Politics Archives - Page 49 of 60

Ethel Bentham

Irish doctor and Member of Parliament

Te Rangitopeora

Ngāti Toa leader, peacemaker, composer of waiata

In 1944 she was part of a small group selected for overseas service as clerical workers with the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt and Italy. Although younger than most of her colleagues, Lamason was appointed officer in charge of the group.

Audrey Ngaere Gale

In 1945 she founded and became secretary of the New Plymouth branch of the New Zealand National Party, and in 1951 became chairwoman of the New Plymouth women’s section. She went on to become a dominion councillor (1951–54) and women’s vice president (1953–54), and a member of the dominion executive in 1954 and of the dominion policy advisory committee in 1956.

Ellen Melville

Although she worked tirelessly to complete the work of the nineteenth century feminists in attempting to remove so-called women’s disabilities, Ellen Melville represented a new breed of feminism. She was an independent professional woman who vigorously sought full participation in public life. She encouraged other women to follow her and to form strong women’s societies, which would take women’s concerns into the arena of public affairs. Melville was one of the key figures in the revival of the feminist movement in the twentieth century.