New Zealand/Aotearoa’s former Prime Minister Helen Clark has stepped down from her role as the United Nations’ Development Program. But she’s got no intention of retiring. In fact, when she was interviewed on the subject of retirement by the Guardian newspaper, she says the word is not in her vocabulary.
But she says stepping down from those roles has been ‘liberating’. She’s 69 years old. She told the newspaper, “Now I choose exactly what I want to do and when I do it. I’m ticking things off the bucket list, like taking the Trans-Siberian Railway and visiting Mozambique, and my husband has been working with a board of trustees to set up a foundation in my name.”
She says when she stepped down from her role at the United Nations, it didn’t seem to make any difference to the volume of emails and phone calls she received. She believes that’s because of the wide range of subjects she was involved with – not just as Prime Minister of New Zealand, but sustainability and the environment, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, women’s issues, and drug policies to name but a few.
Miss Clark’s resumé is impressive. She represented the Auckland constituency of Mount Albert for 28 years, from 1981 to 2009. She is New Zealand’s fifth longest serving Prime Minister, with nine years in the top job during which time her administration introduced the Kiwisaver superannuation scheme, and Kiwibank (and more controversially, the Foreshore and Seabed Act). New Zealand became the first country to sign a free trade agreement with China under her watch. While she was in power, the world coped with the 9-11 Terror attacks and the Global Financial Crisis. She became the first female head of the UN Development Program and at one point was ranked as the 20th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine.
She says the idea of hanging up your boots at 65 is unthinkable. “I’m very conscious that there’s a difference in my life to a woman who’s been standing on a factory floor for four decades – I can understand if she would like to take a rest and wind down. We all come from different contexts. For women who have been professional like myself, there is no reason to stop”
She says there are many things that older, experienced women can offer society – particularly when you think of the women coming out of professions such as the law, medicine, business and industry. She says she’d like to see older women inspiring younger women – and there are always community organisations that are looking for help. Her advice – “Get involved where you can make a difference.”
Don’t wait to be asked, just crash on in.
Helen Clark
She says it’s shocking that older women feel that they have become ‘invisible’ – a situation that the Two Old Girls are only too aware of. Miss Clark says “Your voice and engagement is important. Don’t just pack it all away and think that’s the end. “
She points out that women today can expect to have long lives, so they should find something that ‘stirs their passion’. Don’t wait to be asked, just ‘crash on in’ she says, adding that no-one ever rolled a red carpet out for her to achieve what she wanted. “Find resilience and self-esteem and roll out the red carpet for yourself!”
She becomes our first Honorary Old Girl!