Ahi Wi-Hongi
Profile
Te Ahi Wi-Hongi belongs to Ngapuhi and Ngati Maniapoto. Ahi is the Executive Director of Gender Minorities Aotearoa, a national organisation which specialises in providing transgender people with vital information, advocacy, and health services. They are an Associate Investigator on Counting Ourselves transgender research, and were a founding Executive Committee member of PATHA - the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa.
Ahi enjoys the feeling of cold river pebbles on a hot summer day, the sound of tall dry grass in the breeze, and playing way too much Baldur's Gate 3.
Insight
Succinct, direct and ultimately hopeful, Ahi’s words tackle one of the most fundamental inequalities faced by transgender people. The gender pay gap is well publicised, but less well known is the fact that transgender people have one of the widest pay gaps of any demographic in the workforce. Counting Ourselves, a 2019 report into the health and wellbeing of trans and non-binary people in Aotearoa New Zealand, found the medium annual income of recipients was half the medium income for the general population.
Gender equality becomes manifest in many ways, subtle and unsubtle. Wage disparity is one of the harsh realities of the workforce and this is amplified for transgender people.
Te Reo Glossary
Te Reo Glossary
ākonga
student, pupil
alofa
love, affection (Cook Islands Māori language)
Aotearoa
New Zealand
aroha
love, affection
haere rā
goodbye, farewell
hapū
subtribe, part of a kinship group
ira tangata
term used for intersex in a Māori context
irawhiti
term used for transgender in a Māori context
Itāria
Italy
iwi
extended kinship group descended from a common ancestor and associated with a distinct territory in Aotearoa
kairangahau
researcher
kaitiaki
guardian
kaitiakitanga
guardianship, stewardship
kia kaha ngā wāhine toa
be strong woman warriors
kia ora
hello, greetings
kia orana
hello, greetings (Cook Islands Māori language)
kōrero
conversation, discussion
kuia
female elder
mahi
work
māmā
mother, mum
mana
status, prestige, authority,
Māngere
a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand
Māori
Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand
mauri
life force, life principle
moana
ocean, sea
Ōtautahi
Christchurch, city in South Island, New Zealand
Ōtepoti
Dunedin, city in South Island, New Zealand
pākeha
New Zealander of European/foreign descent
peka
branch (of a tree, river, organisation)
Pōneke
Wellington, Capital of New Zealand
rangatahi
youth, young people
takatāpui
queer, gay, rainbow community
Tāmaki Makaurau
Auckland, city in North Island, New Zealand
tapu
sacred, prohibited
tautoko
to support, advocate
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata
Human Rights Commission, New Zealand
Te Kaunihera Wahine o Aotearoa
National Council of Women of New Zealand
Te Kotahitanga
Autonomous Māori Parliament from 1892 to 1902
Te Moana-Nui-ā-Kiwa
the Pacific Ocean
te reo
the Māori language
Te Ropu Wahine Maori Toko i te Ora
Māori Women’s Welfare League
Te Wāhi Wāhine o Tāmaki Makaurau
Auckland Women’s Centre
tikanga
protocol, correct procedure
wāhine
woman, women
wāhine kaha
strong woman/women
waiata
song, chant
waiata taitoko
song of support usually sung after a speech
wairua
spirit, soul
whakapapa
genealogy, lineage
whānau
family, extended family group
whare
house, building