Jacinda Ardern recalls ‘netball knickers’ at gender equity panel

REVIEW: A Hollywood A-Lister, former Prime Minister, rugby icon, and FIFA senior executive walk into a theatre – they’re all women, and all keen to see the end of gender inequity in sport.

In a rare meeting of the minds, Academy Award winner Natalie Portman, Dame Jacinda Ardern, Black Ferns star Ruby Tui, and FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura joined forces for a panel discussion on Monday night to tackle the issues and celebrate the successes of women in sports.

The event, which took place at Auckland’s Aotea Centre, was the final of the free women-led talk series Equalize, which kicked off across the motu in late July alongside the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Opened with a mihi by members of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, one of whom had the crowd in stitches after welcoming “the Right Honourable Natalie Portman,” emcee and comedian Michèle A’Court took the stage to introduce CNN sports presenter Amanda Davies, who held one-on-one interviews with guest speakers before the panel discussion.

First up to speak with Davies was Tui, who discussed the responsibility she feels as a role model and supporting “the Tillies” as the Australian team heads to the quarter-finals.

There’s no doubting Tui’s star power amongst a Kiwi crowd – punters hang onto everything she says, because she delivers every word with passion. It’s not hard to see why the rugby star has become a beloved national treasure.

The next to grace the stage was Samoura, who thanked Kiwis for their FWWC support and called on broadcasters to recognise the tournament in order to level out the prize money – the US$110 million prize pool available to the winning team of the FWWC is considerably less than the US$440 million (NZ$728.6 million) awarded to 2022 FIFA World Cup winner Argentina.

When Samoura joined FIFA in 2016, the international governing body of football had recently been embroiled in a corruption scandal, and she recalls sending out a survey to employees to ask how they saw the company.

The overall response? “FIFA is a middle-aged European man riding a limousine and stealing money,” Samoura told the crowd. Clearly, things had to change, and now Samoura believes this year’s FWWC will be the first time a new generation of sports fans will be able to see almost equal coverage of men’s and women’s sports.

Ardern followed, with a round of loud applause and cheers welcoming the former prime minister to the stage.

She told Davies about her experience attending the opening match of the FWWC in Auckland, where the Football Ferns scored a history-making win over Norway.

“I started to cry, and I didn’t stop crying,” Ardern said, before telling the crowd she had met with the team afterwards to congratulate them on their success.

On uplifting women in sport, Ardern recalled a childhood memory of going shopping for “Netball knickers” – certain underwear wasn’t a part of the uniform, she said, but it was expected the girls might “flash” any onlookers.

She highlights this memory as her drive to ensure protection “for all girls, whether in politics or sports”.

The last of the guest speakers to appear is Portman, co-founder of Angel City Football Club, a Los Angeles-based Women’s National Soccer League team that began their first ever season in 2022.

She told Davies that despite not being the sporty type herself, the “echoes” of similarities she saw between the struggles of female filmmakers and women sport stars had prompted her move into the industry.

She said she felt “heartbreak” after team USA were booted from the competition by Sweden, but had reached out to Football Ferns and Angel City FC captain Ali Riley following the NZ’s loss at the FWWC.

To host the panel discussion, Moana Maniapoto, of Te Ao with Moana, took the stage with a broken foot, prompting Tui to joke the broadcaster “must’ve lost on Friday as well”.

Together, the women discussed equity in the sporting industry, with Ardern telling the crowd that Kiwis, at heart, are more collective than individualistic, saying “there’s a reason why the number one show in the country was Fair Go … after Country Calendar.”

Portman described confronting her own biases after watching the FWWC 2017 with her ten-8-year-old son, and her hopes to tackle wage inequity in female-dominated professions.

Tui, who had recently visited the US, told Portman of her experience being at an Angel City game – the crowd was wild, tickets were selling out fast, and the stadium even had fancy seats.

She said that “without people like Natalie Portman stepping out of their comfort zones”, the progressing state of women’s sport would look entirely different.

That’s when Tui whipped out her Olympic medal from her pocket, and let Portman have a go at wearing the gold. There’s cheers, an embrace, and the medal gots passed around, so everyone could have a turn at feeling like an Olympian.

It was a love letter to the power of uniting women, despite differing barriers and backgrounds, to break the glass ceiling and make sure you’ve left enough room for more to follow you through.

There’s more Maniapoto, who had done an excellent job of hosting, wanted to say, but she’s cut off with a gentle reminder from Ardern: the panel was supposed to end eight minutes ago.

And so the talk ended, as all important Kiwi moments do, with a rendition of Tūtira Mai Ngā Iwi – Ardern, Tui, Maniapoto, Samoura, and the crowd in a bold chorus, Portman smiling politely.