Rona Stevenson

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1963–1966 34th Taupo National
1966–1969 35th Taupo National
1969–1972 36th Taupo National

Rona Miriel Stevenson MBE JP (13 February 1911 – 4 September 1988) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.

Born in Wellington in 1911, she served on the executives of the Women's Division of Federated Farmers, the YWCA and the Presbyterian Church.[1]

She represented the Taupo electorate from 1963 to 1972, when she retired.[2] In the 1966 election, she narrowly beat (by 258 votes) Labour's Barry Gustafson.[3] The Taupo seat was a marginal one and the women's section of the National Party raised a large sum of money to ensure her re-election.[4] Also, in 1966 she also called for the names of women in 'so-called rape cases' to have their names published on the grounds that they may have been provocative, a move that may not have gained her support from women voters.[4]

Stevenson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the community, in the 1976 Queen's Birthday Honours.[5] She died on 4 September 1988, and her ashes were buried at Taupo Public Cemetery.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 344.
  2. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 236.
  3. ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 91.
  4. ^ a b Wallace, Sandra (1993). "Members for Everywoman? The campaign promises of women parliamentary candidates" (PDF). NZJH. 27 (2): 187–98.
  5. ^ "No. 46921". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 12 June 1976. p. 8057.
  6. ^ "Deceased details". Taupō District Council. Archived from the original on 14 February 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2015.

References

  • Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
  • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4 ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
  • Women in Parliamentary Life 1970–1990: Hocken Lecture 1993 by Marilyn Waring, page 35 (Hocken Library, University of Otago, 1994) ISBN 0-902041-61-4


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