Ashburton mayor Donna Favel (right) at the launch of the Celebration of Suffrage 125 with Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy. Photo suppliedWomen might have had equal rights with men for many years in New Zealand, but it has taken 140 years for Ashburton to elect its first female mayor

And today, on International Women’s Day, current mayor Donna Favel says it is important to reflect on how far New Zealand has moved to becoming a society where gender equality is now the norm.

“We’re in a very fortunate place when we consider what our predecessors came from and the freedoms they had to fight for,” she said.

And while it is important to remember how much the world had changed for women, it was equally important to understand how this was still not the case for many women in many countries, Favel said.

And even close to home there was still inequality particularly when it came to pay parity, she said.

“It’s wonderful to see women given opportunities, but if we’re talking equality it’s not women wanting to be above men or winning over men, it’s about an even playing field, on where women and men have equal opportunities.”

Closer to home, Favel said it was apparent in the number of women running businesses, working in the professions and in top jobs, that women were taking the opportunities equality offered.

As well as having its first female mayor, Ashburton has four female district councillors.

That’s a long way from the days when women were said to be too emotional to be part of a council or where women were not welcome in council chambers because they would be a distraction to men.

If women were allowed in the chamber, they had to be plain women, she said.

Favel was in Wellington yesterday for the Celebration of Suffrage 125 launch which was attended by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy.

Today and tomorrow she will be attending a meeting of rural and provincial mayors.

By Sue Newman © The Ashburton Guardian - 8 March 2018