Dowie: ‘Politics is a contest of ideas’

Invercargill has smashed through the glass ceiling, a candidate for the 2017 election says. Four women are vying for the top spot in this year’s election but there’s no sense among any of them that this is anything usual.

They’ve all had their share of leadership.

National MP Sarah Dowie has tucked away three years in the top job, NZ First’s Ria Bond landed a spot in parliament when Winston Peters won Northland, Labour Party candidate Liz Craig is a public health doctor and Green Party candidate Rochelle Surendran an instigator of colourful community initiatives.

With so much contest, can Invercargill be considered a safe seat any longer?

Traditionally a secure spot, Labour held the Invercargill electorate seat with both hands from 1993 until 2005.

When Mark Peck retired from parliament, National’s Eric Roy took over in 2005.

In 2014, Dowie scooped up the seat with 17,526 votes, 7482 ahead of nearest rival Labour’s Lesley Soper.

Bond, who in 2014 polled third with 2526 votes, said staunchly that Southland had ‘‘always punched above its weight’’.

For this reason, Bond believed four women standing was not unusual.

‘‘We’ve always had to work harder for recognition.’’

Political parties were becoming smart with their female candidates, she said.

In September, when voting papers were unfolded, Bond said men might be ‘‘very concerned’’.

Bond, who was not yet a confirmed candidate for the upcoming election, had observed in many women a reluctance to take various leadership roles.

However, Invercargill was a leopard which was changing its spots.

Last year, for the first time, all the judges presiding over the Invercargill court house in a single week were women, of which there were five.

Southland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sheree Carey, Tiwai Point NZAS chief executive Gretta Stephens and Southland Institute of Technology chief executive Penny Simmonds are all long-standing Southland powerhouses.

At the Invercargill City Council, the per centage of women city councillors now exceeds 40 per cent.

Of the 12 city council seats, five were women — three of them elected last year.

Bond said the new councillors were leaders in their community.

‘‘Women are doing a damn fine job of running this city.’’

There are 41 women MPs in parliament — 33.9 per cent.

The global average for women in parliaments is 21.4 per cent.

Craig believed it was, in her own words, ‘‘a statistical anomaly’’. No one had mentioned it to her. ‘‘Having said that, I think many people in Invercargill are used to strong women leaders.’’

For voters it meant gender was out of the equation, she said.

‘‘People need to weigh us up on what our experience is, and what we can do.’’

Election issues were ‘‘women’s issues’’, she said.

‘‘Health, housing problems and wages this election will be fought for — and women are in the middle of all that.’’

Craig said she had benefited from advocacy for women, as recently as in the last century. However, women were still fighting. On that list were parental leave and pay equality, Craig said.

‘‘Having women in parliament will make those things more possible.’’

Surendran said why Invercargill women were at the political fore was not the question.

‘‘The question should be, how come other places don’t?

‘‘Why would people consider it unusual, and what are we doing right?’’

She recalled a childhood memory, being on a typical family drive.

They found a woman standing in the middle of the road. Her mother stopped the car. The woman, crying and upset, had been left by her partner.

‘‘We insisted that we take her home and look after her, and make sure she was OK.’’

Surendran said those values of hospitality and ‘‘giving to others’’ set her path in politics.

‘‘In Invercargill, we’ve already smashed through that glass ceiling,’’ she said.

Surendran, who campaigned for the city council last year, said people often moaned that Invercargill politics was an ‘‘old boys club’’.

Tables had turned on that club, with Lesley Soper, Toni Biddle and Alex Crackett at the helm.

‘‘Invercargill is such an innovative city. It’s full of out-of-the-box thinkers.’’

Surendran said voters should not find their options in any way unusual, come voting day.

‘‘Let’s make this the new normal,’’ she said.

‘‘If this was four male candidates, this wouldn’t even be a question.’’

Dowie said it was not unusual — and said in the 2014 election all were women — bar Green Party candidate David Kennedy.

Politics was a contest of ideas, Dowie said.

Whether you are a man or woman, I don’t necessarily think it will make any difference.’’

There were more women on government boards than ever before, she