Kōrero: Women’s networks and clubs

Members of the Porirua Cook Islands Women's Community Group, Jasmine Underhill (left) and Vaine Ngaro, display some of the hats their group made for an exhibition of crafts by Pacific women, held in 1993 at Pātaka gallery in Porirua. As well as hats made of raffia, coconut palm fronds and recycled bread bags, they produced appliquéd bedspreads (tīvaevae). The exhibition also included embroidery from Niue, crocheted items from Tonga, and mats from Tokelau and Niue. There are many Pacific women's organisations in New Zealand, an outcome of large-scale migration to New Zealand from the Pacific Islands after the Second World War.