TEU is pleased to announce members have voted Jael Reiri as our new TEU Women’s Vice President.

Jael Reiri is a Lecturer in the Bachelor of Nursing Programme, Kaitiaki Māori, course co-ordinator of Whaiora and facilitator of Te Rōpū Whaioranga at Te Aho o Māui - Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT). You can read Jael Reiri’s candidate profile here.

Reiri says she is looking forward to championing both the TEU Gender Equity Strategy and Te Koeke Tiriti, and to bringing a bi-lingual and bi-cultural perspective to the role of Women’s Vice-President.

As of 11 October, wāhine Māori are effectively working for free until the end of the year because of gender pay imbalances between men and women of different ethnicities, with Pasifika women working for free since 29 September. Jael cites research out of the University of Auckland which found Māori staff are underrepresented in senior roles, and overrepresented in lower, less secure levels of the academy, and says this underrepresentation is contributing to gender pay disparities for wāhine Māori.

“Calling attention to the mana of wāhine Māori is a core goal of our TEU Gender Equity Strategy, so it’s important that we continue to highlight inequalities wherever they exisit. The fact that wāhine Māori are now effectively working for free is illustrative of a failure within Aotearoa to ensure equality and advance fundamental human rights”, Reiri continued,

“We live in a multi-cultural society, but we need to remember our Te Tiriti o Waitangi relationship and acknowledge the importance of te reo Māori and te ao Māori to our Tiriti relationship as a country. Lessening disparities - including the gender pay gap for wāhine Māori - is about honouring Te Tiriti, and ensuring greater representation by wāhine Māori at all level of our institutions, not just in lower-paid and less secure work”.

Jael would like to thank TEU women for their support and confidence in her leadership, and says she is looking forward to further developing strong relationships with and between our members,

“I really appreciate the confidence, support, and belief of our membership, who have indicated they are on the same waka as me and it’s great to know they share my passion and vision for bringing a bi-lingual and bi-cultural worldview to the role of Women’s Vice-President.

We have 10,000 TEU members, and I want to continue to encourage our members to involve themselves in all our democratic and decision-making processes at both branch and national levels. I look forward to further developing relationships and engagement from our members, and getting them excited and passionate about the issues impacting them, especially women”.