Did your wife “stop getting paid” this week?

This is an updated version of an article first published in November 2017. From Monday 28th November, the media says, working women in New Zealand are “in effect working for nothing” until the new year. For wāhine Māori and Pasifika women, it’s even worse. Now you know as well as I do that it’s not quite as simple as that. If it were, perhaps we … Continue reading Did your wife “stop getting paid” this week?

Why I’ll never get a “curly cut” again

Hairdressers – or mainstream hairdressers, as I have now been taught to call them – are not trained in cutting and styling curly hair. This won’t be news to any of my curly sisters reading this. We’re exhausted of stylists blow drying our hair straight, only to use curling irons to add curls back to our naturally curly hair. We’re tired of the endless “Wow, … Continue reading Why I’ll never get a “curly cut” again

How to stop feeling down

It’s Sunday, 9.31am, and I’m on my yoga mat. I’m right in the middle of the room, surrounded by 49 other yoga addicts. Nothing unusual about that, except that I’m crying. In the quiet stillness of dozens of people intensely focusing on their breath I reach gingerly for my sweat towel. Hoping the teacher isn’t wondering why I need it already, thirty seconds into the class, I dab at my damp face. Continue reading “How to stop feeling down”