She’s tied to the kitchen, by choice. Indigo Paul ponders how she ended up filling her days with domestic labour – and why she’s cool with it. The term came up after chatting to a friend about what I’d been keeping myself busy with. “Oh, I’ve just been at home, working on the garden and … Read more
A new survey from the CFFC has highlighted the gender gap when it comes to financial literacy, with some of the lowest scores among women with children and women over 35. (PLUS: How financially knowledgeable are you?) While much has been said about the wage gap between men and women in recent years, it isn’t … Read more
Art activist group the Guerrilla Girls has been calling out gender bias in the American art world since 1985. Their survey show, Reinventing the “F” Word, is in its final weeks at Auckland Art Gallery. But what’s the picture on gender representation closer to home? How equal are the opportunities for male and female artists … Read more
Three eliminations down, three women gone. But why is Dancing with the Stars so harsh to its female contestants? Miriam Moore writes. The fourth week and third elimination of Dancing with the Stars has come and gone. Once again, the talent was off the charts, and we got to see what Aotearoa’s group of B-to-H-list celebrities … Read more
Alex Casey conducts a highly scientific study into the gendering of your morning cuppa. Gendering food and drink is all the rage these days, from National’s sausage sizzle innuendo to Whittaker’s new gender reveal chocolate bars. Blue for boys, pink for girls. Sausages for boys, clueless political chat for girls. It’s made some angry and … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Whittaker’s controversial coconut ice ‘gender reveal’ chocolate. Whittaker’s latest release is inspired both by that classic Kiwi school fair staple, coconut ice, and by the bizarre phenomenon of the baby gender reveal party. (If you’re not familiar, that’s when … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Medulla Oblongata following their shock elimination from House of Drag. Medulla Oblongata is the name of the stem that connects the spinal cord to the brain. It’s also the part that controls the gag reflex. It’s also the name of the recently-eliminated contestant from House of Drag, a non-binary former refugee … Read more
Julia dropped a metrosexual bombshell on Married at First Sight this week. Dejan Jotanovic goes deep on the implications of this, and what’s behind our society’s relationship to masculinity. Married at First Sight pegs itself as the ultimate experiment. Six couples are forced to not only cope with clashing values and combusting pasts, but the scrutiny … Read more
The conveners and judges of this year’s Best Design Awards nominations are overwhelmingly male. And in the past 20 years, its top award has only been awarded to three women. Designer Catherine Griffiths responds with – what else? – design. Each year the Designers Institute of New Zealand awards two Black Pins, its supreme award. For … Read more
Research shows we think young people have a lot more sex than they do in reality – and men have a particularly skewed view of the sex lives of young women. As part of research institute Ipsos’ long-running studies on misperceptions, to be released in a new book, The Perils of Perception, we asked people … Read more
The old saw about men being less capable of noticing household dirt isn’t the reason they do so much less housework than women. The truth is, it’s all about gendered expectations. The problem with housework is that it is never-ending drudgery. As soon as the floor is cleaned, the dog throws up, the kids spill … Read more
New research reveals the penalty women pay after becoming mothers, and it should spur us to take action to change, writes Jess Berentson-Shaw “Having children is just selfish.” It’s a common line. People have said it to my face happily enough (not to my husband’s though, oddly enough). There is an element of truth to … Read more
Kirsty Johnston’s piece recounting an encounter with a creep in a pub has prompted an online response which leaves Morgan Tait happy to conclude that Johnston’s conclusion – that NZ has an issue with toxic masculinity – is 100% irrefutably wrong. Rejoice! A New Zealand journalist wrote about a run-in with a man in a Dunedin pub this … Read more
The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read more comics here
Every week we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Freedom Kids‘ Rachel Hansen who wants to help break gendered stereotypes among children – one ethically-produced, gender-neutral piece of clothing at a time. ONE: How did Freedom Kids start and what was the inspiration behind … Read more
People of diverse genders have been completely left out of this year’s New Zealand census. Here a non-binary parent talks about their experiences of being ignored and erased. Jess Mio describes their life under the relentless gender policing and racism in our public systems and hopes for a better, more inclusive, future. Nō Tauranga ahau I tipu … Read more
Stats NZ’s decision to exclude sex, gender and sexuality from its upcoming census has come in for criticism from the queer community. But it turns out businesses in New Zealand – most recently Southern Cross Health Society – are already well ahead of the curve. Despite announcing back in 2015 that ‘gender diverse’ would join … Read more
Following that Waikato Times column about blokes suffering from women’s periods (comprehensively rebutted here) Michele A’Court generously proffers some empathy advice for men. This post was first published April 27, 2017. Hey Tom O’Connor, I think you’re doing “empathy” wrong. You’re doing that thing where, instead of imagining what it is like to experience something, you just describe … Read more
Yes, Emma Wiggle broke the Wiggly glass ceiling – but did she have to be wearing a frilly tutu and bows to do it? Angela Cuming looks at the weird gender politics on The Wiggles. During a recent bout of toddler illness I caught up with The Wiggles and noticed some important messages the popular … Read more
An international survey shows book sections publish many more male critics than female – and that they review many more books written by men than women. Spinoff books editor Steve Braunias (a man) looks at the state of play in New Zealand. A landmark survey has revealed that more women than men review books at … Read more
Jessie Moss crunches the numbers on the VNZMAs and discovers some surprising – and unfortunately not so surprising – facts about gender representation in our biggest music awards. 2017 has been a big year for women in the New Zealand music industry. There has been constant agitation at the roots, propelled by the likes of … Read more
Last week, the Otago Daily Times published a conspiratorial and objectively terrible opinion piece claiming APRA’s ‘gender-affirmative action regime’ is a mediocrity-encouraging membership drive. Dunedin musician, pop music scholar and APRA member Millie Lovelock responds. It’s a losing battle, arguing with idiots. Unfortunately, being an idiot is currently very much en vogue in Dunedin, especially … Read more
Possum Plows, singer of Auckland pop-punk band Openside, opens up about their journey to coming out as nonbinary and the impact it has had on their band and fans. Becoming more public about being nonbinary is something I’ve thought about a lot in terms of how it relates to my music career and whether or … Read more
Researchers at Motu Institute have found that women who bring exactly the same value to a private firm as the men who work there are paid on average 16% less. Jess Berentson-Shaw considers what that means – and how the stubborn pay gap can be fixed. Whenever the gender pay gap is discussed in the … Read more
Ahead of tonight’s ‘More than a Pretty Face’ event in Wellington, Angela Meyer and Anna Dean of the Ace Lady Network shuffle the deck and read the fortunes Let’s preface this by saying there’s an occult show on at City Gallery Wellington. We’re over the endless polls and a great deal of male commentary which … Read more
Connor Mcleod is a youth worker and activist with InsideOUT, an organisation that is trying to make New Zealand a safer place for our children. He’s calling on parents to help in this vital and important work. Young people of minority sexualities and genders need our help and support. Our young people are out there … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, in this men-only post, we salute a man ad for a man house. This post is for men only. Ladies, please close the window. Move over, man cave. Get ready to swipe your man card for the mansion. The … Read more
Miriama Aoake reacts to the male-dominated lineup announcement for dance music festival Northern Bass. It’s hardly surprising that last week’s first lineup announcement for Northern Bass hardly set Aotearoa alight. The festival’s lineup has remained relatively unchanged for perhaps the past 10 to 15 years, with the exception of two or three international headliners. One … Read more
Is Cars 3 a stealth feminist smash hit? Mum of three Angela Cuming gives her verdict on a franchise that has never been very good in the past. I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with Pixar films. As in I’ve hated how much people have loved them because to me they’ve always been a testimony … Read more