reports on the thesis notes that it “presents an original cross-disciplinary contribution to knowledge in the fields of colonial New Zealand history and translation studies. […] The candidate’s documentary translation of [the Marists’ letters] illuminates our current understanding of New Zealand history around the time of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by offering different, non-Anglophone perspectives on the events and personalities involved. […] The letters not only provide fascinating insights into the relationships between the Marists in New Zealand and the wider Pacific and Colin in Lyons but also, more importantly for early New Zealand colonial history, they describe Māori culture and spirituality (from the Marist perspective, of course), Māori attitudes to colonisation, interactions between themselves and Māori and the interactions and tensions between themselves and the Anglo-Protestant missionaries, settlers and authorities. The letters offer a new take on cultural and political life in early colonial New Zealand.”
Congratulations on your achievement Helen!
News and events
10 October, 2019
The Summer Learning Journey digital literacy programme
Students who engage in sustained blogging over summer, in response to challenging learning tasks, make significant gains in Reading and Writing achievement.
The Summer Learning Journey (Toki Pounamu) is designed to reduce the ‘summer learning slide’ or loss of learning which occurs during the summer holidays. Developed by Dr Rachel Williamson from Auckland University, the innovative programme involves the students choosing an activity from a number of modules and blogging their responses – which receive feedback from a team of expert commenters: teachers, student teachers and former students of the programme. The programme is for Years 4-8 children in lower decile schools. It started in three Auckland schools in 2014 and is now active in 100 schools throughout New Zealand. Rachel’s presentation to the North Shore branch July meeting was well received by members who were impressed to see how social media can be used to support an effective literacy programme. Research has shown that students who take part in the Summer Learning Journey return to school after the summer break ready to learn, and achieve better results in reading and writing than students who do not participate. Visit the Toki Pounamu website for more information and a link to the Summer Learning Journey website.
News and events
Morgan Heslop – wins the Master’s People’s Choice award. Presented by Associate Professor Tracy Riley, Dean Research and Dr Jo Innes, Graduate Women Manawatu Vice-President. Photograph provided by Alexis Boniface
Massey University held the finals for the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition on Wednesday 14 August. This is an academic competition that challenges Doctoral and Master’s students to describe their research within three minutes to a general audience. It celebrates the discoveries made by research students and encourages them to communicate the importance of their research to the broader community.
Morgan, selected as the Master’s People’s Choice spoke about her research which seeks to understand stress in tiger fish and Du Le Hoang, the PhD People’s Choice winner provided an informative and entertaining presentation on his research which is seeks to prevent colorectal cancer. Graduate Women Manawatu, the proud sponsors of both people’s Choice awards, congratulate all the winners and encourage others to apply in 2020.
News and events
25 July, 2019
GWNS Charitable Trust undergraduate study awards
First-year students from North Shore schools awarded study grants for tertiary study.
Five high-achieving first year students who had attended North Shore high schools were awarded $1,500 grants for undergraduate study at AUT North campus and Massey University Albany. Recipients of these awards were: TamilaTodd, Glenfield College; Jade Mademblik, Northcote College; Sherrice Imbo, Carmel College: Megan McIsaac, Rangitoto College and Holly Spencer, Orewa College.
The awards were presented at a High Tea held at the Masonic Centre in Albany.
News and events
Dr Robyn Hewland knew from the age of ten that she wanted to be a
doctor. However, she and her father were told by the headmistress of St
Margaret’s College, Christchurch which she attended for her secondary schooling
in the early to mid-50s, that her School Certificate marks were “too low for University“.
Fortunately for Robyn, now with a string
of letters after her name (Q.S.M; MBChB; DPM; FRCPsych; FRANZCP; MNZAP), other
teachers were more encouraging. The Deputy Headmistress recognised Robyn’s
tenacity and told her she would find a way of doing what she wanted to do.
Robyn writes “70 students took Medical Intermediate at Canterbury University,
and after hard work and extra coaching in Physics and Organic Chemistry, I was
12th in our Class of 120, with 10 females in it. We were told by some staff
that we had taken a male’s place and would waste it. This was at a time when 12 percent of married
women worked outside their homes. There was no maternity care, child-care of
Domestic Purposes Benefits. Most of our
class mates were OK but some staff made rude jokes about us females and some
males joined in the laughter. An orthopaedic surgeon who visited the
anatomy room during our dissections was worst. We had not heard of the word
harassment, so felt all was our fault for not fitting in better with the
culture”.
Robyn did her medical training at Otago University, graduating in 1962.
She comments: “When I went home in the holidays, if I said I was a Med student
at parties, most boys moved away. If I let them think I was a nurse, they
stayed talking to me”. There was a
perception that NZ males were petrified of female doctors. After med-school,
Robyn did her house surgeon’s year at Wanganui Hospital, had a year as ships
doctor on the P & O line in the Pacific, then worked as a GP in Marton for
four years. From there she went to the UK for further post-graduate training,
returning to Christchurch in the early 1970s.
in Christchurch “I was a Medical Consultant (Psychiatrist), in what
seemed a Boy’s Club. My supportive Medical Superintendent said he would
take me to the weekly Hospital Staff Clinical lunch and talk, but, not to take
it personally if few male doctors talked to me. If they did, they might be
gossiped about wanting an affair with me. I was one of about three female
Consultants on Christchurch Hospital Staff then, so I talked to the Dietician
pouring the tea and coffee. If I did a
Ward Consult with a male junior doctor, nurses thought he was the
Consultant. At this time I could not get
a mortgage or open a store Charge Account without a male guarantor”. Robyn was a solo mum by this time and she
looked around for other interests and female support, joining Graduate Women,
NCW and becoming the President of the NZ Medical Women’s Association. She then
moved to Queensland continuing with her voluntary work, including with the Sunshine
Coast Branch of University Women of Queensland from 1994 to 2014 when she
retired and returned to New Zealand. While
vice-president of the SC branch, Robyn initiated its book of Member’s stories:
“An Educated Woman”, published in 2001.
Robyn adds that “My colleagues at Christchurch Hospital tell me that
about 60-70% of Medical students are female now. Over 4000 are on the, by
invitation only, confidential Facebook site for NZ Women in Medicine. A local
student told me last year that if she and a male student visit a patient, that
usually the patient and nurse mostly talk to the male student. Females still
find it harder to train for specialities, especially in surgery in many
hospitals, and have reported sexual harassment and discrimination. I was told
that women need to make up at least a third in any group to avoid being an
ignored or harassed minority”.
….. but if you think anything’s changed –
read on:
Twenty
four. That’s how many times Dr Lupe Taumoepeau has been mistaken for the
cleaner when she’s entered an operating theatre.
New
Zealand’s first female vascular surgeon – and the only Pacific Island female
vascular surgeon in Australasia – rolls her eyes when our conversation finds
its way to the repeated case of mistaken identity.
“Sometimes
people think I’m a nurse,” says the 38-year-old. “I’ve also had
patients say to me, ‘You can’t be a surgeon,’ because of my age, gender or
ethnicity. It’s sad that unconscious bias still exists, that people don’t see
women of colour in positions of power. Thankfully, it’s slowly changing.”
Yeah right!
Robyn is keen to seek assistance from someone who would like to write up her biography, and she can pay outgoing costs [but not a commission fee]. Read more
News and events
REPORT ON CSW63 UN COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN, New York, 11-22 March 2019
www.unwomen.org/en/csw
This abridged NGO report was prepared by Beverley Turner, who attended as International Secretary, Pacific Women’s Watch (NZ)
CSW‘s
‘Woman of Distinction’ in 2019 was Gharsanay Ibnul Ameen, a 22yr old Afghani
woman with an extramural law degree from US who has provided leadership
training to over 1,000 young Afghani women, with the acquiescence of Afghani
Mullahs! ‘The time has come for women to
step up into meaningful leadership in Afghanistan, for the goals of equal
rights for all to be ensured, maintained and practised’. Unsurprisingly, she received a lengthy standing
ovation!
In a
succession of incisive global panel discussions, nationally and internationally
acclaimed feminists from ILO, FEMNET, Oxfam, DAWN+ spoke passionately –‘We are
here for the world we have not yet seen!’
Interspersed were song, poetry, dance, drumming.
San
Francisco has become the first ‘City for CEDAW’ inside USA. [USA is one of six UN members which have
not ratified CEDAW] Auckland is also a ’CEDAW City’.
Over 5,000
women attended. Eleven 90-minute NGO Parallel Events were scheduled simultaneously
every two hours from 8.30am to 6.30pm, at four venues 30 minutes’ walk from the
UN. This resulted in numerous event clashes, so the NZ NGOs’ daily ‘Catch-up’
at 7pm with a Ministry for Women rep &/or Hellen Swales our NZ NGO rep
embedded in the NZ Government delegation, was invaluable.
NZ NGO
events included:
The Assn of Presbyterian Women, Aotearoa NZ:
‘Gender Equality in the 3rd Age’
PWW(NZ) President and Patron outlined ‘The
Rampant Incarceration of Indigenous Women’, offering practical solutions
A seminar hosted by the NZ Mission, on
multiple aspects of CSW’s ‘infrastructure’ theme, chaired by Dr Gill Greer
Pacific
events included
Lily de Soeur funded by IWDA, Australia, a
very active PNG delegate outlined how she led an in-depth survey of PNG women’s
issues with its challenges, problems, frustrations. “Patriarchy Rules!”
While there were fewer Pacific Island women
than usual at CSW63 and no Graduate Women Fiji members, there was solid input
from a number of Fiji NGOs:- Diva
Fiji, Fiji Young Women’s Forum, Fiji
Women’s Rights Movement, Rainbow Foundation / Fiji and more
# NGO Caucus meetings are invaluable as
‘mini-plenaries’ to hear other countries’ specific challenges to
enjoying-gender equality and its outcome.
Asia-Pacific is one of UN’s-five designated global regions but contains
60% of the world’s women! Caucus One
focused on country &/or NGO frustrations; initiatives; Q&A and common
advocacy issues at CSW63; while Caucus Two was Q&A with vigorous networking
re Asia-Pacific Region’s preparations for 25th Anniversary of UN Beijing
Platform for Action, 2020. Clearly CSW64
will be massive with several preparatory meetings also.
Graduate
Women International’s Parallel Events included
Women’s Empowerment through a Holistic
Approach to Education, chaired by CFUW (Canada) with speakers from Australia,
India, Mexico, Rwanda, Scotland, US and Zambia. They explored how access to
public services, strong social protection systems and solid sustainable
infrastructure are all needed to provide transformative education for girls –
with girls’ personal development and human rights paramount.
Global disparities were shared – 2019 is a key
year for disaggregated data collection;
Global Campaign for Education & Global
Business Coalition for Education were both referenced. GWI’s 20 representatives
and their NGO ‘parallel’ events all focussed on essential areas of their
national ‘infrastructure’ a core element in CSW63 theme.
The USA
Visa denials are a serious barrier to CSW participation eg. Preventing Iranian
attendance and causing the cancellation of their NGO events. But local US
residents from Iran stepped in to describe ‘their sisters setting up
entrepreneurial workshops eg fine needlework’.
Such ‘productive activity amongst women and youth in Iran boosts their
self-confidence re their roles in society as effective forces in Iran’s
economic, social and cultural spheres’
Numerous African women suffered likewise at earlier CSWs as well as in
2019. Many of us signed a Protest
Petition that ‘Queen Mother’ Dr. Delois N. Blakely (Harlem’s eloquent and
stunning unofficial mayor for the last 8 years), took to US Congress in
Washington accompanied by a busload of over fifty CSW63 supporters and Human
Rights activists. See:
https://www.ngocsw.org/blog-post/visa-denials-during-un-csw63
Male NGO
Event presenters were few but highly regarded with clear objectives such as
sharing successful approaches to EVAW; e.g. a pragmatic and inspiring retired
US police officer who is now teaching human rights at tertiary level in an
unnamed city whose municipal laws are progressive e.g.
full protection for undocumented immigrants from deportation or
prosecution / despite US Federal Immigration law!
Gender,
Peace & Security was addressed extensively in both Parallel and Side
Events. Sessions were packed and UN SCR
1325 best practices shared: ‘NGOs must
be vigilant watchdogs’, ‘Listen to the women!’, ‘Policy advocacy is slow’,
’Essential to address patriarchy’, ‘A sharp gender lens is essential’. [See: Cordaid work.]
A ‘stand-out’ session for me was the excellent UNA/NZ & UNA/USA/San Diego panel discussion on ‘Non-Binary Identities & Social Security Systems: Challenges & Opportunities’; others were: Women’s Economic Recovery & Peace; Women Human Right Defenders & Social Protection; The Road Ahead – Making Gender Parity a Reality; CEDAW Convention & 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development/SDGs; Towards Gender responsive Climate Action
Scholarships presented to North Shore women for post-graduate study
GWNS has awarded four post-graduate scholarships, five study grants and a travel grant to North Shore women scholars.
The 2019 awards were presented at a High Tea held at the Masonic Centre in Albany.
Adi Papirany, Emily Palmer and Alice Stevenson with Carolyn Harvey, GWNS President
In making the presentation the Graduate Women North Shore branch President, Carolyn Harvey, noted that over the twenty years that these awards have been offered, the range of study areas women were undertaking had widened greatly. Over the two decades 142 scholarships and awards have been made with a total value of $500,000 This year’s recipients of post graduate awards were: Tanisha Pereira from Henderson. Tanisha holds a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours and is undertaking Doctoral studies into technologies that can be implemented in situ to analyse defects in parts while a machine is in operation. Tanisha was awarded $8,000 Adi Papirany from Torbay holds a Bachelor of Arts Hons and is enrolled in the Doctor of Clinical Psychology. Her research is exploring cyberbullying – an issue affecting many people and particularly adolescents. Adi was awarded $5,000 Alice Stevenson lives in Bayview and holds a Bachelor of Science, and a Bachelor of Science Hons in psychology. She is now undertaking Doctoral studies in Clinical Psychology. Alice is investigating systemic factors such as power imbalance which lead to marginalisation and disempowerment of people. Alice’s award was $2,500 Emily Palmer from Unsworth Heights has a Bachelor of Natural Sciences, and a Master of Science in Conservation Biology. For her Doctoral studies, Emily is researching areas of marine mammalogy, ecology and conservation and was awarded a $2,000 travel grant to attend the Second World Marine Mammal Science Conference which is to take place in Barcelona in December this year.
News and events
Samantha Tennent and nine others have
been announced as recipients of the 2019 IFAJ/Alltech young leaders in
Agricultural Journalism Award. They come from all over the world including
Ghana, Liberia, Germany, Sweden and the UK.
The recipients will attend the 2019
IFAJ Congress in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they will also do a leadership
boot camp in July.
Tennent, 29, said it felt surreal to be selected. “It’s pretty prestigious getting picked amongst them. It’s not like I was just against other Kiwis, I was the little Kiwi going against the world,” Tennent said.
