women in politics

Parliament's people

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  Today there are 120 MPs in New Zealand's Parliament, which is a far cry from the 37 who met for the first time in Auckland in 1854.

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• Page 2 – Women MPs

  For much of its first century, Parliament was a bastion of male culture. Nowadays women make up 30% of MPs.

Women and the vote

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  On 19 September 1893 the governor, Lord Glasgow, signed a new Electoral Act into law. As a result of this landmark legislation, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

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• Page 2 – Brief history

  A history of the movement that won New Zealand women the vote in 1893

• Page 3 – Women's suffrage milestones

  Women's suffrage milestones from 1869 to 1999

• Page 4 – The National Council of Women

  Three years after the vote was won in 1893, a convention of representatives of 11 women's groups from throughout New Zealand resolved itself into the National Council of Women

• Page 5 – World suffrage timeline

  Although a number of other territories enfranchised women before 1893, New Zealand can justly claim to be the first self-governing country to grant the vote to all adult women

• Page 6 – Women's suffrage petition

  Search the women's suffrage petition.

• Page 7 – About the suffrage petition

  Information about the suffrage petition and searchable database

• Page 8 – Further information

  Find out more about women and the vote in New Zealand.

Premiers and Prime Ministers

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  From Henry Sewell in 1856 to Chris Hipkins in 2023, New Zealand has had 41 prime ministers and premiers. Read biographies of the men and women who have held the top job, discover more about the role's political origins, and explore fascinating prime ministerial facts and trivia.

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• Page 1 - Premiers and Prime MinistersFrom Henry Sewell in 1856 to Chris Hipkins in 2023, New Zealand has had 41 prime ministers and premiers. Read biographies of the men and women who have held the top job, discover

Suffrage 125

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Temperance movement

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  Temperance was one of the most divisive social issues in late-19th and early-20th century New Zealand. Social reformers who argued that alcohol fuelled poverty, ill health, crime and immorality nearly achieved national prohibition in a series of hotly contested referendums.

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• Page 2 - BeginningsDawn of the New Zealand temperance movement,

Election Days

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  When New Zealanders go to the polls on 26 November 2011, they will continue a 158-year-old tradition of parliamentary democracy in this country. Politics may have changed beyond recognition since 1853, but the cut and thrust of the campaign trail, the power of advertising, and the drama of polling day remain as relevant as ever.

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• Page 3 - Cleaning up elections The New Zealand Parliament was alarmed by reports of electoral abuses in Auckland in the 1850s. It decided that electoral laws needed to be tightened, and in 1858 passed a series

Women together

• An introduction to the history of women’s organisations and the Women Together project

The road to MMP

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  In 1993 New Zealanders voted to replace their traditional first past the post (FPP) voting system with mixed member proportional representation (MMP). Eighteen years on, as Kiwis voted in a new electoral referendum, we explore how and why that dramatic reform came about.

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• Page 5 - 1996 and beyond - the road to MMPThe three years following the 1993 referendum, before the first MMP election in 1996, were ones of transition and