Te Kaunihera Wāhine o Aotearoa National Council of Women of New Zealand is celebrating 130 years of advocacy and making clear the fight for gender equality is far from over.

When Kate Sheppard and a group of determined women founded the National Council of Women of New Zealand in 1896, they were building a movement. One hundred and thirty years later, that movement is still going strong and in 2026 there is still significant work to be done in the fight for gender equality in New Zealand.

Aotearoa still has significant barriers to gender equality today, including:

• Our latest Gender Attitudes Study shows a rising complacency among young men aged 18-34 in New Zealand who believe that gender equality has already been achieved or has “gone too far”. 
• New Zealand is declining in global gender equality rankings – dropping from 4th to 5th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index which measures things such as economic participation, access to education, political empowerment. 
• Government policy on pay equity continues to devalue the workers, mostly women, who work in under-paid sectors including education, nursing and social services, cancelling their active pay equity claims and making future claims more difficult.
• Prioritisation of profit over climate resilience and adaptation exacerbates existing inequalities and economic instability for women and children.
• New Zealand persists in having one of the highest rates of domestic and intimate partner violence in the OECD.

Aotearoa has long prided itself on being a world leader in women's rights as the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote. But NCWNZ is clear that a proud history is not the same as a finished job. Gender pay gaps persist. Women remain underrepresented in leadership. Barriers to healthcare and education continue to fall disproportionately on our wāhine and tamariki. Gender equality is still far from achieved.

"We're 130 years old and we're still fighting," says Dr Suzanne Manning, President of NCWNZ.

"While we would hope that we no longer needed to, NCWNZ is committed to continue striving for equality. The fact that we're still here means that our mahi isn't finished. Kate Sheppard and her colleagues didn't start a conversation. They started a revolution. We're proud to still be at its forefront."

Much has changed since 1896. NCWNZ's membership looks different, the tools of advocacy have transformed, and the issues on the agenda have grown to include climate change, online misogyny, and trans rights, none of which were on the radar when the organisation was founded. But the kaupapa of women’s equality has never wavered.

For 130 years, NCWNZ has championed pay equity, access to appropriate and equal healthcare, quality education, and women's political representation. It has remained connected to a global community of women's rights organisations, standing alongside the international movement even as the specific battles have shifted generation to generation.

"The issues change, but the need doesn't," says Manning. "In 1896 women couldn't vote. Today we're battling online harassment, gender pay gaps, and barriers to healthcare. The conflict looks different, but it’s the same war."

NCWNZ is encouraging New Zealanders across the motu to celebrate with us and join our work to achieve gender equality faster – become a member or donate to help us get there.

NCWNZ – still here. Still standing strong.