Fourteen NZ women we talked about in 2023

Whether they entertained, campaigned, outraged, fought in the ring, shot and scored, pled not guilty, flew high on a Kawasaki KX250, or dressed the Princess of Wales in a purple pantsuit, we talked about these women in 2023.

Words: Emma Hildesley, Anna Murray, Emily Perkins, Emily Simpson, Sharon Stephenson, Indira Stewart, Mariana Whareaitu

Hannah Wilkinson is used to creating history. Back in 2011 the Football Fern scored a goal against Mexico, giving her team their first ever point at a FIFA World Cup. Twelve years later, in front of more than 42,000 people at a sold-out Eden Park, she went one better with That Goal against Norway, gifting Aotearoa a FIFA World Cup win, something no New Zealand team – men’s or women’s – had achieved before. Wilkinson and her boot made football fans of the entire country that winter’s night, showing again that women’s sport deserves the same attention and resourcing as men’s sport. Wilkinson poured that sentiment into her artwork this year, in a mural at both Eden Park, and another at Auckland’s Keith Hay Park where her depiction of a proud Football Fern bursting through a concrete wall signified this year's breaking of a barrier, she said. “Our potential was finally seen, we earned respect, and young girls and boys were inspired,” she said. “We crashed through the wall and into the Kiwi sporting scene.” - Anna Murray

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke’s arrival on the political scene can be summed up by a well-known Māori proverb that goes ‘ka pū te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi’ (once the old fishing net is worn, the new net goes fishing). This time last year you were more likely to catch her in the māra (garden) planting, harvesting, star- or moon-gazing developing her keen interest and knowledge on maramataka Māori (Māori lunar calendar) to revive traditional practices – than receiving petitions on the steps of Parliament. But the 21-year-old was announced as the Hauraki-Waikato candidate for Te Pāti Māori in June and by October she became the youngest elected MP in 170 years, ousting the then-mother of the House, Labour MP Nanaia Mahuta, from the electorate seat. As a graduate of Māori immersion education (kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa Māori, kura ā-iwi, and wharekura), she’s of the Kōhanga Reo generation who grew up in an environment where te reo Māori is normal. Who were taught about the fight, the struggle, and the continued effort to revitalise the language. So it’s really no surprise to see a mokopuna of the movement calling the coalition government out on their policies and giving voice to a frustration shared by many of her rangatahi constituents: “How can I not take anything personally when it feels like these policies were made about me?” She’s put Parliament on notice and I’m here for it. - Mariana Whareaiutu

People have been talking about Roseanne Liang for years and rightly so. Ever since her acclaimed 2005 documentary Banana in a Nutshell, Liang has been writing and directing on projects that have steadily gathered attention, both at home and overseas. 2023 was no exception. It saw the release of a second season of Creamerie, the popular dystopian series she co-created, co-wrote and directed about a world where men have been wiped out by a mysterious virus. It was a year of directing the TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender for Netflix, too. But 2023 also saw Liang’s name attached to a major Hollywood blockbuster starring two of the world’s most famous women – Halle Berry and Angelina Jolie. Liang will be directing the Oscar winners in Maude v Maude, a movie that’s being described as a Bond v Bourne-type action thriller. Filming is set to take place in various locations around the world, but Liang told Woman’s Day in August that she'd be approaching the project the same way she always does."[It’s] no different whether I'm doing low-budget New Zealand television or a Hollywood blockbuster with two of the most wonderful female action actors in history," she said."I'll just be mucking in with them." - AM

Transgender activist Eli (Eliana) Rubashkyn grabbed New Zealanders' attention this year after she threw tomato juice on British anti-transgender activist Posie Parker at a speaking event in Auckland's Albert Park in March. In the hours after the incident, Rubashkyn became an internet sensation attracting both opposers and supporters. Rubashkyn has pleaded not guilty to two charges of assault with the case now before the courts. But for 35-year-old Rubashkyn, media attention isn't a new in her complex and often difficult life. Born in Colombia to a Ukrainian mother, she was assigned male at birth and later transitioned to being female in Taiwan. But her trans existence in Asia was fraught. After several years of statelessness (due to her masculine passport photo not being accepted at Hong Kong International Airport) and surviving in refugee centres, Rubashkyn became the first trans person officially recognised by the United Nations when its refugee agency (UNHCR) allowed her to be recorded as female and gave her refugee status. Her story made international news, causing New Zealand activists to make her case to our government, which in 2014 invited her here as a refugee. Rubashkyn, who speaks five languages and has degrees in pharmacy and chemistry, contains to work as a researcher and advocate for gender issues. - Indira Stewart

You probably wouldn’t put Lady Gaga, the Princess of Wales, Melania Trump, Gwyneth Paltrow and Air New Zealand into the same sentence – unless you were discussing the clients of Kiwi fashion designer Emilia Wickstead. The Auckland-born designer of New Zealand, Italian and German Samoan descent followed her mother into the rag trade and has not only worked at elite fashion houses in Milan and New York, she now dresses some of the most famous women in the world from her London atelier, outfitting them in her trademark elegant, feminine dresses, often in pastel shades, described as a modern twist on old-world couture. But Wickstead has a big year ahead because for her next trick she’s redesigning Air New Zealand’s in-flight uniforms, trying to crack the ultimate conundrum of creating uniforms that are functional, comfortable, distinctly Kiwi and that please thousands of strident onboard-snack-munching critics every single day. - Sharon Stephenson

In September, when Kim Hill announced her imminent departure from RNZ’s Saturday Morning, there was a collective gasp. Where would we be – who would we be – without a regular fix from the least gushy broadcaster this country has ever known? Without her dismissive grunts, her apparent (though never actual) lack of effort, her explosive husky laughter? Over the next two months, as Kim worked out her notice, every self-respecting New Zealand media outlet came to lay flowers at her feet. The Spinoff’s Toby Manhire spent a day with her in the studio, Stuff’s Adam Dudding hung out with her and her dog, The Listener made her look, as she said, “like a horse” on its cover, Hera Lindsay Bird described her with precision in North & South as having "the voice of an evil chain-smoking mermaid in an underwater dive bar", and 1News dug up the footage of John Pilger trying to shame her, not realising that in this country that's just not possible. But the most moving tribute came from Kim's daughter Hannah who, as her final guest, moved her mother and every listener with a heartbeat to tears. RNZ has released a 30-part podcast of highlights from the Kim Hill archives, and promise a new project with her in 2024. Meanwhile the nation’s media has moved on to wildly speculating about who will take her place. As if that's possible. - Emily Simpson

David Seymour may have led ACT to a record result at the general election, but all the chatter at his party’s event on election night was about Brooke van Velden. The deputy leader did what many once thought impossible – turn the blue seat of Tāmaki, a National stronghold since 1960, pink. Van Velden thumped National’s Simon O’Connor by more than 4100 votes, obviously appealing as a more socially liberal candidate than an incumbent MP who once publicly celebrated US women losing their constitutional rights to abortion. At 31, she’s now one of the youngest Cabinet ministers the country has had, taking on the Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety portfolios, albeit with a rather bumpy start to that role. First, she got a public telling off by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment for sharing “incorrect and misleading” information. Then she was tasked with repealing Fair Pay Agreements – but not before a Cabinet paper was leaked to the media revealing van Veldenwas ignoring official advice that women, young people, Māori and Pacific people would be disproportionately affected by the move. Between all that and a union leader likening van Velden to a vampire, the new minister is certain of a challenging start to the new year as she helps push through more of the new government’s 100-day plan. - AM

Sāmoan-Pālagi poet, writer and artist Tusiata Avia MNZM started the year under fire when ACT party leader David Seymour launched a public campaign against her work. Avia’s Ockham-award-winning book and stage show The Savage Coloniser, attracted death threats, two weeks of harrowing and violent online attacks and calls for its government funding to be pulled ahead of the show’s stage debut in March. Avia's work was a personal and political reckoning about racism and colonisation. Subsequently, the Media Council tossed out complaints that a Stuff article on Avia’s work incited “racial violence” with the poet hitting back at Seymour and his party's statements saying "ACT do not understand this poem". Avia received rave reviews for The Savage Coloniser show with critics calling it “staggering”, “pure fire,” and “devastatingly brilliant.” The Christchurch-based mother of a teenager has gone on to produce more confronting work, ending the year with the release of her latest book of poems Big Fat Brown Bitch – partly written in response to the public backlash and hate mail she received in 2023. - IS

Only Robyn Malcolm could take a character as challenging and messed up and bloody-minded as After the Party’s Penny Wilding and make her transfixing – show us her charm, her playfulness, her vulnerability and humour, and of course, her massive, broken heart. We all watched the drama on the edge of our seats, sometimes in suspense and sometimes just because there was Robyn’s face, the beauty of the life in it. What a performance, and what a creation. Robyn and co-creator, writer Dianne Taylor, knew the kind of woman they wanted at the core of their show. They fought for her story, and Robyn brought her to blazing, intelligent, absurd, affecting life. A game changer, and no one else could have done it. We’ve long known Robyn is a superb actor and a gutsy fighter, and now we know she’s a story-teller too. I can’t wait for the next one. – Emily Perkins

2023 was a whirlwind year for pro-fighter Mea Motu who climbed the boxing ranks to a world title shot. The 33-year-old West-Aucklander, nicknamed ‘Nightmea’ in the ring, made history in April fighting in the first female bout to headline Fight for Life. That night she comfortably outpointed her Canadian opponent and walked away with the IBO super bantamweight world title. In August, she defended her IBO belt (despite crippling pain due to her shoulder being dislocated in the opening minute). Outside of the sport, Motu spoke out against domestic violence and publicly shared she had survived and escaped an abusive marriage that began when she was 17. A single mum of five – with children ranging in age from toddlers to teenagers – Motu credited the sport for saving her and her mental health. This month Mea successfully defended her IBO Super Bantamweight World title. She remains a woman to watch in 2024. - IS

Award-winning contemporary Māori artist Ayesha Green (Ngāti Kahungunu, Kai Tahu) has continued to make waves both in New Zealand and overseas working across painting, sculpture and drawing. Inspired by her Māori identity, Green employs an accessible almost cartoon-like style to depict complex and sometimes dark issues, such as histories of Māori and Pākehā representation and the role of images in perpetuating systems of power. This year Christchurch-born, Auckland-based Green was awarded a Sacatar Residency in Brazil which places artists in an economically challenged, technically limited and under-served community which is deeply rooted in ancestral practices brought form Africa. She also supported the Manaaki Collective by helping to make tote bags with the profits going towards marginalised voices in the pursuit of human rights and Treaty justice. Meanwhile, in the galleries of Aotearoa Green's striking, coveted works continue to fetch staggering prices.- IS

If you’re anything like me, you may have struggled to keep up with 2023’s ever-changing skincare trends, but even I’m unsurprised that Emma Lewisham’s ethically focussed, natural products have continually appeared in international recommendation lists from glowy-faced influencers and A-list celebs. Hailing from Auckland, she’s the mastermind entrepreneur behind the clean, green, skincare routines that took the internet by storm this year and was the first New Zealand brand to be picked up by Gwyneth Paltrow’s exclusively curated wellness lifestyle site, Goop. In 2019 the brand launched with the intention to set a “new standard in science-backed beauty” and this year unveiled a ground-breaking new blemish serum, which apparently tackles acne by packing 20 years of research and world-first ingredients into one blemish-busting punch. I thought "clean" beauty with no chemical nasties sounded too good to be true, but the evidence-based natural ingredients are the reason Lewisham's achieved cult-status this year. And if Barbie uses it, that's good enough for me. - Emma Hildesley

If aliens ever came to earth and wanted to see what grit looked like, we could point them in Courtney Duncan’s direction. The 27-year-old professional motocross racer once again proved that Kiwis can fly when she jumped her Kawasaki KX250 motorbike high into the air above Turkey in September to win her fourth WMX Motocross World Champion title. It’s another career high for the Otago sporting great who was introduced to the sport at seven by her stepfather. This year’s win was even sweeter for Duncan after 2022 was blighted by injuries. The slippery conditions at the final race made the track difficult to manage. But the ever skilful Duncan summoned her technique and triumphed again. - SS

In a year that saw climate change become a devastating reality for many in this country, 25-year-old New Zealand Sāmoan climate activist Brianna Fruean continued to use her voice on every platform she could to hold global leaders to account. The winner of the previous year’s Global Citizen Prize, Oceania, was given the rare opportunity to speak alongside King Charles at this year’s Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration where she urged the leaders of the world to listen to young people. In March, she slammed the United Nations for “not doing their job” after a report declared we would likely fail to reach the 1.5 degree target aimed at preventing the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. In June, at the Power our Planet event in Paris, she spoke out again about the need to support indigenous communities and their knowledge of protecting their environments. Months later, at the Climate Ambition Summit in New York, Fruean called out the fossil fuels industry and urged countries to get behind island nations like Tuvalu and Vanuatu in signing a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. This month Fruean she publicly lamented the lack of progress made at the high-profile UN climate change coference COP28 saying it had left small island nations with “flowers that will go on our graves”. Her unwavering activism has gained recognition from leaders around the world and continues to put Pacific nations on the global stage in the fight against climate change. - IS