Five women talk about challenging stereotypes in New Zealand’s ever-evolving beer scene. When Nicola Kay started her first brewing job, there were no women’s toilets. There had never been the need. It was the early 2000s, and Kay was working for Lion in Sydney. She’d been running the tasting panels at Lion New Zealand, then … Read more
Last week Wikipedia hit the headlines after it was reported that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Donna Strickland didn’t have her own page until after her win. Authors and organisers Anna and Kelly Pendergrast delve into Wikipedia’s gender troubles, and tell us what we can do about it. Wikipedia is one of those websites that has woven … Read more
Controversial American academic and writer Christina Hoff Sommers is coming to New Zealand in 2019 for #FEMINIST, a talk with Roxane Gay about 21st century feminism. Alice Webb-Liddall spoke to her about what it means to be a self-styled ‘equity feminist’. With the self designed nickname “factual feminist”, Christina Hoff Sommers has defined her brand by … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michele A’Court tackle the past month in women, news and popular culture, with thanks to our friends at The Women’s Bookshop. September was a huge month for women both in New Zealand and elsewhere, as we celebrated 125 years of suffrage and watched our Prime Minister hold her baby … Read more
The rise in feminist writing is long overdue and will only grow, writes Claire Murdoch for RNZ. A year ago today I stood around our local school playground watching other New Zealanders going in and out of the hall there, quietly placing their votes in an election that would turn out to have the kind … Read more
The On The Rag podcast team – Michele A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden – look back at the lady ads that made them the women they are today.
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Jo Blair, founder and director of Brown Bread – a marketing and communications agency from Christchurch that focuses on championing the arts, philanthropy and social good. ONE: How did Brown Bread start and … Read more
Helen Clark is back, with a new book collecting her speeches from four decades in public life. She sat down with Alex Braae to discuss her extraordinary career, and where she’s headed next. In the many years Helen Clark has been involved in politics, firstly in New Zealand, and later at the United Nations, she … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michele A’Court tackle the past month in women, news and popular culture, with thanks to our friends at The Women’s Bookshop. Join us as we reconvene for the monthly women’s summit known to many as On the Rag. What is a TERF and why are they back in the … Read more
“I’m 27, and winning national media awards,” writes Lizzie Marvelly, in this edited extract from That F Word. “I’m 28, and writing a book.” I’ve never shied away from a challenge. Which is lucky, because life seems to come at me hard and fast. When I pause to look back over my shoulder, I see … Read more
How hard can it be to film a Youtube beauty tutorial? The On the Rag team share their makeup expertise. Everyone knows that one of the greatest Youtube genres was On the Rag is ‘Chit Chat Get Ready With Me’, a beautiful format where beautiful people put on their beautiful makeup beautifully while you sit there … Read more
The duo behind the fashion and lifestyle blog Rally discuss working in the fashion industry and life as women of colour in Aotearoa. There are some numbers that register immediately for anyone working in the fashion and modelling industries. 32, 24, 34. 5 ft 10 in. The ‘ideal’ measurements for models. Leilani Momoisea, a self-described … Read more
Alex Casey spoke to Alley Miller about finding the courage to get on a motorbike for the first time, and how this led her to her tribe. Alley Miller can recall the most magical moment of her entire life without a moment’s pause. It happened one afternoon when she was heading home on her motorbike. … Read more
In the fifth part of the new podcast series Venus Envy, Colleen Smith and Emma Espiner discuss raising feminists. Like mother, like daughter, Emma Espiner grew up protesting. When other kids had the day off school because teachers were on strike Espiner joined her mum Colleen Smith demonstrating for pay parity. In this episode of … Read more
How will history remember Donna Awatere Huata? Saraid Cameron hopes it’s for her feminism. Donna Awatere Huata will be speaking on a panel discussing the #MeToo movement at LATE at Auckland Museum on Wednesday 15 August. I spent much of last summer (for theatre-geek reasons) in the New Zealand Women’s Archives, an almost forgotten collection at … Read more
Wyoming Paul is grossed out and engrossed by the new novel by English humourist Caitlin Moran. I love a book that isn’t afraid to make people squirm through sheer grossness. There are so many things that are usually sanitised or hidden away — female masturbation, naked parents, bad sex, apartment filth, inter-species sex fantasies — … Read more
In the second part of the new podcast series Venus Envy, Parris Goebel, Karen Walker and Rosanna Raymond discuss beating the boys, the shoulders they stand on, and haircuts. It’s been a constant battle against the perception of what women should be, and what they can achieve in comparison to their male counterparts, for globally recognised … Read more
Gather round, hop-loving harridans of Aotearoa, for now is our time. This story originally ran in Stone Soup “Smash the beer patriarchy” is a phrase I trot out good-naturedly whenever I encounter an example of everyday beer sexism — the likes of being immediately directed to the wine list at a dedicated craft beer bar, … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of Tami Neilson’s ‘Devil in a Dress’, featuring the O’Neill Twins. Tami Neilson says: I was watching the TV series The Fall and there was a scene that directly inspired this song. When a constable wants to use the word ‘innocent’ to describe the killer’s victims in a press release, Gillian Anderson’s character … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michele A’Court tackle the past month in women, news and popular culture, with thanks to our friends at The Women’s Bookshop. This month on On the Rag, we are reunited in the bowels of Mediaworks for another hour of shrill women’s chat. Alex and Leonie unpack their first experience being … Read more
“I am wary of reading any more feminist manifestos these days because they are very exhausting! Who the fuck just loves themselves all the time?”, writes Charlotte Graham-McLay, in her review of a brilliant new memoir hailed as a feminist manifesto but it isn’t, really. All I want famous women to talk about these days … Read more
New research shows women ask for rises as much as men, but just don’t get them, and it’s an indictment of all that ‘bootstrap’ bluster about equality, writes Madeleine Holden In an interesting development for anyone with skin in the game, new research shows that female employees ask for raises as often as their male … Read more
RNZ’s Jana Whitta talks to Sydney post-punk band Mere Women about their new album and women’s experiences over generations. Sydney based post-punk outfit Mere Women make loud music that takes you on a journey through big open spaces. Their third album Big Skies was released on Poison City last year, receiving critical acclaim from the Herald Sun … Read more
Ellen Falconer talks to Lily Allen about celebrity, paparazzi, embarrassment and her new album, No Shame. Recently, having been prompted to share a story of the best time she was kicked out of an event, Lily Allen tweeted that at an awards night she once accidentally took ketamine thinking it was cocaine. Paparazzi evidence shows … Read more
Founder of New Zealand’s first Women’s Fund, Dellwyn Stuart, reflects on the gifts we give when we support other women. I blame my mother. Repeatedly, in a strong clear and insistent voice, she told me ‘girls can do anything’. This was the mantra of my generation who grew up in the 70s with mothers who could … Read more
With the return of Three’s women-led sketch show Funny Girls tonight at 9.45pm, we bless ye with an exclusive clip from tonight’s episode. Funny Girls returns to Three tonight at 9.45pm This content, like all television coverage we do at The Spinoff, is brought to you thanks to the excellent folk at Lightbox. Do us … Read more
Alex Casey sits down for a yarn with Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek, as their film The Breaker Upperers opens in New Zealand cinemas. Madeleine Sami is hooning a beer and Jackie van Beek is sipping a kombucha, or “bin juice” as Sami prefers to call it. We are a few hours out from … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Madeleine Chapman tackle the past month in women, news and popular culture, with thanks to our friends at The Women’s Bookshop. This month on On the Rag, we tackle a Rebel Sport ad with a secret message, delve into the terrifying online world of incels and fill our moon cups … Read more
There’s a photo taken a few years ago of Jacinda Ardern and a young girl called Jessica Tuhua. Remember it well, because one day it might be used to recall the moment one future female prime minister of New Zealand met another. In our series, brought to you by our friends at Flick, celebrating the … Read more