Mabel Bowden Howard (18 April 1894 – 23 June 1972) was a well-known New Zealand
trade unionist
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...
and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
. She was the first woman secretary of a predominantly male union (the Canterbury General Labourers' Union).
She was a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for the
Labour Party from 1943 until 1969. In 1947 she became New Zealand's first woman
cabinet minister
A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, â ...
when she was made Minister of Health and Minister in charge of Child Welfare. She is remembered for waving two large pairs of
bloomers
Bloomers, also called the bloomer, the Turkish dress, the American dress, or simply reform dress, are divided women's garments for the lower body. They were developed in the 19th century as a healthful and comfortable alternative to the heavy, ...
in Parliament in support of her successful campaign to have clothing sizes standardised.
Early life
Mabel Howard was born in
Bowden Bowden may refer to:
Places Australia
* Bowden Island, one of the Family Islands in Queensland
* Bowden, South Australia, northwestern suburb of Adelaide
* Bowden railway station
Canada
* Bowden, Alberta, town in central Alberta
England
* Bowde ...
, near
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, Australia, on 18 April 1894. She moved to New Zealand with her father (
Ted Howard) and sisters after her mother, Harriet Garard Goring, died in 1903.
In 1908, after leaving school, she took a commercial course at the Christchurch Technical Institute.
Political career
Trade unions
Howard joined the Christchurch Socialist Party when still at the Christchurch Technical Institute. She entered the Trades Hall in 1911 as an office assistant for the Canterbury General Labourers' Union. In 1933, at the age of 39, she became the first woman to become secretary of a predominantly male union in New Zealand.
In 1942, she was appointed national secretary of the New Zealand Federated Labourers' Union and was again the first woman to hold such a position.
Local body politics
Between 1933 and 1968, Howard was a councillor for
Christchurch City Council
The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Mauger, who ...
for a total of 19 years: 1933–1935, 1938–1941, 1950–1958 and 1963–1968.
Howard also served on the Christchurch Drainage Board and North Canterbury Hospital Board.
Member of Parliament
Her father,
Ted Howard, was Member of Parliament for from 1919 until his death in 1939. Mabel Howard hoped to be chosen to stand for the after her father's death,
and although she had local support, the Labour Party chose
Christchurch mayor Robert Macfarlane.
In 1943, Mabel Howard was elected Member of Parliament for
Christchurch East
Christchurch East, originally called Christchurch City East, is a current New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first created for the and was abolished for two period, from 1875–1905 and again from 1946–1996. It was last created for ...
at a by-election, becoming the fifth
female MP.
She retained the seat at the 1943 general election, becoming the first woman MP to be re-elected.
In 1946 Mabel Howard became the Member of Parliament for the new electorate, winning 75.2 percent of the vote. This was an outstanding result; a reflection of the high regard in which she was held. Howard's concern was for "women, the aged, the sick and the unfortunate" (5 September 1944). In Parliament, she was a "forthright" representative for her people, stating "I stand here and say what I honestly believe" (September 1961).
In Parliament in 1954, she waved two pairs of bloomers that were both labelled OS in front of an astonished House. She demonstrated that, although clothing was supposed to be in standard sizes and correctly labelled, much variation existed. The two pieces were quite clearly of differing sizes. Although opposed by clothing manufacturers, she received much support from the House, including from
National Party members and standardisation was legislated.
On another occasion, she threw a stone onto the floor of Parliament to illustrate what buyers of bagged coal may find.
Before an election campaign in the early 1960s, she said she intended to campaign in a pair of slippers to demonstrate the difficulty in obtaining practical shoes for women: "Those offered all have extremely pointed toes and stiletto heels, which ruined footpaths and carpets".
Cabinet Minister
Howard became a
Cabinet Minister
A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, â ...
only four years after entering Parliament. In 1947, she became
Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
and Child Welfare; the first woman Cabinet Minister in the Commonwealth outside of Britain. When the Labour Party was returned to office in 1957, Howard again achieved Cabinet rank as
Minister of Social Security and Child Welfare and
Minister for the Welfare of Women and Children.
Harry Atmore
Harry Atmore (14 December 1870 – 20 August 1946) was a New Zealand Independent Member of Parliament for Nelson in the South Island.
Harry Atmore held the Nelson seat as an Independent for a total of thirty years from 1911 to 1914 and th ...
, the
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
MP for Nelson, recognised Mabel Howard's contribution to New Zealand: "She is a real advocate for the women of this country and with the experience she has had – much wider than ladies of her age usually have – she can speak with authority".
Howard advocated for equal rights for women, especially equal pay, and campaigned on many issues including social security, the cost of living and housing. She stated that she "worked like a slave". She is quoted as saying:
I was in politics for a purpose – my very life was politics. I suppose this was because I was more manly than most women; that’s why I never married.
Community service
She worked as a volunteer for many organisations, among them
St John's Ambulance and the
(RNZSPCA).
She successfully fought to enact the first Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Bill in 1960 and was president of the Canterbury branch of the RNZSPCA for nearly twenty years.
Later life
By the time the 1966 election campaign began Mabel Howard was clearly ill.
Mel Courtney
Melvyn Francis Courtney (born 2 October 1943) is a Nelson City Councillor and a former Labour then Independent Member of Parliament for Nelson, in the South Island of New Zealand.
Early life and family
Courtney was born in Christchurch on 2 ...
, a member of her campaign committee and later MP for Nelson (1976–81), ensured she was assisted at public appearances. Howard had helped his family in their hour of need and now he was helping her. Howard retired from politics at the 1969 election, after a lifetime of service to her community. The Labour Party had introduced a compulsory retirement age for MPs, which applied to Howard, who had already been showing signs of ageing. Once retired, she became increasingly isolated and paranoid, on top of the onset of
dementia
Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
and
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
that she had already suffered while still in Parliament. On a court order, she was eventually committed to
Sunnyside Hospital, a mental asylum. She died there on 23 June 1972.
She is buried with her father, Ted Howard, at
Bromley Cemetery
Bromley Cemetery is a cemetery in Christchurch, New Zealand. It occupies approximately 10 hectares to the east of the city centre, on the corner of Keighleys Road and Linwood Avenue. The Christchurch City Council maintains and administers the ce ...
in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, ÅŒtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
.
Notes
References
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*
External links
The Howard Papers. University of Otago Library: Hocken Collection
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Mabel
New Zealand Labour Party MPs
Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Christchurch City Councillors
Women government ministers of New Zealand
New Zealand trade unionists
Australian emigrants to New Zealand
1894 births
1972 deaths
New Zealand MPs for Christchurch electorates
Burials at Bromley Cemetery
20th-century New Zealand politicians
20th-century New Zealand women politicians
Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Members of district health boards in New Zealand