New Zealand - Wonderland of the Pacific - Travel Poster - circa 1930s

Wonderland of the Pacific, Travel poster, circa 1930s

Then there is the exploitation of Maoritanga and womanhood in the travel poster. More difficult in the 2010s for the "Madmen" (Madison Avenue men for those not acquainted with the TV series) to appropriate these cultural territories, not that they don't try. Any nominations for the equivalent of Madison Avenue in the New Zealand context of 1930s or today?

Surprisingly this young wahine with bared right shoulder enticing the tourist to come see all the "wonders" including her good self prominently in the foreground is untroubled to have a geyser erupting (Freudian reference here?) a fraction to her right while her toes are nicely being boiled or perchance just warmed in the hot pool to her left. Yes, you art buffs, I lack "perspective".

Marching Girls in New Zealand

One of the historical oddities of New Zealand - and Australia - is the phenomenon of "Marching Girls" (a term, I might add, hastily, that these young women still use to describe their style of marching).

Wards Marching Team, Gisborne, NZ, circa 1930s.

Marching Girls involves competitive teams of young women engaging in precision marching wearing military-style uniforms. It began in the 1930s during the Great Depression as a way to encourage teenage girls to keep fit and healthy. It has its predecessors in various similar male activities - eg, boys' cadets, bugle corps, brass bands etc. - in an earlier age when militaristic training and patriotic fervor were felt to be good for one's character.

The numbers participating in Marching Girls have declined in recent years, reflecting competing claims for young women's time & attention, no doubt. But competitions still draw teams and a crowd, even if somewhat smaller than yesteryear.

Pacific Beat Street takes a look at Marching Girls (audio & pics are annoyingly out of sync, but that doesn't affect what's important - the military precision marching):

New Zealand Women and the Vote - Suffrage

Kate Sheppard, NZ suffragette leader

New Zealand was the first self-governing nation in the world to grant women the right to vote. This right extended to both Maori and Pakeha women.

It was not until after World War I that women in most other democracies, such as the United States and United Kingdom, achieved a similar right to vote.

Kate Sheppard, head of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), led the Suffrage movement that petitioned Parliament in the years leading up to 1893, eventually persuading the Liberal government to pass the right to vote legislation in the House of Representatives and finally breaking the log jam in the Legislative Council upper house.

Sheppard and her suffragette sisters are commemorated on the current NZ$10 bank note and on a 2008 postage stamp promoting voter participation.

Political equality was still some way off for New Zealand women in 1893 since it was not until 1919 that parliament passed legislation granting women the right to stand for parliament. It was not until 1933 that the first woman member of parliament was elected, Elizabeth McCombs, who took the seat her late husband had represented.

At the 2005 general election, a third of the MPs elected were women, still lower than their presence in the population, but a significant advance historically and relative to other countries.

In recent years, women have held the country's key constitutional positions: prime minister, governor-general, speaker of the House of Representatives and chief justice. The glass ceiling is also starting to crack noticeably in the public service and business sector.

Further history on women’s suffrage and the right to vote can be found at New Zealand History On-line.