08/03/2026
International Women’s Day feels like the perfect time to remember the women who came before us who helped pave the way.
I often think about one of the women in my own ancestral line.
Her name was Hikapuhi.
Te Hikapuhi Wiremu Poihipi was a Māori healer from Ngāti Pikiao of Te Arawa, born in Rotorua in the late 1800s. She travelled between communities offering healing and guidance during a time when Māori knowledge and spiritual practices were increasingly being suppressed.
Not long after she became well known for her healing work, the Tohunga Suppression Act of 1907 was introduced in New Zealand, aiming to restrict traditional Māori spiritual leaders and healers.
She was a weaver, a healer, and a woman who carried traditional knowledge during a time when that knowledge was often misunderstood or deliberately undermined.
History doesn’t always tell the full story of women like her. Strong, fearless women, especially Indigenous women who held spiritual authority, were often, and still are, written about through the lens of suspicion rather than respect.
Today I honour her, and all the women who came before us. The ones who were suppressed, held families together, kept knowledge alive, and walked their paths even when the world tried to quiet them.
Hikapuhi is one of my ancestral guides, and I know it’s her who pushes me to keep going with what I do when I feel like giving up. She reminds me not only of who I am, but where I come from.
A message from her to us all is simple: when you discover what your gift is, you should share it with as many people as you can. Our gifts are for sharing, not keeping to ourselves. It’s how we make the world a better place.
You were born with a voice. Don’t waste it.
