Almost 130 years ago New Zealand led the world, as the first nation to give women the vote.
It took another 26 years before they could stand for Parliament and a further 14 years before Canterbury woman Elizabeth McCombs was sworn in as the county's first female MP.
On Tuesday Labour's Soraya Peke-Mason will become the 177th - and for the first time women will hold a majority of seats in the House.
Māni Dunlop spoke to two women familiar with navigating the political landscape, Marilyn Waring and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
