Success, swing and gender: The performance off women candidates for parliament in New Zealand, 1946–87

Proportional Representation and Female Parliamentarians

“…The party gained substantial voter support, but New Zealand's SMD electoral system ensured that the group gained no seats. Following the demise of the Values Party, many of its activists moved into the larger Labour Party and, armed with the demonstrated public support for their message of equality, pressured Labour into selecting more female candidates for winnable seats (Hill and Roberts 1990;McLeay 2000). Female representation in Labour's caucus rose quickly.…”

Gender Quotas and Models of Political Citizenship

“…Soon after women gained the right to vote in 1920, the Democratic party mandated that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) be composed of one man and one woman from each state and territory. 59 These policies never approximated formal quotas, however, even though the country has a strong national discourse concerning the rights of Maoris, the indigenous people of New Zealand, for whom a certain number of seats have always been reserved in parliament. 54 Following protests at its party convention in 1968, the DNC later ratified guidelines requiring state parties to select women as national convention delegates in proportion to their presence in the state population.…”

“…Women used the opportunity to campaign for more women in parliament and in decision-making positions, not least because the party had lost crucial electoral support to the new left-wing New Zealand Values party, which presented 25 per cent female candidates in 1975. 59 These policies never approximated formal quotas, however, even though the country has a strong national discourse concerning the rights of Maoris, the indigenous people of New Zealand, for whom a certain number of seats have always been reserved in parliament. 60 The idea of quotas reached the political agenda again in 1993, when the country adopted a new mixedmember proportional electoral system.…”