Editing Politics of New Zealand (section)

=== Women in politics ===
{{Further|Women's suffrage in New Zealand}}
{{See also|Women in New Zealand}}

[[File:Mrs. K. W. Sheppard (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.65|[[Kate Sheppard]] is the country's most famous [[suffragist]].]]

Women's suffrage was granted after about two decades of campaigning by women such as [[Kate Sheppard]] and [[Mary Ann Müller]] and organisations such as the New Zealand branch of the [[Women's Christian Temperance Union]]. On 19 September 1893 the governor, [[David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow|Lord Glasgow]], signed a new Electoral Act into law.<ref name="womens_suffrage">{{cite web |title = Women and the vote – Brief history |url = https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage/brief-history |publisher = New Zealand History Online |website = nzhistory.govt.nz |access-date = 31 January 2017 |date = 13 January 2016 }}</ref> As a result, New Zealand became the first self-governing nation in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.<ref name="suffrage">{{cite web |title = Votes for Women |url = http://www.elections.org.nz/book/export/html/646 |website = elections.org.nz |publisher = Electoral Commission |access-date = 31 January 2017 |language = en-NZ |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190125071304/https://www.elections.org.nz/book/export/html/646 |archive-date = 25 January 2019 |url-status = dead }}</ref> Women first voted in the [[1893 New Zealand general election|1893 election]], with a high 85% turnout (compared to 70% of men).<ref>{{cite web |title = Women, the vote and the 1893 election |url = https://www.parliament.nz/en/get-involved/features-pre-2016/document/00NZPHomeNews201311281/women-the-vote-and-the-1893-election |website = parliament.nz |publisher = New Zealand Parliament |access-date = 31 January 2017 |language = en-NZ }}</ref> The achievement of women's suffrage in New Zealand was groundbreaking, as most other democracies did not grant women the right to vote until after World War I.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage |title=Women's Suffrage |publisher=New Zealand History |access-date=28 July 2024}}</ref>

Women were not eligible to be elected to the House of Representatives until {{NZ election link year|1919}} though, when three women, including [[Ellen Melville]] stood. The first woman to win an election (to the seat held by her late husband) was [[Elizabeth McCombs]] in 1933.<ref name="womens_suffrage" /> [[Mabel Howard]] became the first female cabinet minister in 1947, being appointed to the First Labour Government.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mabel Howard becomes first female Cabinet minister|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/mabel-howard-becomes-first-woman-cabinet-minister|publisher=New Zealand History Online|website=nzhistory.govt.nz|access-date=31 January 2017|date=21 December 2016}}</ref> 

New Zealand was the first country in the world in which all the highest offices were occupied by women, between March 2005 and August 2006: the Sovereign [[Queen Elizabeth II]], Governor-General [[Silvia Cartwright|Dame Silvia Cartwright]]<!-- This is the GG in 2005, don't change to the current one -->, Prime Minister [[Helen Clark]], [[Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Margaret Wilson]], and [[Chief Justice of New Zealand|Chief Justice]] [[Sian Elias|Dame Sian Elias]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Women run the country but it doesn't show in pay packets|first=Simon|last=Collins|date=May 2005|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10127960|access-date=31 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Paxton |first1=Pamela |last2=Hughes |first2=Melanie M. |title=Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective |date=2015 |publisher=CQ Press |isbn=978-1-48-337701-8 |page=107 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lf4QCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT107 |access-date=25 July 2017}}</ref>

After the 2020 election, women made up half of the 120 MPs in the House of Representatives, marking the highest level of [[Women in government|women's political representation]] since they were first allowed to stand for Parliament in 1919.<ref>{{cite web |title=Women members of the New Zealand Parliament, 1933 onwards |url=https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/mps-and-parliaments-1854-onwards/women-members-of-the-new-zealand-parliament-1933-onwards/ |website=www.parliament.nz |publisher=New Zealand Parliament |access-date=25 November 2020 |language=en |date=9 November 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Election 2020: 'Historical high' – New Zealand Parliament readies for more diversity |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/428672/election-2020-historical-high-new-zealand-parliament-readies-for-more-diversity |access-date=25 November 2020 |work=[[RNZ]] |date=19 October 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
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