Yvonne Van Dongen

After completing a degree in English and Religious Studies, Yvonne did the rite of passage OE through Asia to Amsterdam, where she lived for two years. Seeing how women were treated elsewhere and talking to her staunch feminist Dutch aunt sparked Yvonne’s interest in women’s rights. Throughout her life, she says she has been fortunate enough to meet women like her aunt who encouraged and inspired her.

Soon after her return to New Zealand, and before studying journalism at Canterbury University, Yvonne went on a women’s studies course run by Jill Abigail. She says Jill was a terrific leader who helped flesh out some of the issues Yvonne had been wondering about.

When she became a journalist, Yvonne had to abandon all women’s rights activism since that was a “no-no”. “Neutrality and objectivity were key values in the media those days,” she says.

During her lengthy journalism career, Yvonne covered everything from news and general features to business, lifestyle, and travel. She has also written two books—one on Sir Ron Brierley and the other on leaky homes (as she had one). Occasionally she made forays into other writing. She did script writing for the Gibson Group, and 10 years ago she completed a Master’s of Creative Writing at the IIML in Wellington.

What those experiences taught her is that she is essentially a journalist. She says she enjoys telling stories that matter, and right now this could not be more important.

It wasn’t until 2019 that friends who had been living overseas told her about gender ideology and its implications for women and girls. She realised she was sitting on a massive story—possibly the worst medical abuse scandal of the century featuring vulnerable children.

For a time, Yvonne was worried that others might get there first. “I needn’t have worried. Little did I know that every corner of the media would be too chicken to cover this issue honestly,” she says.

This issue is why Yvonne gave up pitching to mainstream media. But that’s not what led her to becoming a political candidate for the Women’s Rights Party, Yvonne says. “It was 25 March 2023. The day Kellie-Jay Keen and women who wanted to hear her, myself included, were mobbed at Albert Park. That day changed everything. I’m sure it has for many people here.”

Yvonne says that was the day the scales fell from her eyes. “It was the day that I completely lost faith in all the major institutions of our society—institutions I had previously valued—the Labour Party, the Greens, the police, every corner of the media. I saw how thoroughly and easily they had all been conquered by a devouring and misogynistic ideology. Gender ideology.”

Looking at the list of organisations putting in a submission opposing the Definition of Sex Bill shocks Yvonne. The NZ Skeptics, the Council for Civil Liberties, the National Council of Women, the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury, and the NZ Medical Students Association. “This is truly a deranging time,” she says.