The World Trade Organisation has appointed Te Taumata Māori Trade board member Tania Te Whenua (Tūhoe, Te Whakatōhea) to its first civil advisory board.
Te Whenua will attend a biannual meeting with WTO director-general Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, along with eight other non-governmental leaders from around the world to share perspectives on some of the most urgent issues affecting trade and the stability of the global economy.
Okonjo-Iweala visited New Zealand last November, meeting Te Whenua and other wāhine Māori leaders who worked in tourism, business and other sectors to highlight the importance of indigenous voices and women being heard at the WTO and discussing opportunities for increasing it.
Te Whenua said the meeting was a “huge success” whereby the group was able to “spotlight the intrinsic nature of Māori culture, which has long since acknowledged the mana of Māori women as political, social and economic leaders within Te Ao Māori, alongside Māori men”.
“Under the tikanga of gender duality, mana tāne and mana wāhine doesn’t compete, it supplements.”
