Thanks to Pam P.
Parliament is on the verge of a significant milestone for women.
In just a few hours’ time, women will have an equal share of seats compared with their male counterparts in the House.
Soraya Peke-Mason will be sworn as a Labour list MP this afternoon, replacing outgoing Speaker Trevor Mallard.
“I’m feeling rather special. I mean it’s a special day anyway but it does make it extra special,” she said.
New Zealand women led the world in 1893, when women won the right to vote in the hard-fought suffrage battle.
It took another 26 years before they could stand for Parliament and a further 14 years before Canterbury woman Elizabeth McCombs was sworn in as the county’s first female MP.
Marilyn Waring Photo: Supplied
Former National Party MP Marilyn Waring is also among Parliament’s firsts; the 15th female MP and youngest person to enter politics at 23 years old in 1975.
She said it was intimidating but she was told that part of her job was “throwing herself physically in front of the juggernaut”.