27 Dec 2017

Best features of 2017: Equality

10:02 am on 23 February 2023

What divides us and the people breaking it down.

Is prejudice a habit that can be broken?

The professor whose experiments revealed the psychological case for unconscious bias believes she’s found an effective treatment for it. The answer is to treat it as a habit, says Trish Devine.

Dr Trish Devine

Dr Trish Devine Photo: Public domain

Busting the bamboo ceiling

Is there institutionalised racism within New Zealand's public and private sectors? Does a bamboo ceiling exist? If it does, a group of Asian leaders are working to tear it down.

Busting the bamboo ceiling - Asian leaders

Busting the bamboo ceiling - Asian leaders Photo: RNZ / Lynda Chanwai-Earle

Smart Talk: Privilege

Russell Brown talks power and privilege with the former MP and Mayor of Carterton Georgina Beyer, journalist and academic Richard Pamatatau, activist Julia Amua Whaipooti and artist and scholar Tāwhanga Nopera. 

From Toby Morris's Pencilsword on the theme of inequality

From Toby Morris's Pencilsword on the theme of inequality Photo: RNZ

Still fighting for equal pay

Despite years of campaigning, New Zealand women are paid, on average, $7 an hour less than men. Prue Hyman is a feminist economist who has spent decades researching gender inequality and advocating solutions

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Photo: RNZ / Daniela Maote-Cox

Insight: Women’s Work and the Gender Wage Gap

Insight speaks to filmmakers Gaylene Preston and Miranda Harcourt about workplace gender equality.

Portrait of the two women standing side by side in front of a dark background

Gaylene Preston and Miranda Harcourt Photo: ( RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King)

'My daughter is not transgender! She's a tomboy'

New York mother Lisa Selina Davis wrote an article expressing concern that so many adults assume that her tomboy daughter wants to be transgender and was not expecting the backlash she has received. She argues that as we have broadened our awareness of gender nonconformity, we've narrowed what we think a boy or a girl can look like.

Sofia George, "tomboy"

Sofia George, "tomboy" Photo: Sarah George

'She's A Good Chap'

Georgina Beyer was the first openly transsexual person in the world to be elected to parliament. Her short time in national politics had been remarkable for its candour and courage, as well as its achievements.

Georgina Beyer's official portrait as Mayor of Carterton.

Georgina Beyer's official portrait as Mayor of Carterton. Photo: Supplied.

Frozan Esmati, clinical psychologist for Refugees as Survivors New Zealand

Frozan left Afghanistan at 13 and spent many years abroad before returning there to work as a psychologist with the UN. Last year, she moved to Auckland with her husband and six-year-old daughter.

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Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

Feminism - the Morning After

Comedian Michèle A'Court, co-founder of the feminist magazine Anne Else Dr Jackie Blue, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner; and the veteran cultural activist Professor Ngahuia Te Awekotuku consider what has been won, but also what battles from the past women are still fighting today.

Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku, Dr Anne Else, Jackie blue, Eva Radich, & Michèle A'Court,

Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku, Dr Anne Else, Jackie blue, Eva Radich, & Michèle A'Court, Photo: Supplied

Making policy, not tea

Nearly 50 years after the women's liberation movement kicked off in New Zealand, women have access to birth control, abortions and work after having children. Joelle Daly asks three second-wave feminist legends if we need the movement today and, if so, what for?

Auckland Women’s Liberation at Kitty Wishart’s house in Princes St about 1972. Sandra Coney is second from right, second from the top. "I remember everyone of these women vividly," she says.

Auckland Women’s Liberation at Kitty Wishart’s house in Princes St about 1972. Sandra Coney is second from right, second from the top. "I remember everyone of these women vividly," she says. Photo: Supplied / Photographer unknown

Not just side-kicks! Asian Men debunk stereotypes

Eight Asian men challenge stereotypes and bare all as they speak candidly about sex, love and dating in new Loading Docs documentary by Auckland director Chye-Ling Huang.

Jun Cheul Park, Asian Men Talk About Sex

Jun Cheul Park, Asian Men Talk About Sex Photo: Michael McCabe

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