NEW ZEALAND’S SUPER DIVERSE WOMEN
Describe your ethnic or cultural background and how this has shaped the way you view yourself and the world.
I’m a New Zealander with Chinese ancestry. As a child and young adult I wrestled with ambivalence about the Chinese part; insults and contempt towards Chinese led me to suppress my Chineseness. Then when I was 30 I visited my father’s village in southern China, where I was confronted with the reality of my heritage. I could no longer live in denial. It set me on a journey to retrieve my Chineseness, understand how it was different from my Westernness, and blend both into a hybrid identity that gave me the best of both worlds, and harmony in my life.
What benefits does society garner from more gender and ethnic diversity?
Society is constantly engaged in problem-solving. It’s a no-brainer that relying on only one point of view — mainly white, male and monocultural — limits the potential to discover fresh and imaginative solutions. Diverse gender and ethnic views and experience enrich the discussion and the problem-solving. They also increase understanding of the bigger picture, which opens the way to an expanded vision and a more tolerant attitude.
Many Kiwis like to think they are part of an increasingly tolerant society. Is this fact or fiction?
Both. Since the Chinese arrived, the attitude towards them has cycled from late 19th century intolerance to tolerance in the post-war years, then back to intolerance in the 1990s. It has taken almost 30 years for signs of tolerance to come round again — more mixed couples, more mainstream voices raised in protest at racist incidents or remarks — but there are still pockets of society, urban and rural, rich and poor, where the attitudes expressed are still rooted in racist contempt.
Outside of NZ, do you think the world is becoming more tolerant? If so, why and if not, why not?
In the current geopolitical climate, I don’t think so. The vast movements of people across borders, whether by choice, invitation or for escape, are putting pressure on resources and consequently on goodwill and tolerance. At best this will manifest in blame, at worst, bloodshed. On the other hand, the longer people spend in each other’s company, the easier it is to discover the other as a person, not an ethnicity. And that’s when the tolerance could return. On the basis of New Zealand’s example, I’d say it will take another 30 years.
Have you faced discrimination, as
to carve their own path because conventional paths are often not a successful fit. Yet the more difficult journey posed by race and gender has sometimes been the fuel for success. This has been the case for Anchali Anandanayagam, whose experience affected her decision to become a lawyer, so she could help others who encounter discrimination and prejudice, and suffer injustice.
Other super-diverse women have turned to entrepreneurship because, as outsiders, they can see what others
a woman and/or as a member of a migrant community or ethnic minority? Where did this happen and how did or does it affect you?
I’ve been fortunate not to have faced overt discrimination either as a woman or a Chinese. Perhaps that’s because I was a successful graduate of assimilation; or because I had a Kiwi accent; or because I worked in professional contexts where fitness for the job took precedence over the way I looked. But I have been stereotyped as a woman — when I was appointed as the first female social policy adviser to Prime Minister Robert Muldoon in 1978, one media outlet wrote approvingly that like “many another housewife”, I was out doing the household shopping the day the appointment was announced. Or the time when at morning tea at a government have not in terms of new products or service. They often bring innovation because they have to be creative to succeed.
Some super-diverse women are already leading New Zealand at the highest levels, like the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Paula Bennett, and the Prime Minister’s wife, Dr Mary English, and daughters. Yet superdiverse women generally remain chronically under-represented in the leadership of company boards, and local and central government. conference, a male delegate, deep in conversation with a colleague, thrust his cup and saucer at me as I was pouring myself a cup of tea. Was it because I was wearing black, or because I was Chinese, or both? And in my other life as an actor, most of the roles I’m asked to audition for are stereotyped: the prostitute, the dragon lady, the ranting peasant. It’s frustrating encountering such limited perceptions. Writers ought to write for character, not ethnicity.
What advice do you have to others who face it?
Use your judgment as to whether it’s worth calling out the person(s) involved; request a meeting to discuss an issue of importance to you; prepare well; in the meeting, listen as well as state your case, and keep calm and focused.