The Papatūānuku Paradigm - Training videos with Dr Kathie Irwin
Ka mua, ka muri
Walking backwards into the future
Nau mai, haere mai - welcome to the home of The Papatūānuku Paradigm.
The Papatūānuku Paradigm is a gender analysis tool grounded in a Te Ao Māori lens. It was developed by Dr Kathie Irwin (Ngāti Porou, Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu) and commissioned by the Coalition to End Women’s Homelessness to address women’s homelessness in Aotearoa and contribute to ending it.
Watching these videos offers an opportunity to spend time with Dr Kathie Irwin as she explores The Papatūānuku Paradigm - sharing the thinking, knowledge and whakaaro that sit behind it and bringing the Paradigm to life through her own kōrero.
The videos have been developed as a teaching resource for organisations and groups. Along with the training manual, which is coming soon, they support professional learning informed by Māori pedagogy and can be used to create your own in-house wānanga or workshops. They provide space to learn together, reflect and consider how the Paradigm can inform the mahi we all do.
The Papatūānuku Paradigm can be applied across all the systems that shape women’s lives, and we invite you to explore the Paradigm and consider how it might inform your own mahi and contribute to the collective work of ending women’s homelessness in Aotearoa.
Ngā mihi nui for your interest, your support and your willingness to learn, reflect and take action.
Tīhei mauri ora.
Introduction video
The kaupapa
Dr Kathie Irwin introduces the Papatūānuku Paradigm and explains why the tool is needed, the disproportionate experience of homelessness among women, particularly wāhine Māori, and the historical and structural forces that have contributed to this inequity. Learners are invited to think critically about their own role in challenging inequity and walking alongside whānau, hapū, iwi and communities to create change.
Episode 1 | Hotaka tahi
The PESTLE Analysis
In this episode, Dr Kathie Irwin uses PESTLE analysis to explore the historical, structural and systemic context of homelessness for wāhine Māori. The episode considers the significance of wāhine Māori as whare tangata | the house of humanity, how colonisation, government structures and public policy have contributed to the loss of whenua, rights and connection, and what strengths-based solutions grounded in Te Ao Māori might look like.
Episode 2 | Hotaka rua
A Te Ao Māori Lens
In this episode, Dr Kathie Irwin explores Te Ao Māori | the Māori worldview and what it means to use a Māori lens. Beginning with Te Orokohanga | the Māori creation story and Mātauranga Māori | the Māori knowledge system, the episode explores how Māori knowledge is sacred, collective and understood from the ground up. It contrasts this with the Western knowledge system introduced through colonisation and considers the resulting “clash of the codes”. The episode then connects this understanding to kaupapa Māori, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the vision of Aotearoatanga - exploring how our tīpuna | ancestors fought to protect the possibilities for Māori ways of being and living in Aotearoa.
Episode 3 | Hotaka toru
The Design Principles
In this episode, Dr Kathie Irwin introduces the nine design principles that underpin the Papatūānuku Paradigm. These principles explore worldview, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, strategic visioning, the role of government in creating inequality, kaupapa Māori approaches, Māori–Crown relations, Te Whare Tangata and intersectionality, Māori cultural infrastructure, and the specific causes of women’s homelessness. Together, they provide a framework for understanding inequality and designing authentic, strengths-based solutions that improve outcomes for wāhine Māori and help end homelessness for all women.
Episode 4 | Hotaka wha
The Papatūānuku Paradigm
In this episode, Dr Kathie Irwin introduces the Papatūānuku Paradigm tool, bringing together the ideas explored throughout the series into a practical framework for gender analysis. The tool moves from Te Orokohanga towards Aotearoatanga - connecting historical understanding with future thinking, and considers social issues across structural, institutional and personal/interpersonal levels. It also highlights how public policy and the machinery of government can create structural inequality and privilege. The tool enables learners to undertake a gender analysis of an issue and identify opportunities for change.
Episode 5 | Hotaka rima
Designing out Inequality
This video explores how the Papatūānuku Paradigm helps learners understand contemporary social issues within their historical, structural and knowledge-system contexts. It introduces the concept of “compound impact” to describe how the cumulative effects of colonisation, racism and structural inequality can compound across generations, shaping outcomes in areas such as health, education, justice, housing and retirement. This video emphasises that homelessness and other inequities are not simply individual circumstances, but can be designed outcomes of systems and structures, and that creating different futures requires us to understand and change those systems.
