Gloriavale women 'inferior' to men and go hungry if not enough food to go around, hearing told

Tuesday, 20 September 2022

The Employment Court has heard women “were inferior” in Gloriavale, and would go hungry if there was not enough food to go around.

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.

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During her primary school years the workload increased.

She recalled the moment she first felt afraid to go to work after being growled at for not showing up, despite not knowing she was scheduled to work.

Christian began to cry as she recalled an incident where she and two other girls had finished setting tables for dinner and ran away from a team leader who was looking for them while carrying a wooden spoon, a tool commonly used for spanking.

“We thought she was coming to hit us.”

On another occasion she was accused of lying and was spanked until she confessed to something she didn’t do.

Spanking from people other than parents was common, even at preschool where she was hit with a ping-pong like bat.

“I never got used to them… I’d always be scared into doing something by the thought of being spanked.”

From the age of six, Trudy Christian says she was expected to work and would be hit with a wooden spoon if she did something wrong. (File photo)

At the age of 12, Christian said she was told by many people that she would need to be a hard worker as she was going to high school and would be expected to do a lot more work.

Every day after school she would work 3-5 hours, and was required to work with machinery and do heavy manual labour.

“My school work suffered due to the work I was required to do,” she said.

She claimed the women were told if they did not work they would not eat. The men were given the priority of being fed, and if there was not enough food left over they would go hungry.

She said the women “were inferior”. They were not paid, nor given breaks.

Christian started working at 3am two days a week, and 5-6am every other morning.

“There were no days off… No matter how early we started, it didn’t matter” she said.

“We had no choice but to do what we are told.”

The Employment Court has heard women in Gloriavale were used as “human assets” to bind men to Gloriavale.

Christian said she left the community due to her mental health. For a few years prior she was “seriously depressed” – when she was 20 she had a breakdown.

“I knew I needed help… outside of the community.” She was “too afraid” to tell anyone in the community she was going to leave, including members of her family.

“They would either try to convince me not to go or accuse me of being selfish.”

She distanced herself from people “emotionally and mentally” so she could prepare herself for leaving.

It was arranged for her to be picked up one evening late at night. She recalled hearing someone calling her name, hiding in the shadows.

“I just left with nothing. I just walked out, got in the car and drove away.”

Earlier on Tuesday the court heard from a man, who has name suppression, who left Gloriavale in 2012. He told the court his time in the community left him “damaged and broken”, which he said was “typical of how people are treated in Gloriavale”.

“[The] earliest memories I have are clouded with mental and physical abuse. I, like many of the children, suffered various forms of violence and abuse… forced to work for community businesses from the age of 6 until I left at 19, beaten with various hard objects, steel rods, fence pickets, hard plastic pipes.”

Public humiliation was “common”, he said.

He said love was an “afterthought” in marriage, with children the priority.

Women were used as “human assets” to bind the men to Gloriavale, he alleged.

“Women have no say… saying no to the person they choose is seen as an act of defiance,” he said.

Gloriavale's barrister Philip Skelton, KC, said the man’s brief of evidence was “disparaging” of those at Gloriavale, referring to members as “pawns,” “unwitting” and saying they were being groomed.

Skelton read responses from two women at Gloriavale about the man’s evidence.

One of the women said his evidence “dehumanised me”.

“I’ve been referred to as a female made to bear children, no choice in how I live my life. I find this patronising and offensive.”

She said the leaders did not control every aspect of her life.

“The leaders don't control when I get pregnant, it was and still is my choice to have the children I have. I take offence to the suggestion I’m being treated like an animal to breed.”

Another member said she found his evidence “very insulting”.

“His words are cruel and he surmises so much about the leaders and the way we live… It’s clear he understood very little about life at Gloriavale and sought to find a perverted reason for everything.”