Gloriavale employment case: ‘It just feels amazing to be acknowledged’: RNZ

RNZ

Former Gloriavale women who took the community’s leaders to court hope today’s ruling will mean change for their families still living in the West Coast commune.

Employment Court chief judge Christina Inglis has found the six women were employees who worked extremely hard under punishing conditions for years on end, in an experience that has left deep scars.

The women had very little real choice about working, having being primed for the job and taught from birth to submit to male leadership in all aspects of their life, she said.

Following the ruling, plaintiff Rose Standtrue told RNZ she felt “over the moon and just validated in my experiences”.

“So often I tried to speak up and was just put down and told that what I had said wasn’t true or wasn’t the facts and today, I didn’t just hear that it was true, I heard that it was true from a judge.

“It just feels amazing to be acknowledged.”

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