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Ka kī ngā kaikōrero i matapaki i te taitōkai me te tūkino ā-ira kāhore i te whānui i roto i te pāpori Māori i mua i te tāmitanga, ā, i aro atu ki ngā kōrero mō ngā atua whāea me ngā tūpuna whāea ki te whakaatu, ina pā mai ai te taitōkai, i pākaha ngā urupare. Ka whakapae ngā kaikōrero ko te tūkino ā-ira me te whakarekereke he hua o te pānga o te tāmitanga ki te ao Māori.

Ngā kaiwhakaatu matua i tuku i te taunakitanga

Ka tautuhi a Puti Corbett (doc A83) i te kōrero mō te tamāhine a Te Auporo, i tukuna kia mārena i roto i te iwi i Te Rāwhiti, Pēwhairangi, e kīia nei ko Ngare Raumati i ngā 1800. Ka amuamu tana tamāhine mō te whakarekereke ā-kāinga, ka whakahokia e Te Auparo ki te kāinga i te Raki o Te Waimate, e tata ana ki Kaikohe, i mārena anō ai tana tamāhine. Heoi anō, ka kī a Corbett 'nā te riri' o Ngare Raumati i 'whai i a Te Auparo rāua ko tana tamāhine', ā, ka kōhuru i a rāua. Nā te whakatakariri a Ngāpuhi ki te matenga o Te Auparo rāua ko tana tāmahine, ka waihanga rātou i te haumitanga, ā, ka haere ki Te Rāwhiti kia whakaea i ō rāua mate, me te aha, e rua tekau mā ono ngā tau e pakanga ana. Ka kī a Corbett 'Ka taea tēnei kōrero mō Te Auparo te whakarite ki ngā kōrero taketake mō Hine-tītama, me tana huringa hei Hine-nui-te-pō. E whakamā ana ia ko tana matua te matua a ana tamariki. Mai rā anō, i roto i ā mātou kōrero auahatanga, ka whakaatu tana whakamā kāore e whakaaetia ana te ngau whiore i roto i tō mātou pāpori. Ka whakaatu he pūnaha uara tō mātou, ahakoa kāhore i te mōhiotia e ō mātou kaitāmi, me te ara i kitea ai te ao e rātou. Kore rawa i whakaaetia ai ngā whakaekenga ā-kāinga me te taitōkai. Ko tō mātou Tikanga tēnei. He taunakitanga mārama ngā mahi a Te Auparo rāua ko tana tamāhine o tēnei. He tino hira tēnei kōrero ki a  au nā te mea kei te mahi tonu au i te wāhi o te whakarekereke ā-taitōkai, ā-tinana hoki'  (Puti Corbett, tuhinga A83, p 5).

Ngā kōrero a ngā kaiwhakaatu

  • “The abuse of wāhine was rare. It did not happen to the extent it does nowadays. Men had a job, and their job was to protect, feed, and procreate. Wāhine’s job was to be protective, procreate, and create the hapū … Abuse did happen but it was a tribal thing. If there were abuses, they were dealt with straight way because it was something that the hapū did not want to get out of hand. The elders would step in and mana wāhine would be part of those decision makers. By the time women were involved, you were in big trouble.” (Esme Sherwin, tuhinga A110, pp 14-15)

  • “There are stories of young girls being raped which had severe and immediate consequences. This offers an example of the way our society reacted to the hara of rape – an act which strips the mana of its victim. This societal reaction exemplifies the sacredness of the mana of wāhine, which for the whole hapū had to be actively protected … An example of the consequences of rape is when Maiwera the wāhine rangatira of Ngai Tai was raped by the Pane Nehu twin sons of Tunamu. Tunamu is the grandfather of Tutamure. Ngai Tai responded by killing the twin sons Tauawhekura and Tuawhekura and drove Pane Nehu from the whenua. At this time it is said Pane Nehu lost their mana because of the act against a wāhine rangatira.” (Kayreen Tapuke, tuhinga A94, p 10)

  • “Whakamā comes to a wāhine if she was for example the victim of sexual abuse … It is the result of becoming victimised. Noa is restored in collective discussions with whanau. If the issue cannot be resolved within the whanau, it would be referred to the wider hapu and elders of the tribe … The elders deliberated and handed down the consequences … Their word was final. There was no appeal process like the courts. People did not run away from this process. To do so was bad for their mana. The outcome could be severe at times. The possible penalties included death. Yet, it was more mana enhancing to face the consequences, whatever the tribal elders decided … Both tāne and wāhine took part in the decision making in this process.” (Violet Walker, tuhinga A66, pp 10-11)

  • “Wāhine were respected by tāne and crimes such as sexual assault were forbidden and punished. In western society sexual assault was not even consider a thing in 1840 as women were the property of males and the ideology was men could do what they wanted.” (Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, tuhinga A95, p 3)

  • “As kaitiaki of the mauri of the people through the whare tangata, wāhine were targeted. One way was through sexual violation. Rape was used as a colonial weapon to annihilate the people and in particular, movements of resistance to colonial hegemony. The impacts of this are intergenerational and continue to cause extreme mamae and trauma for wāhine, whānau, hapū and communities … The relationships wahine have with themselves as human embodiments of the atua wahine have been broken and we are struggling to recover ourselves and see ourselves in a healthy light.” (Ngahuia Murphy, tuhinga A67, pp 8, 10)

From left: Dr Ngahuia Murphy, Annette Sykes, Camille Houia, Te Rangitunoa Black