![hapu pregnant hapu pregnant](https://ecloart.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IMG_3875.jpeg)
They faced racial profiling and discrimination, mispronunciation of their names, and power imbalances between whānau and senior medical staff. I’ve been told by the wāhine Māori in my life of how they had certain parenting or birthing practices imposed on them that don’t fit with their cultural values. This view of wāhine hapū as taonga seems at odds with how some of our wāhine Māori experience our healthcare system. The word hapū or sub-tribe also has the meaning of pregnancy, whenua translates as land and is also the word for placenta, and whare tangata, the word for womb, also means house of humanity and is a celebration of women as the source of all life. We find it in te reo Māori where the multidimensional meanings of words intrinsic to our identity bind them with the reproductive power of women. She is the direct connection to the atua. In some narratives, whakapapa can be traced back through the women to Hineahuone, the first person formed from the clay of Papatūānuku by Tāne Mahuta. We see it in the pūrākau of Papatūānuku and Ranginui, representative of wāhine and tāne (also the sky and earthly realms).
![hapu pregnant hapu pregnant](https://www.northlanddhb.org.nz/assets/Services/hapu-mama-breastfeeding-thumbnail__ResizedImageWzMwMCwxNzBd.png)
There are many signs that point to the special taonga status of wāhine hapū and wāhine Māori.
![hapu pregnant hapu pregnant](https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/e/s/p/l/h/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.1420x800.1eshn8.png)
This content was created in partnership with Te Hiringa Hauora/Health Promotion Agency. Ataria Sharman met three wāhine hapū at the Whangārei wānanga.
Hapu pregnant how to#
Ngā Wānanga o Hine Kōpū is a kaupapa Māori birth and parenting programme reframing how to tautoko wāhine hapū and their whānau.