New Zealand

House of Representatives

Data on women

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Basic information > About parliament

Speaker

Speaker
Gerry Brownlee (Male)
Year of birth
1956
Additional information
Elected on 5 Dec. 2023.
See historical data for this field.

Secretary general

Secretary General
David Wilson (Male)
Notes Additional information about the Secretary General, in particular regarding their term.
6 July 2015 - 5 July 2029

Appointed on 7 May 2015 for a seven-year term effective from 6 July 2015; re-appointed on 3 May 2022 for a further seven-year term effective from 6 July 2022 (i.e. until 5 July 2029).

Members

Current number of members, by sex
Men The number of male parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
67
See historical data for this field.
Women The number of female parliamentarians who currently hold seats in parliament.
56
See historical data for this field.
Percentage of women Calculated by dividing the current number of women by the current number of members.
45.53% See historical data for this field.

Age

Average age of all members Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
49.07
See historical data for this field.
Youngest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
Youngest member
Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (Female)
Oldest member (years) Age at the time of the last election or renewal.
78
Oldest member
Winston Peters (Male)
Total number of MPs, 45 years of age or younger
50 See historical data for this field.
Total number of MPs, 46 years of age or older
72 See historical data for this field.
Total per sex
Total of male
68 See historical data for this field.
Total of female
54 See historical data for this field.
Total per age interval
18-20
0
21-30
5 See historical data for this field.
31-40
17 See historical data for this field.
41-45
28 See historical data for this field.
46-50
15 See historical data for this field.
51-60
41 See historical data for this field.
61-70
15 See historical data for this field.
71-80
1 See historical data for this field.
81-90
0
91 and over
0
Number of members, by age
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Totals per age interval 0 5 17 28 15 41 15 1 0 0
Total <= 45: 50 Total >= 46: 72
Male 0 1 11 14 7 24 10 1 0 0 68
Female 0 4 6 14 8 17 5 0 0 0 54
Percentage of members, by age
Age as last election or renewalOverallMaleFemale
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger4.1%0.82%3.28%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger18.03%9.84%8.2%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger40.98%21.31%19.67%

Reserved seats and quotas

Electoral quota for women Quotas to promote the representation of women in parliament.
Notes
Voluntary political party quotas.
Elections > Historical data on women

Women's suffrage

Women’s right to vote
Women’s right to vote Year in which women obtained the right to vote
1886
National or local Suffrage: National or Local
Local
Notes Suffrage: Additional Notes on right of suffrage
All men except for Maori were granted the right to vote in 1852 with the Constitution Act
Women’s right to vote Year in which women obtained the right to vote
1893
National or local Suffrage: National or Local
National
Restricted or unrestricted suffrage Suffrage: Restricted or Universal
Universal
Notes Suffrage: Additional Notes on right of suffrage
All men except for Maori were granted the right to vote in 1852 with the Constitution Act; In 1886 women were granted the right to vote in local elections.
Women’s right to stand for election
Women's right to stand for election Year in which women obtained the right to stand for election
1919
National or local Stand for Election: National or Local
National
First woman in parliament
First woman in parliament Year in which first woman entered parliament
1933
First woman speaker
Year of first woman speaker Date at which, for the first time in the country's parliamentary history, a woman became Presiding Officer of Parliament or of one of its Houses.
2005

Specialized body - Women's caucus

Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians
(August 2010)
Formal or informal
Formal
The caucus is open to male MPs
No
The caucus is cross-party
Yes
Notes
All women MPs are invited to join at the beginning of each Parliament. Membership is open throughout the Parliamentary term. The caucus is co-chaired by one member of the Government and one member of the Opposition, selected by the membership.

Part of the parliament’s recognised inter-parliamentary organisation membership (through the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association) also includes women Members of the IPU New Zealand Group – including the parliament's representative on the IPU Bureau for Women

The Caucus develops a programme of objectives and events annually and communication of work undertaken is supported by the Office of the Clerk.
There are rules governing the functioning of the caucus
Yes

Activities

Issues dealt with by the caucus
- Forced and underage marriage and immigration and visa issues related to forced & underage marriage (including getting legislation through the House)
- Female genital mutilation
- Gynaecological health
- Breast cancer
- Sexual harassment and violence (including of women MPs)
- Family and intimate partner violence
- Support for victims of domestic violence
- Empowerment of women and girls
- Male champions for gender quality
- Women’s leadership, economic, & political empowerment (suffrage), including increasing women’s political participation and advocating sport as a vehicle to grow leadership skills
- Supporting increased numbers of women in the Pacific parliaments (mentoring programme)
- Increasing the numbers of women educated and working in the STEM sectors
The caucus has a strategic plan or plan of action
Yes
The caucus has a communication plan
No