Twenty-nine-year-old Moana Mackey entered the House of Representatives as a Labour Party list MP. She joined her mother, Janet Mackey, who had been a Labour MP since 1993. They were the first mother and daughter to serve together in New Zealand’s Parliament.
Women In Politics
Events In History
10 December 1999
Georgina Beyer won the Wairarapa electorate for Labour in 1999 by a margin of 3033 votes.
26 July 1984
Ann Hercus became New Zealand’s first Minister of Women’s Affairs following the election of the fourth Labour government.
8 December 1972
Whetu Tirikātene-Sullivan became the first female Māori Cabinet minister when she was sworn in as Minister of Tourism in Norman Kirk’s third Labour government
20 October 1972
The legislation aimed to end the gender pay gap in the private sector, following earlier legislation which addressed the pay gap for the public service.
29 November 1949
Iriaka Rātana was elected as New Zealand’s first female Māori MP.
29 May 1947
When mabel Howard was appointed minister of health and minister in charge of child welfare, she became the first woman to serve as a Cabinet minister in New Zealand.
13 September 1933
The Labour Party’s Elizabeth McCombs became New Zealand’s first female Member of Parliament, winning a by-election in the Lyttelton seat caused by the death of her husband, James McCombs.
29 October 1919
The passing of the Women’s Parliamentary Rights Act enabled women to stand for election to the House of Representatives, 26 years after they won the right to vote.
29 November 1893
By becoming mayor of Onehunga, Auckland, Elizabeth Yates struck another blow for women’s rights in local-body polls held the day after the first general election in which women could vote.
28 November 1893
New Zealand women went to the polls for the first time, just 10 weeks after the governor signed the Electoral Act 1893, making this country the first in in which women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
19 September 1893
When the governor, Lord Glasgow, signed a new Electoral Act into law, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
28 July 1893
The monster suffrage petition contained the signatures of more than 25,000 women. A dozen other, smaller petitions were also submitted around the same time.
14 August 1891
These petitions, signed by 9000 women, contributed to the introduction of a Female Suffrage Bill in Parliament. This received majority support in the House of Representatives but was defeated in the Legislative Council.
12 July 1889
The first women’s trade union in New Zealand emerged in the late 19th century in response to poor working conditions in the clothing industry.
Articles
Women and the vote
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. Read the full article
Page 1 - New Zealand women and the vote
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
Page 2 - Brief history
A history of the movement that won New Zealand women the vote in
Page 3 - Women's suffrage milestones
Women's suffrage milestones from 1869 to
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
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
Page 6 - Women's suffrage petition
Search the women's suffrage
Page 7 - About the suffrage petition
Information about the suffrage petition and searchable
Page 8 - Further information
Find out more about women and the vote in New
Parliament's people
Today there are usually between 120 and 123 MPs in New Zealand's Parliament, which is a far cry from the 37 who met for the first time in Auckland in 1854. Read the full article
Page 1 - Parliament's people
Today there are usually between 120 and 123 MPs in New Zealand's Parliament, which is a far cry from the 37 who met for the first time in Auckland in
Page 2 - Women MPs
For much of its first century, Parliament was a bastion of male culture. Nowadays women make up 30% of
The road to MMP
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. Read the full article
Page 5 - 1996 and beyond - the road to MMP
The three years following the 1993 referendum, before the first MMP election in 1996, were ones of transition and
Election Days
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. Read the full article
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
Temperance movement
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. Read the full article
Page 2 - Beginnings
Dawn of the New Zealand temperance movement,
Premiers and Prime Ministers
From Henry Sewell in 1856 to Christopher Luxon in 2023, New Zealand has had 42 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. Read the full article
Page 1 - Premiers and Prime Ministers
From Henry Sewell in 1856 to Christopher Luxon in 2023, New Zealand has had 42 prime ministers and premiers. Read biographies of the men and women who have held the top job,
Suffrage 125
Resources and stories reflecting 125 years of women's activism in Aotearoa Read the full article
Page 1 - Suffrage 125
Resources and stories reflecting 125 years of women's activism in
Women together
An online version of Women together: a history of women’s organisations in New Zealand / Ngā rōpū wāhine o te motu. Read the full article
Page 2 - Women Together introduction
An introduction to the history of women’s organisations and the Women Together
Women Together
Political
Women's political organisations are among the oldest women's organisations and among the oldest political organisations in New Zealand, predating women's suffrage and the formation of political parties. Read the full Women Together Theme
Auckland Women’s Political League
The Auckland Women's Political League (AWPL) was the successor to the local Franchise League, introduced to Auckland from Dunedin by Harriet Morison in June 1892 Read the full Women Together Essay
Canterbury Women’s Institute
The Canterbury Women's Institute (CWI) was one of the longest lived of the early feminist groups in New Zealand Read the full Women Together Essay
Federation of New Zealand Housewives
The Federation of New Zealand Housewives developed out of a conference convened by the Dunedin Housewives' Association in March 1955. Read the full Women Together Essay
Labour Women's Council
The goals of the Labour Women's Council were to stimulate the interest of women joining and otherwise participating in the Party Read the full Women Together Essay
National Council of Women of New Zealand
By 1993, the National Council of Women of New Zealand was the largest and most influential women's organisation in New Zealand Read the full Women Together Essay
National Organisation for Women (NOW)
The first New Zealand groups of the National Organisation for Women (NOW) were formed in 1972 Read the full Women Together Essay
National Party Women's Sections
National Party women's sections helped canvass for new members, raise funds, organise social funtions, raise awareness of political issues, and contribute to party policy. Read the full Women Together Essay
Pan-Pacific and South-East Asia Women's Association
The Pan-Pacific and South-East Asia Women's Association (PPSEAWA) was formed to bring women of the region together to further understanding and friendship and to study social and political conditions. Read the full Women Together Essay
Wanganui Women's Political League
–The Wanganui Women's Political Leagueprovided a forum for political activity and education on issues of concern to women Read the full Women Together Essay
Women's Electoral Lobby of New Zealand
–––When the Women's Electoral Lobby was formed in 1975, its goal was to achieve equality for women, encourage women to be active in public life, and ensure that people who would work for equality for women were elected and appointed to public office. Read the full Women Together Essay
Biographies
Forty years after women in New Zealand received the right to vote, Elizabeth McCombs became the first female Member of Parliament.
Anna Stout was dedicated to the advancement of women, championing calls for equal political, legal, social and educational rights. She was particularly concerned for the education of Maori women.
Elizabeth Yates was elected mayor of Onehunga on 29 November 1893, becoming the first woman in the British Empire to hold the office.
Ada Wells is remembered for her contribution to the women's suffrage campaign in the 1880s and 90s, and for becoming the first woman elected to the Christchurch City Council in 1917.
John Hall was a force in our politics for several decades, serving as Premier and leading the parliamentary campaign for votes for women.
New Zealand’s first woman PM, Jenny Shipley came to power in 1997 after staging a carefully planned coup against Jim Bolger.
Jenny Shipley may have been our first female PM, but Helen Clark was the first elected one. In 2008 she became our fifth longest-serving PM and Labour’s first to win three consecutive elections.
In 1947, 14 years after Elizabeth McCombs had become the first woman MP, and more than half a century after women had won the vote, Mabel Howard became New Zealand’s first woman Cabinet minister.
New Zealand’s third female PM, and at 37 our youngest leader since Edward Stafford in 1856, Jacinda Ardern enjoyed perhaps the most meteoric rise to power of any New Zealand PM
Meri Mangakāhia petitioned the government on land rights and argued for women’s suffrage, and actively participated in the Kotahitanga movement, the Māori parliament based at Pāpāwai, Wairarapa.
