37 Facts About Jenny Shipley

Jenny Shipley was the first female prime minister of New Zealand, and the first woman to lead the National Party.

Jenny Shipley grew up in rural Canterbury, and attended Marlborough Girls' College and the Christchurch College of Education.

Jenny Shipley was elected to Parliament at the 1987 election, winning the Ashburton electorate.

Jenny Shipley subsequently served as Minister of Social Welfare, Minister for Women's Affairs, Minister of Health, and Minister of Transport.

Jenny Shipley chafed at the government's slow pace, and in December 1997 convinced her National colleagues to support her as leader.

Bolger resigned as Prime Minister rather than face being voted out, and Jenny Shipley was elected as his replacement unopposed.

Jenny Shipley inherited an uneasy coalition with New Zealand First, led by Winston Peters.

The coalition was dissolved in August 1998, but Jenny Shipley was able to remain in power with the aid of Mauri Pacific, an NZ First splinter group.

Jenny Shipley continued as Leader of the Opposition until October 2001.

Jenny Shipley involved herself with business and charitable interests since leaving politics, and is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders.

Jenny Shipley was found liable for $9 million for her role in the financial failure of Mainzeal, a construction company.

Jenny Shipley's father was Rev Leonard Cameron Robson, a Presbyterian minister.

In 1973 she married Burton Jenny Shipley and settled in Ashburton.

When Bolger led the National Party to victory in the 1990 general election, Jenny Shipley was reelected in Rakaia, essentially a reconfigured Ashburton.

Jenny Shipley became Minister of Social Welfare, and served as Minister for Women's Affairs.

Jenny Shipley left the Women's Affairs portfolio and took on several others, including responsibility for state-owned enterprises and transport.

In 1993, Jenny Shipley was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.

Jenny Shipley grew increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with the cautious pace of the National-led government under Jim Bolger, and with what she saw as the disproportionate influence of New Zealand First.

Jenny Shipley began gathering support to replace Bolger in mid-1997.

Later that year, while Bolger attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Jenny Shipley convinced a majority of her National Party colleagues to back her bid for the leadership.

When Bolger returned to New Zealand, he discovered that Jenny Shipley had enough support in the party room to oust him.

On 21 May 1998 Jenny Shipley was appointed to the Privy Council, and was given the right to the style The Right Honourable for life.

Finally, on 14 August 1998, Jenny Shipley sacked Peters from Cabinet.

Jenny Shipley was nicknamed "the perfumed steamroller," when she first became prime minister.

Jenny Shipley met with the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, in one of only two state visits to New Zealand by a US president.

Jenny Shipley was the first Prime Minister to attend the gay and lesbian Hero Parade, being the first National Party leader to seek to make electoral overtures to the gay and lesbian voting public.

Jenny Shipley advocated lowering the alcohol purchase age from 20 to 18 and achieved this in 1999.

Jenny Shipley became a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers.

Jenny Shipley led the National Party into the 1999 election, hoping to become the first woman to be elected prime minister in her own right.

Jenny Shipley served as the Leader of the Opposition until October 2001, when Bill English took over as National Party leader.

Jenny Shipley suffered a heart attack in 2000, leading to an emergency angioplasty procedure.

Jenny Shipley made modifications to her lifestyle and lost weight, though she was diagnosed with diabetes in 2004.

Jenny Shipley resigned from the Bank's Board after being prosecuted for her role in the collapse of construction company Mainzeal.

In February 2019, the High Court of New Zealand found that the Mainzeal directors had breached their duty to avoid reckless trading and assessed their total liability at NZ$36 million, of which Jenny Shipley's share was assessed at NZ$6 million.

Jenny Shipley accepted redesignation as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit on 14 August 2009, following the reintroduction of titular honours by the Fifth National Government.

Jenny Shipley later started a charity to help a school she came across on that trip called the Namibian Educational Trust.

Jenny Shipley chaired Global Women NZ until 2015, and was replaced as Patron of the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre by Graeme Dingle in 2019, and was the New Zealand National Heart Foundation's campaign "Go Red for Women".