Marilyn Waring to Speak at the Film Archive

On 28 November 1893 New Zealand women voted in the general election for the first time. The Film Archive will celebrate the 120 year anniversary of this milestone by hosting Marilyn Waring - the renowned feminist, politician, activist, author and academic - for a special event. Join us for a screening of Who’s Counting: Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies & Global Economics (1995), followed by Q&A with Waring.

120 years have passed since New Zealand women won the vote, so it is timely to reflect upon the notion of equality within the current economic model - a value system in which all goods and activities are related only to their monetary value. As a result, unpaid work (usually performed by women) is unrecognised, while activities that may be environmentally and socially detrimental are deemed productive. In Who’s Counting: Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies & Global Economics (1995) Waring looks at these issues and maps out an alternative vision.

Who’s Counting is a feature-length documentary based on Waring’s book, If Women Counted, directed by Terre Nash and featuring Waring as the film’s most prominent voice. The film was produced by the National Film Board of Canada and shot in New Zealand, Canada, the United States, the Persian Gulf and the Philippines.

Waring has lived her life courageously. She became a Member of Parliament in 1975 when she was just 22 years old - the youngest person ever to be elected into parliament in New Zealand.

She left politics in 1984, after famously contributing to the demise of Prime Minister Robert Muldoon’s government by backing a bill to make New Zealand a nuclear-free zone. She went on to leave her mark in multiple arenas.

She completed a PhD in Political Economy at The University of Waikato. In 1988 she published her influential book If Women Counted (MacMillan, London), a feminist analysis of modern economics. She has published an impressive array of books and articles on gender, human rights, politics and political economy since then.

As a consultant, she has leant her services to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women), and the Yukon Territorial Government, among other organisations.

As the Listener noted of her: “Waring is a true internationalist with an uncanny knack for being there when history unfolds - or perhaps a keen eye for pursuing it. She was in Bombay when Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984, in Ethopia during the famine the same year and even attended the state funeral for Bob Marley in Jamaica, as New Zealand’s official representative in 1981” (Listener, 8 December 2012).

Waring is currently a Professor of Public Policy at the Institute of Public Policy at AUT University.

The Who’s Counting screening and Q&A with Marilyn Waring will take place at the Film Archive (84 Taranaki St, Wellington) at 6pm, Saturday 30 November. The film will screen again (without a Q&A) on Wednesday 4 December, at 7pm.

Listing details: Screening of Who’s Counting (1995), followed by a Q&A with Marilyn Waring.
When: 6pm Saturday 30 November. The film will screen again (without a Q&A) 7pm Wednesday 4 December.
Where: The New Zealand Film Archive, 84 Taranaki St, Wellington.
Ticket price: Koha appreciated.

www.filmarchive.org.nz

ENDS

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