 Rickard was an ardent advocate for women’s rights within Māoridom itself and encouraged other female activists to ignore traditional Māori protocol by calling for the rights for Māori women to speak at official Māori gatherings, including on the marae.At her official "tangi" (funeral) where she was interred on the land she had spent a decade fighting to have returned to her people, Māori activist Annette Sykes when attempting to speak, had to endure cries of "you sit down, you have no right to speak.