Although it was the first country in the world (in 1893, spearheaded by Kate Sheppard) in which women won the right to vote, it wasn’t until 1919 that women could run for a seat in Parliament, and 1931 when Elizabeth McCombs became the first woman elected as a Member of Parliament. Iriana Matiu Rātana was the first wahine Māori (Māori woman) elected to Parliament in 1949. Aotearoa/NZ has also had three women Prime Ministers: Jenny Shipley (1997-1999), Helen Clark (1999-2008), and Jacinda Ardern (2017-2023). Jenny Shipley replaced then-Prime Minister Jim Bolger after a successful leadership challenge, but was not able to hold on to the position in the next election; Helen Clark became the first elected woman Prime Minister, and the fifth longest-serving PM. Another milestone was reached in 2022, when women became the majority in Parliament with 61 out of a possible 120 seats. 

Outside of government, Aotearoa/NZ women are also active at the community and NGO levels. The National Council of Women of New Zealand was created in 1896, with Kate Sheppard as its first president; the organization remains very much active. Other long-standing activist organisations include the New Zealand Women’s Refuge and the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective; more recent groups include Project Gender, supporting and promoting the advancement of women in business (https://www.projectgender.co.nz/about-us) and Pockety, which provides a hub for women’s services (https://www.pockety.org.nz/about/). 

While Aotearoa/NZ had a strong and early start towards gender equality, there is still a lot of work to be done. The answer for ‘Are we there yet?’ remains a resounding ‘no!’ A recent survey sponsored by the National Council of Women of New Zealand found that 80% of respondents believed that gender equality was a fundamental right, and 48% believed that gender equality had already been achieved. Gender diversity was also broached in the survey; compared with their male counterparts, female respondents showed higher levels of acceptance of gender and sexually diverse people. Both transphobia and acceptance provide challenges to feminisms in Aotearoa/NZ, evident in some of the interviews, and often acknowledged by interviewees as requiring deep, considered thought rather than reactive comment. 

Our aim in selecting the 12 interviewees for the Aotearoa/New Zealand site of the Global Feminisms Project was to be as representative of women in the country as possible, in terms of age, ethnicity, area of expertise, and occupation. Some women, like Sandra Coney, Sue Kedgley and Ngāhuia te Awekotuku, were at the forefront of the 1970s Women’s Movement, and went on to have careers in politics and academia. Others are community focused; for example, Anjum Rahman’s extraordinary work for the Muslim community and New Zealand Islamic Women’s Council, or Qiane Matata-Sipu’s amplification of Indigenous women’s voices, or Ang Jury’s work as CEO of Women’s Refuge New Zealand. Norie Apie and Aleisha Amohia work to support women in the tech industry; Rebecca Stringer is an active gender studies scholar at the University of Otago; now retired, Barbara Brookes and Prue Hyman pursued academic careers in women’s history and feminist economics, respectively. Some of the women are also active in the National Council of Women of New Zealand (Aleisha Amohia, Sue Kedgley, and Kerri Du Pont). While acknowledging that there are many other women who could be included here, these women represent just some of the diversity of women’s experience in Aotearoa/NZ; while they do not all agree about all issues, they share the common goal of continuing to fight for women’s equality and equity.