Women in the HouseFor much of its first century, Parliament was a bastion of male culture. Women could observe it from a discreet distance from the ladies' gallery, and by the 1880s, the odd female reporter had ventured in, but she had only men's activities to report. Women got the vote in 1893, making New Zealand the first country to have full adult suffrage (or voting rights), but women could not stand for Parliament until 1919. It was not until 1933 that the first woman Member of Parliament (MP) took her seat in the House. In the 1950s and 1960s there were still few women MPs, and this did not change until the 1980s. From then, women were appointed to Cabinet in increasing numbers and to senior positions in Parliament, such as whip and Deputy Speaker. From the 1990s women made up about 30% of Members. In 1997 Jenny Shipley became New Zealand's first female prime minister. Then in 1999 Helen Clark led her Labour Party to victory.