page_title: Feminism in New Zealand
section_title: Timeline
hierarchical_section_title: Feminism in New Zealand / History / Timeline
caption_attribution_description: About the Memorial The Memorial, the work of sculptor Margriet Windhausen, comprises a 3.3m by 2.1m bronze bas-relief supported by a 5m pebbled wall. The Memorial stands in a landscaped area beside the Avon River on Oxford Terrace known as the Kate Sheppard National Memorial Reserve. It is the only National Memorial in Christchurch and is the only New Zealand monument depicting the fight for women’s suffrage. The central panel depicts life size figures of Kate Sheppard and other leaders of the suffrage movement. Smaller panels depict women of the time in typical everyday settings. Bronze panels record a written history of Kate Sheppard and the suffrage movement. A time capsule enclosed in the wall contains a record of the donors and material relevant to women’s lives in 1993. The six women are Kate Sheppard (1847 – 1934), Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia (1868 – 1920), Amey Daldy (1829 – 1920), Ada Wells (1863 – 1933), Harriet Morison (1862 – 1925), and Helen Nicol (1854 – 1932).
context_page_description: Feminism in New Zealand is a series of actions and a philosophy to advance rights for women in New Zealand. This can be seen to have taken place through parliament and legislation, and also by actions and role modelling by significant women and groups of people throughout New Zealand's history. The women's suffrage movement in New Zealand succeeded in 1893 when New Zealand became the first nation where all women were awarded the right to vote. New Zealand was also the first country in the world in which the five highest offices of power were held by women, which occurred between March 2005 and August 2006, with the Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II of New Zealand, Governor-General Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Margaret Wilson and Chief Justice Sian Elias.
  In 1840 Māori women were part of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi that created New Zealand as part of the British Empire under Queen Victoria.
context_section_description: 1860: married women's Property Perfection Act, allows women to keep their earning and belongings if deserted.
  1864: Heni Pore, fought for the King movement and distinguished herself at Gate Pa. Later, became the Secretary to the Māori Women's Christian Temperance Union, and later became known as an expert on Māori land title.
  1867: The Municipal Corporations Act and The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act was created and enforced
  1873:  Employment of Females Act enforced
  1884: Married Women's Property Act
  1893: Pākehā and Māori women won the right to vote in general elections due to the Electoral Act, and Elizabeth Yates became New Zealand's first woman mayor in the British Empire
  1895: the first women's hockey team was established, and Minnie Dean, was the only New Zealand woman to hang
  1896: National Council of Women of New Zealand was created, Emily Siedeberg became the first woman doctor to graduate,and Mary Ann Bacon became the country's first woman stockbroker
  1897 Ethel Benjamin became the first woman to be admitted as a barrister and solicitor.
  1898: The Divorce Act of 1898 allowed the dissolution of marriage virtually equal for women and men.
  1933: Elizabeth McCombs becomes the first woman elected to Parliament
  1938: Catherine Stewart becomes the first woman elected to Parliament not via Widow's succession
  1946: Two women appointed to the Legislative Council; Mary Anderson and Mary Dreaver.
  1947: Mabel Howard, who was elected to Parliament in 1943 becomes New Zealand's first Woman Cabinet Minister.
  1949: Iriaka Rātana becomes the first Māori woman elected to Parliament
  1951: Māori Women's Welfare League founded with Dame Whina Cooper as president
  1975: Marilyn Waring at age 23, becomes the youngest member of the Parliament of New Zealand
  1983: Catherine Tizard becomes the first woman Mayor of Auckland City
  1984: Ann Hercus appointed first Minister for Women's Affairs
  1988: Lowell Goddard and Sian Elias become the first women appointed as Queen's Counsel of New Zealand
  1989: Catherine Tizard becomes the first woman Governor-General of New Zealand
  1997: Jenny Shipley becomes first woman Prime Minister of New Zealand
  1999: Helen Clark becomes first elected woman Prime Minister of New Zealand
  1999: Sian Elias becomes the first woman Chief Justice of New Zealand
  2005: Margaret Wilson becomes the first woman Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. As a result, all five of the most senior positions of state are simultaneously held by women, as Wilson served with Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of New Zealand, Silvia Cartwright as Governor-General of New Zealand, Sian Elias as Chief Justice of New Zealand, and Helen Clark as Prime Minister of New Zealand.
  2017: Kristine Bartlett was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to equal pay advocacy.
caption: Close up of the Kate Shepherd Memorial in Christchurch by artist Margriet Windhausen. Featuring leaders of the suffrage movement in New Zealand. From L to R: Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia, Amey Daldy, Kate Sheppard, Ada Wells, Harriet Morison, and Helen Nicol.
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