Trailblazers: Celebrating Women

REPLAY: PM Jacinda Ardern joins NZH for our Suffrage 125 broadcast
PM Jacinda Ardern joins the New Zealand Herald editorial team as the guest editor of the 125th Suffrage edition. Video / Chris Tarpey

TRAILBLAZERS: Beatrice Tinsley
Beatrice Tinsley was a world-renowned astrophysicist and trailblazer for women in science.
Business and Education

Trailblazers: Mira Szászy
Pioneer for Māori women's rights and the first Māori female university graduate

Trailblazers: Wendy Pye
The first woman inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame

Trailblazers: Theresa Gattung
The first female CEO of a major public company in New Zealand
Health and Science

Trailblazers: Edith Farkas
Pioneering meteorologist who helped discover the hole in the ozone layer

Trailblazers: Kathleen Curtis
Pioneering scientist and the first female fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand

Trailblazers: Pamela Young
Pioneering researcher and one of the first women to set foot on the South Pole

Trailblazers: Joan Wiffen
History-making palaeontologist, who discovered the first dinosaur fossils in New Zealand
Law and Politics

Trailblazers: Mabel Howard
New Zealand's first female trade union leader and first female cabinet minister

Trailblazers: Dame Catherine Tizard
Auckland's first female mayor and New Zealand's first female Governor-General

Trailblazers: Ida Malosi
The first female Pasifika judge and champion of Pasifika women in law

Trailblazers: Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia
The first wahine to address the Kotahitanga Parliament

Trailblazers: Jacinda Ardern
The youngest female head of state in the world and trailblazer for working mums

Trailblazers: Dame Silvia Cartwright
The first woman to become a High Court judge in New Zealand
Public Service

Nancy Wake: Super spy who killed Nazis with her bare hands
World War II hero and the Allies' most decorated servicewoman

Trailblazers: Lady Victoria Plunket
Pioneering child welfare advocate and namesake of the Plunket Society

Trailblazers: Rebecca Kitteridge
The first female director of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
Sport and Adventure

Helen Thayer: First woman to walk solo to the magnetic North Pole
World record-setting adventurer and top sportswoman.

Trailblazers: Ruia Morrison
Pioneering tennis champion and trailblazer for Māori in sport

Trailblazers: Annelise Coberger
The first person from the southern hemisphere to medal at the Winter Olympics

Trailblazers: Raelene Castle
Pioneering sports administrator and the first female boss of an NRL club

Trailblazers: Farah Palmer
World Cup-winning rugby captain and the first woman elected to the New Zealand Rugby board
Social Justice

Trailblazers: Wanda Messam
Foster mother who helped change the lives of more than 300 children

Trailblazers: Kristine Bartlett
Trailblazing campaigner who launched a five-year court battle for equal pay

Trailblazers: Dame Miriam Dell
New Zealand's first president of the International Council of Women

Trailblazers: Falema'i Lesā
Pioneering protester who fought for Samoans' right to New Zealand citizenship

Trailblazers: Dame Whina Cooper
Celebrated Māori leader and advocate for Māori rights and welfare
Culture

Trailblazers: Merata Mita
Trailblazing filmmaker and first Māori woman to direct a feature film

Trailblazers: Julia Yates
Fashion pioneer and the woman who brought ladies trousers to New Zealand

Trailblazers: Parris Goebel
World hip hop dance champion and world-renowned choreographer

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

Trailblazers: Carmen Rupe
Trailblazing activist, entertainer and early champion of LGBTQ rights

Trailblazers: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
World-renowned opera singer and the first Kiwi to win a Grammy Award

Trailblazers: Lynley Dodd
Award-winning author and creator of national icon Hairy Maclary

Trailblazers: Selina Tusitala Marsh
Award-winning poet and champion of Pasifika literature

Trailblazers: Rachel Hunter
New Zealand's first supermodel and a champion of natural beauty