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Marilyn Waring (born 1952) is a New Zealand feminist, an activist for "female human rights", an author and an academic. She holds a Ph.D. in political economy.
She became the youngest member in the New Zealand Parliament in 1975, at the age of 23; and remained in the House of Representatives until 1984. At the time of her election, she was only the fifteenth woman elected as a Member of Parliament in New Zealand.
As of 2005, Waring works as Professor of Public Policy and heads the post-graduate programme in Public Policy at the Albany Campus of Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand. She has held Fellowships at Harvard and Rutgers Universities. She is a member of the Board of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Waring has worked as a consultant for organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women), the Yukon Territorial Government, the Ford Foundation, and the Ontario Provincial Government.
Focus
Waring's recent work has focused on women's work as an issue of international human rights. She has also done activist work on behalf of women imprisoned or denied refugee status because of what she calls "feminist political issues beyond the restricted definitions and practices of international human rights".
She became well-known in Canada following a 1995 National Film Board of Canada video documentary on her work, Who's Counting: Sex, Lies and Global Economics.
She has outspokenly criticised the concept of GDP, the economic measure that became a foundation of the United Nations System of National Accounts (UNSNA) following World War II. She ridicules a system which 'counts oil spills and wars as contributors to economic growth, while child-rearing and housekeeping are deemed valueless'.
Waring speaks publicly on gay and lesbian rights, most recently in support of same-sex marriages. Waring "came out" as a lesbian herself in the 1970s. (Aldrich p433)
History
Early life
In 1973, Waring received an Honours BA in political science and international politics from Victoria University of Wellington.
Political career (1975-1984)
In 1975 general election, she became the New Zealand National Party member of Parliament for the Raglan electorate. She fell out with Prime Minister Rob Muldoon almost immediately.
During her period in Parliament, she served as Chair of the Public Expenditures Committee, Senior Government Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and on the Disarmament and Arms Control Committee.
Waring made history during her political career when she withdrew her support from her party over the issue of a nuclear-free New Zealand, precipitating a snap election in 1984. Her action brought down the government, and led to the next administration making New Zealand the first country to ban nuclear ships from its harbours.
Muldoon justified the snap election with Waring's revolt, calling the issue of ship-visits a matter of 'national security', the only reason (besides confidence and supply) on which a government in New Zealand can fall.
Academic life
In 1984 Waring left politics and returned to lecturing, where her research has focused on well-being, human rights and on economic factors that influence legislation and aid.
In 1988 she published If Women Counted.
In 1989 Waring gained a Ph.D. in Political Economy, and in 1990 a University of Waikato Research Council grant to continue work on "female human rights."
Between 1991 and 1994, Marilyn Waring served as Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and the Politics of Human Rights with the Department of Politics at the University of Waikato, New Zealand.
Farming
In between her academic and activist engagements, Waring farmed angora goats and dry stock on her hill-farm north of Auckland. She organised her farm for maximum simplicity and self-sufficiency. She left the farm to become a 'city dweller' on turning 50.
Further reading
- Waring, Marilyn. Women, Politics, and Power: Essays, Unwin Paperbacks-Port Nicholson Press (1984). Issues on women in Parliament, apartheid and New Zealand sport, Nuclear Free New Zealand etc
- Waring, Marilyn. If Women Counted, Macmillan (1988). If Women Counted points out the shortcomings of ignoring women’s unpaid work in economic tallies. Waring later produced a documentary on the same topic, Who's Counting (see below).
- Waring, Marilyn. Three Masquerades: Essays on Equality, Work and Hu(man) Rights, Auckland: Auckland University Press with Bridget Williams Books (1996) ISBN 0802080766. Three Masquerades includes references to Waring's years in Parliament, which she describes as "an experience of counterfeit equality". It also looks at her experiences with farming and with the development field, where she was "daily confronted with the travesty of excluding women's unpaid work from the policy-making process".
- Waring, Marilyn. Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women are Worth, Bridget Williams Books (1998). published 1977; reprinted seven times ISBN 0802082602. This feminist analysis of modern economics reveals how economic theory automatically excludes women's housework, caring of the young, sick and the old from value.
- Waring, Marilyn. In the Lifetime of a Goat: Writings 1984-2000, Bridget Williams Books (April, 2004) ISBN 1877242098
- The National Film Board of Canada. Who's Counting?: Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies, and Global Economics. *. Directed by Terre Nash (1995) ISBN 0-7722-0680-5
References
- Aldrich, Robert & Garry Wotherspoon (2002), Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History, London : Routledge, ISBN 0415291615
- McCallum, Janet (1993), Women in the House - Members of Parliament in New Zealand, Wellington : Cape Catley, ISBN 0908561415 (Chapter 15)
See also
- New Zealand general election 1984
- Eco-feminism
- Triple bottom line
- Feminist economics
- Gay rights in New Zealand
1952 births | Living people New Zealand academics | New Zealand activists | New Zealand politicians New Zealand writers | New Zealand National Party | Feminist scholars | Lesbian politicians
"Marilyn Waring"