Jenny Shipley

Jenny Shipley - New Zealand's First Woman Prime Minister

Before Helen Clark became PM of New Zealand, Jenny Shipley blazed the trail as the first woman prime minister of that country, serving as the National Party PM from 1997 - 1999.

Jenny Shipley Biography

Jennifer Mary Shipley was born in Gore in 1952. She was educated in Wellington and Blenheim and went on to graduate from Christchurch Teachers College in 1971. She taught for several years at primary school level, before marrying Central Canterbury farmer Burton Shipley and settling on his family farm near Ashburton.

It was at this stage that Shipley developed an interest in politics, initially at community and local government level before standing as the National Party candidate for the Ashburton electorate (now Rakaia) in 1987. Jenny Shipley won this seat and has retained it since then.

Jenny Shipley gained the position of Opposition Spokesperson on Social Welfare prior to the 1990 General Election, a portfolio she was to become Minister of in the 43rd Parliament, along with Women's Affairs. She was later appointed Minister of Health in 1994, Minister of State Services, Transport, State Owned Enterprises, ACC and Radio New Zealand after the 1996 election.

On 8 December 1997 Jenny Shipley took over as Prime Minister and Leader of the National Party from Jim Bolger. In doing so, she gained leadership of the Coalition Government, which was becoming increasingly unstable.

When the Coalition broke down on 18 August 1998, Jenny Shipley held on to her position as Prime Minister and National retained the government benches with support from ACT and former NZ First MPs.

In September 1999 Jenny Shipley was host to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) annual forum in Auckland, which attracted some of the world's top leaders to discuss shared trade and economic issues.

The policy developments advanced by the National Government failed to capture the voter's support, and on 27 November 1999 the Shipley led government were voted into opposition. Jenny Shipley retained the seat of Rakaia, and was the Leader of the Opposition until late 2001.

Jenny Shipley is married to Burton Shipley. They have two children, Anna and Ben and her interests include gardening, music, walking, and water sports.

-- Official biography from the New Zealand Prime Minister website.

More About the Former PM

from Wikipedia

Jennifer Mary Shipley, DCNZM, (born 4 February 1952, Gore, New Zealand), was the Prime Minister of New Zealand from December 1997 to December 1999, the first woman to hold this office and the first and to date only woman to serve as leader of the National Party.

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"Peace is a fragile thing. It takes courage to secure it. It takes wisdom to maintain it."

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About New Zealand

What Wikipedia has to say about Jenny Shipley's country

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island) and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous M?ori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud. The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing but in free association); Tokelau; and the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica).

New Zealand is notable for its geographic isolation, situated about 2000 km (1250 miles) southeast of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and its closest neighbours to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga. During its long isolation New Zealand developed a distinctive fauna dominated by birds, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and the mammals they introduced.

The population is mostly of European descent, with the indigenous M?ori being the...

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