Activism Archives - Page 154 of 197

Maura Breslin

Irish trade unionist and feminist

Margaret Scott Hawthorne was one of those who spearheaded the campaign to improve conditions for women workers in New Zealand. She is also notable for being one of the first women to achieve a position of status in the public service.

Selina Hale

Selina Hale was notable for having two significant careers: seven years as a trade unionist, and 21 years as a public servant.

Mai Clifford

Irish trade union official and laundress

Louie Bennett

Irish suffragist, trade unionist, and peace activist

Margaret Gaj

Irish restaurateur, radical, and political activist

Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia

On 18 May 1893 the Speaker of the lower house of the Kotahitanga parliament introduced a motion from Meri Mangakāhia, requesting that women be given the right to participate in the selection of members. It was suggested that she come into the house to explain her motion, and later that day she addressed the parliament – the first woman recorded to have done so. She requested not only that Māori women be given the vote, but that they be eligible to sit in the Māori parliament

Aileen Anna Maria Garmson

Garmson was active on behalf of the unemployed, and supported the interests of women workers both within and outside the union. She persuaded the New Zealand Workers’ Union to endorse the organisation of women into trade unions, and proposed that a women’s branch of the NZWU be formed.