A group of northern wahine have appeared before the Waitangi Tribunal, mounting a deeply personal and historical challenge to the Crown over the systemic marginalisation of Māori women.
As part of the ongoing Mana Wāhine inquiry, sisters Rukuwai and Arohanui Allen, and whanaunga Heeni Te Matekōiwi, provided evidence detailing how colonial laws and government systems historically stripped wāhine of their traditional leadership roles and authority within their own communities.
Rukuwai challenged the crown and said they must bear the burden for the issues they created.
She firmly rejected the idea that the systemic outcomes facing Māori today are for Māori alone to fix, arguing instead that the responsibility for redress lies with the Crown.
“Tērā tētahi pōhēhē a te karauna i te mea kīhai te ingoa wahine, te kupu wahine i tuhi ki roto i te ture kīhai i takahi rātou i te mana o te wahine, nā ko ngā kōrero kei roto e mea ana, ehara i te mea me kite mārika i te kupu wahine e mārama ai tātou ki ngā pēhitanga kua tau ki runga i a ia.”
Whilst acknowledging the mana of both wāhine and tāne, Heeni Te Mate Kōiwi spoke at length on the role of wāhine as the bearers of whakapapa.
She shared a deeply personal account of her daughter’s passing from cancer, using her heartbreak to highlight the urgent need for rongoā Māori to be prioritised and integrated within the national health system.
“I mua tonu i te taenga mai o te Pākehā e mārama ana tātou he iwi ora, te iwi Māori. He mana nui tō tēnā iwi, tō tēnā iwi, he mana tō te tangata, āe. Engari, i tino rangatira ai te tū a te wahine i roto i te whānau, ka mutu i roto i te pāharakeke.”
The Mana Wāhine inquiry, known as Wai 2700, is investigating Treaty breaches that specifically harmed Māori women.
Part of the claim is that before European settlement, wāhine held high-ranking positions as leaders and decision-makers.
Rukuwai argued that this authority was not just lost but was systemically replaced by the Crown’s own social structures, effectively erasing the political standing that Māori women once held.
“Ngāpuhi te whenua taurikura o Turikātuku, he wahine ārahi i tōna iwi i wawatatia e rātou ka noho ngā wāhine, ngā uri wahine hei kaiārahi i tō rātou iwi pēnei i a ia,” she said.
The group says that their ancestors did not sign Te Tiriti o Waitangi to see the current oppression of Māori women under Crown-made structures.
Wai 2700
The Waitangi Tribunal is currently gathering these stories from across the country to understand the full scale of how Māori women were affected by government policy.
The hearings continue tomorrow as the inquiry moves across the country to hear further evidence and as more witnesses step forward to put their family’s history on the official record.
This process is expected to continue for several years, with a final report and recommendations for the government due in 2030.
