Gloriavale women ‘inferior’ to men and go hungry if not enough food to go around, hearing told
By Sam Sherwood | RNZ |
A former Gloriavale member has spoken of the working conditions for “inferior” women inside the isolated Christian community, with no pay, no days off and being threatened with no food if they did not work.
The Employment Court case is centred around six women arguing they should have been recognised as employees, not volunteers for the domestic work they did for years at the religious sect.
Trudy Christian gave evidence at the Employment Court on Tuesday about her time in the isolated West Coast Christian community.
Christian, the granddaughter of former leader Hopeful Christian, said she started working from the age of 6, mainly with her mother. She worked one in four days, some days after school for a couple of hours.