Wagner Nicky: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWagner Nicky: General Debate[Sitting date: 17 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9450. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NICKY WAGNER (National—Christchurch Central): It is great to be speaking today with the other women MPs for the National Party. The inspiration for this all-women debate is the funeral today of Baroness Margaret Thatcher because love her or hate her—and there are many in both camps—she was a powerful and determined woman and she crashed through the glass ceiling of UK politics.Internationally New Zealanders have been given credit for leading the empowerment of women but even so it has been a slow and imperfect process. In 1893 New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote and that was a fantastic achievement of Kate Sheppard from Christchurch and her supporters. But it took until 1919 for an Act to be passed to allow women to stand for Parliament and until 1933 before the first woman MP Elizabeth McCombs was elected and she was elected because her husband died in office.It was the mid-1980s before the number of women MPs reached double figures but with MMP we went from 20 to 30 percent of women members but there has been little change ever since. In 1997 we got the first female Prime Minister the Rt Hon Dame Jenny Shipley and then a second one and then a series of female appointments that included the Speaker of the House the Chief Justice and the Governor-General. At one stage all four senior appointments were held by women. Now there is only one. But thanks to those who have gone before the door is open and that is the way it should be—not quotas not pedantic balancing but an absolutely open process for selecting the best person for the job.If New Zealand wants to grow the economy protect our environment and increase our quality of life for the next generation we need to make sure that the talents and skills of women are fully understood and used and we need to appreciate more of what women can offer not just the narrow skill set that is generally recognised and utilised. Margaret Thatcher may have been the first and only woman Prime Minister of the UK but she got that position through stubborn aggressiveness and basically out-manning the men.Often it is a crisis that provides opportunities for women. During the Second World War women ran our businesses they ran our farms and in many cases record results bumper crops and top returns were delivered. During the earthquakes in Christchurch in the media we saw men in uniforms in fluorescent vests and hard hats and that was good but everywhere women less visibly were also doing the hard yards doing the invaluable work long-term planning organising supporting making things happen creating new solutions advocating for the community and making sure that everyone was being looked after.To hear their stories and recognise their achievements I organised a series of meetings called Bird’s Eye View and it has been both fascinating and inspiring. We have heard from Mary Devine from Ballantynes who was instrumental in the Re:START Mall; from Di Lucas about the Christchurch “black map” which shows how it affected our geotechnical information; and from Karen Gilliland about how midwives kept delivering during the disaster and about how they have rebuilt a better and stronger headquarters. We have been fascinated by the work of Coralie Winn Gap Filler theMinistry of Awesome and much much more. And every week I see new recovery stories led by women that are worth telling.So as we rebuild in Christchurch and as our country strives for a brighter future we must be smart enough we must be bold enough to appreciate and utilise the human capital of all our citizens—all our citizens—men and women.