International Women's Day

Mother to daughter, daughter to granddaughter

I was thinking this morning about what it means to our daughters and our granddaughters coming up behind us when we stand up for our rights and for our children.

Activism is hard.

It comes with the risk of public ridicule and condemnation, legal charges, police harassment, abuse and death threats, and when you do it right, the government tries to stop you, sometimes violently. 

It’s expensive - you live on toast and cheap coffee so you can spend your money on printing and donating and organising. Activists work for free on top of what they already do and they work doubly hard because they believe in it.

It can cost your job, your friends, and your family relationships. Sometimes there’s drama - activists are driven by something other than money, and inevitably personalities clash.

Sometimes our children want us to stop. They’re afraid for us, or they’re getting picked on at school about it, or they wish we had more time to play - and so do we.

But.

I know, for a fact, that having a mother who stands up for women and children and against tyranny of any kind, gives their daughters the courage and conviction to do the same in their time. 

This photo is Mum and me in 1983, holding the banner she made in one hand, and my hand in the other. I think my wooly hat was itchy. 

The picture was taken on what my family calls ‘The Walk to Wellington’, marching for a Nuclear Free New Zealand. 12 women, and six children, all walking from Waiheke to Wellington, for six weeks. 

It made a difference to the Nuclear Free movement, that walk. Just 12 women, taking their children with them walking, made a difference.  

She didn’t stop there though, my Mum. She camped at Auckland Airport for weeks in support of the Greenham Common women. SHe went to Geneva to talk with other mothers against nuclear power. She volunteered for Women’s Refuge, and protected us from the deranged men who tried to find their wives at our house.  She jumped into the ocean in front of actual submarines. She fought for the Homosexual Law Reform bill, and only narrowly missed being blown up on the Rainbow Warrior by a twist of fate. 

Mothers and aunties and grandmothers and sisters and nieces, let’s never forget that what we do now in our moment right now matters, and that even though it’s hard, and sometimes even our children won’t want us to do it, it’s still worth it. 

When we women stand up and a girl sees us doing it, we give her the courage to stand up for her own children and for herself. 

Every time we take an action and show our daughters that her rights are worth fighting for, and that women uniting can do anything, we teach her something that lasts a lot longer than one day. 

It lasts forever, through the generations. 

Happy International Women’s Day, to all the beautiful women who are standing up. 

I’m proud to be standing beside you. 

And a special thank you to my Mum.