This article has been inspired by doctoral research that focused on the pathway to leadership for wāhine Māori. For the purpose of the study, a mana wahine theoretical framework was created to analyse the lived experiences and character of several Māori women leaders. Known in the study as the Moko Wahine framework, it is embedded in Māori cultural values. A key aspect of the Moko Wahine framework is the potential to strengthen the Indigenous identity of women leaders who are of Māori descent. This theoretical framework is drawn from the characteristics and values of Moerangi Ratahi, a Māori woman leader of Ngāti Awa who lived from the mid-1800s through to the late 1900s.

Ngā Pou Wāhine is a culturally embedded mana wāhine framework that addresses the complexity of Māori women’s gambling experiences, and provides an empowering process for behavioural change to regain their power and status. A key element of Ngā Pou Wāhine is the potential to encapsulate and endorse women’s stories by drawing on te ao Māori to facilitate analyses of Māori women’s gambling and their need to gamble. The theoretical framework of Ngā Pou Wāhine is based on well- known Māori artist Robyn Kahukiwa’s “Ngā Pou Wāhine” series.