2019 Issue of Women Talking Politics

Editor: Sarah Hendrica Bickerton

2019 was a year of local government elections where women took a front seat in many of the contests and often won. We also saw progress domestically around such things as abortion law reform, an updating of the births, deaths, marriages, and relationships act, potential changes to how sexual assault victims are treated in court cases post- the Grace Millane trial. We also saw massive youth-led Climate Strike protests around the world, inspired by the activism of Greta Thunberg, against inaction on global climate change. And a photo from one such protest on the lawn of our Parliament here in New Zealand graces the cover of Women Talking Politics this year.

The journal opens with a piece on the local government elections this year, specifically looking at the question of the ‘womenquake’ of women’s electoral success in the 2019 local government elections, as written by Jean Drage.

The articles cover a spread of topics, from climate politics ten years on from Copenhagen from Raven Cretney & Sylvia Nissen, to the ‘Dunedin Model’ of decriminalised sex work by Peyton Bond, a restorative reorientation of the criminal justice system from Sarah Roth Shank, the EU’s disintegration over refugee responsibility from Laura MacDonald and Ayca Arkilic, and Bethan Greener on pursuing the WPS agenda.

The reflections are a couple engaging pieces, one from Maria Bargh and Lydia Wevers on why land is never just land, and another from Emily Beausoleil on transforming unjust ‘structures of feeling’. We also have four research briefs from Lara Greaves, Nadine Kreitmeyr, Francesca Dodd, and Trang Thu Autumn Nguyen.

We finish with two excellent book reviews, from Rae Nicholls on the authorised biography of Annette King from John Harvey & Brent Edwards, and from Margaret Hayward on “Marilyn Waring the political years”, the autobiographical account from Marilyn Waring.

I do hope you enjoy this year’s edition of the magazine, and I wish to express my thanks to Jean Drage and especially Sylvia Nissen, co-editors of WTP in 2018, for their wonderful help and guidance.

Sarah Hendrica Bickerton

Editor, Women Talking Politics 2019