AUDIO
Interview with Lou Ormsby
- Date
- 07 Jun 2000
- By
- Ormsby, Mary Louise, 1947-
- Reference
- OHInt-0556-08
- Description
Mary Louise Ormsby, known as Lou, was born in Hamilton in 1947. Describes parents, talking about her father's iwi affiliation with Nga Puhi, and her mother's Irish Catholic ancestry. Discusses childhood, cultural differences between Maori and Pakeha relatives, and Catholic education, including boarding school. Talks about study at Otago University, meeting husband Maurice Ormsby, marriage and birth of two children. Discusses motherhood, and being involved in the issues of the 1960s, including the Vietnam War protests. Mentions move to Wellington and then to Oxford in 1970, and describes the English class structure, discovering feminism, inspiring feminist writers, the Women's Liberation Movement and Oxford's liberating social environment. Discusses being an activist, and the movement's aims of equal pay, equal educational opportunites, free contraception, abortion on demand, and 24 hour childcare.
Talks about living in Samoa as a diplomat's wife, and describes Samoan culture and the role of Samoan women. Describes work on her return to Wellington, including being part of the 'Herstory Diaries' collective and working as a researcher in the 1990s, and mentions Phillida Bunkle's support. Describes living in Iran 1986-88, and the culture and the position of women. Comments on the impact of feminism on her children, the gains made by feminism, and the lack of 24 hour childcare. Comments on the contemporary women's movement, and changes within the movement by the end of the 1970s. Describes her current research project on relationships between Maori women and Pakeha men pre-1900.
Interviewer(s) - Jill Abigail
Accompanying material - Curriculum Vitae
Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 Electronic document(s) - abstract. 1 interview(s). 3 Hours Duration.
Physical Description: Textual files - Microsoft word
Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-2656, OHDL-001005.
- Additional description
Original recordings not available for playback. Surrogate copies will be provided.
Alternative form available: Listening copies OHLC-004322 - OHLC-004324
Both printed and digital versions of the abstract are available
- Use/Reproduction
- Public use requires the written permission of the interviewee. Copyright: Women's Studies Association
- Access restrictions
- Partly restricted material
- Part of
- Women's Studies Association feminist oral history project
- Format
- 3 C60 cassette(s), 1 printed abstract(s), 1 Electronic document(s) - abstract, 1 interview(s), 3 Hours Duration, Oral histories, Electronic records (Digital records), Electronic documents, Textual files - Microsoft word
Click to request to view this item, access digital version (if available), and see more information.
Copyright
All Rights ReservedInterview with Lou Ormsby, printed abstract
Date: 07 Jun 2000
From: Women's Studies Association feminist oral history project
Reference: OHA-2656
Description: Interviewer(s) - Jill Abigail Quantity: 1 printed abstract(s).
Interview with Lou Ormsby, digital abstract
Date: 7 Jun 2000
From: Women's Studies Association feminist oral history project
Reference: OHDL-001005
Description: Interviewer(s) - Jill Abigail Quantity: 1 Electronic document(s).
Interview with Lou Ormsby, tape three
Date: 07 Jun 2000
From: Women's Studies Association feminist oral history project
Reference: OHC-008543
Description: Interviewer(s) - Jill Abigail Quantity: 1 C60 cassette(s). Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete.
Interview with Lou Ormsby, tape one
Date: 07 Jun 2000
From: Women's Studies Association feminist oral history project
Reference: OHC-008541
Description: Interviewer(s) - Jill Abigail Quantity: 1 C60 cassette(s). Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete.
Interview with Lou Ormsby, tape two
Date: 07 Jun 2000
From: Women's Studies Association feminist oral history project
Reference: OHC-008542
Description: Interviewer(s) - Jill Abigail Quantity: 1 C60 cassette(s). Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete.