Mana Wahine
I was 16 (and then some in subsequent years of reading) when I first read the biographies of women like Katharine Meyer Graham (Katharine Graham, A biography) Golda Meir (Golda), Vera Nabokov (Vera – Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), Amiria Stirling (Amiria, The Life Story of a Maori Woman), Rosa Parks (Quiet Strength), Janet Paterson Frame (Wrestling with the Angel: A life of Janet Frame) Mary Joseph Aubert (Never Let Go!) Riperata Kahutia, Neilsine Paget and many many more … they made me feel honoured to be a woman. I feel honoured.
The thing I believe that earns a woman that place of honour is her conviction of heart to truly fight for what she believes in, without fists, without malice but with such grittiness and sharpness of intellect that even her male counterparts applaud her. It’s not so rare despite what some might say. We are made like that, male and female, to complement and compliment one another.
Some of the women I’ve spoken about here are well-known, others not so, but they have in common a profound sense of decency, forthrightness and intention. Perhaps the only key needed to enter into their world is that non descript one that rarely fits any lock you might have.
Which key? Well the one that’s always left over among the house keys after all the others have been accounted for, that one with the inscription “We can do no great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Who said that? Theresa. Mother.
This entry is dedicated to my friends Jan Mihaere-Hikawai and Leigh Hikawai (sisters-in-arms) for their strength of spirit and the grace they share in fighting a good fight.
