Professor Marilyn Waring’s autobiographical account of her extraordinary years in parliament, The Political Years, will be explored at an event at the Auckland Writers Festival on Sunday 19 May. Tickets are on sale now.
“When I entered Parliament in 1975, I joined a very small club: although women in New Zealand won the right to vote in 1893, only a tiny handful had been Members of Parliament in the hundred or so years that followed. I was number 15!”
In 1975 Marilyn Waring was elected to the New Zealand Parliament as the MP for Raglan. Aged just 23 and only the fifteenth woman to enter Parliament, she served through the turbulent years of Muldoon’s government, including as chair of the Public Expenditure Committee, before crossing the floor to support nuclear-free legislation which ultimately led to the fall of the National government.
The Political Yearsis an autobiographical account of her time at the forefront of male-dominated public life. Professor Waring tells the story of her journey from being elected as a new National Party MP in a conservative rural seat to being publicly decried by the Prime Minister for her ‘feminist anti-nuclear stance’ that threatened to bring down his government. Her tale of life in a male-dominated and relentlessly demanding political world is both uniquely of its time and still of pressing relevance today. This latest book sits alongside other books including Counting for Nothing and Still Counting.
Professor Marilyn's Waring's talk at the Auckland Writers Festival
Professor Waring will discuss her new book in conversation with Professor Jennifer Curtin at the Auckland Writers Festival on Sunday 19 May from 4-5.00pm at the ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre.
For more information on the Auckland Writers Festival event and to book tickets visit the event page
