Trailblazers: Celebrating Women

Founder of Smith and Caughey's

Pioneer for Māori women's rights and the first Māori female university graduate

The first woman elected to the NZ Stock Exchange

World-renowned historian.

Trailblazing business leader

Trailblazing business leader and professional chairwoman

The first woman inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame

New Zealand's first female university professor

Pioneering Pasifika leader and Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Founder of global literacy programme Reading Recovery

The first female CEO of a major public company in New Zealand

The first woman to earn a university degree in New Zealand

Pioneering meteorologist who helped discover the hole in the ozone layer

Ground-breaking chemist and champion of women in science

First woman to undertake an Antarctic research programme

Ancient Māori healer and pioneer of herbal medicine

Pioneering scientist and the first female fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand

Pioneering researcher and one of the first women to set foot on the South Pole

World-leading expert in Orca whales and animal welfare advocate

New Zealand's first female trade union leader and first female cabinet minister

Trailblazing politician and working mother

New Zealand's first female MP

Auckland's first female mayor and New Zealand's first female Governor-General

New Zealand's first female Chief Justice.

New Zealand's first female Prime Minister

First Māori woman to gain a law degree and be admitted to High Court

The first wahine to address the Kotahitanga Parliament

The youngest female head of state in the world and trailblazer for working mums

The first woman to become a High Court judge in New Zealand

World War II hero and the Allies' most decorated servicewoman

The first female firefighter in the British Commonwealth

Pioneering child welfare advocate and namesake of the Plunket Society

Pioneering champion of te reo Māori

The first female director of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service

Commander of the New Zealand Women's Auxiliary Air Force

New Zealand's first female detective

World record-setting adventurer and top sportswoman.

Pioneering tennis champion and trailblazer for Māori in sport

The first person from the southern hemisphere to medal at the Winter Olympics

The first woman to sail solo around the world

New Zealand's most successful female athletics champion

Pioneering sports administrator and the first female boss of an NRL club

World Cup-winning rugby captain and the first woman elected to the New Zealand Rugby board

Foster mother who helped change the lives of more than 300 children

Trailblazing campaigner who launched a five-year court battle for equal pay

New Zealand's first president of the International Council of Women

Champion of Māori land rights

Central figure in establishing the Kingitanga movement

Pioneering protester who fought for Samoans' right to New Zealand citizenship

Celebrated Māori leader and advocate for Māori rights and welfare

Trailblazing filmmaker and first Māori woman to direct a feature film

New Zealand's original opera diva

Pioneer of modern art

Fashion pioneer and the woman who brought ladies trousers to New Zealand

New Zealand's first female television presenter

Queen of Crime and best-selling novelist

The first female prime-time newsreader in the Commonwealth

World hip hop dance champion and world-renowned choreographer

First female solo artist to record a number one single on the official NZ Music Chart

Pioneering fashion designer

World-renowned opera singer and the first Kiwi to win a Grammy Award

Youngest winner of the Man Booker Prize

Award-winning author and creator of national icon Hairy Maclary

Award-winning poet and champion of Pasifika literature

New Zealand's first supermodel and a champion of natural beauty

One of New Zealand's most successful filmmakers

New Zealand's highest-selling solo artist

Trailblazing activist, entertainer and early champion of LGBTQ rights