A passion for improving human rights
Nominations have opened for this year’s Women of Influence awards. Presented by Westpac and Fairfax Media, the awards acknowledge and celebrate women who are helping to shape the future of the country. This week we profile Marilyn Waring.
Marilyn Waring was named the Women of Influence winner for Auckland in the Innovation and Science category 2014. Waring became the youngest member of parliament in 1975 and remained in the House of Representatives until 1984. She is the professor of Public Policy at AUT University.
How did you become involved in politics and women’s rights?
It was largely because I did an honours degree in political science and also it was the 1970s and there was a huge wave of the women’s movement. I was very happily a member of all of that. That I won the nomination (as 23-year-old MP) was a great surprise to everybody but once you’re there, you can’t step up to the microphone and say there’s been a big mistake. Where are you happiest? Usually walking in beautiful environments in fresh air. We are lucky we live in this extraordinary country and we have those places.
What’s your career highlight so far?
The things other people have done for me and perhaps the NZIER economics award of 2014. The book that was put out called Counting on Marilyn Waring about new advances in feminist economics. Even this Women of Influence award. I didn’t do any of the things I’ve done in my life to be acknowledged. I would have done them anyway, but being recognised at home by your peers is very special.
Who has been the biggest inspiration to you? My biggest inspiration are women in many places who have not had my advantages or opportunities but who nonetheless spend their lives working for human rights and other people.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your life? Being the only woman in the government caucus under Muldoon’s leadership. It was 1978-1981. It was very lonely and it was quite brutal. It was a battle every day. I kept going because somebody had to, when you’re sitting there you can’t turn around and pass that buck. What kept me going were hundreds of women, many many that I never knew, writing letters to me. It was huge support, amazing.
What advice would you give to your 23-year-old self entering into politics? The two things that take my breath away are how hard I worked, and really the courage I had. I suppose when you’re young and you have so much energy and everything is so outrageous ... at my age I would just shrug my shoulders now at some of those things. That life was so ruthless and so relentless you could not be reflective about it. If I had ever stopped to reflect what was really going on, I would have run screaming from the room.
What does being a Woman of Influence mean to you? I want to be an influence for human rights. For making the invisible visible – whether that’s people, policy issues or those who don’t have access or opportunity to the places I have access to. Having access doesn’t make you an expert on anything. You have to hold the door open and let the experts in.
Which of your attributes are you most proud of? My brain doesn’t let me down usually.
Which of your attributes could you live without?
Impatience, it would have been good to have had more patience. Though I don’t really know why women should have to be more patient anymore. I might have been more diplomatic.
What were the greatest gifts you received from your parents?
My father really thought that women could do anything. Because of World War II, neither of them had the opportunity to finish a secondary education or to study in professions they might have wished for. They had dreams that couldn’t be fulfilled. I was the first person to go to university in the generations of those families.
Proudly presented by Fairfax Media and Westpac, nominations are open for the 2015 Women of Influence awards. Visit stuff.co.nz/national/ women-of-influence for more information.