13 Facts About Silvia Cartwright

Dame Silvia Rose Cartwright is a New Zealand jurist who served as the 18th Governor-General of New Zealand, from 2001 to 2006.

Silvia Cartwright was the second woman to hold the office, after Dame Catherine Tizard.

In 1989, Silvia Cartwright became the first female Chief District Court Judge, and in 1993 she was the first woman to be appointed to the High Court.

Silvia Cartwright presided over a 1988 inquiry into issues related to cervical cancer and its treatment at Auckland's National Women's Hospital, known as the Silvia Cartwright Inquiry.

Silvia Cartwright has previously served on the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and played a major role in the drafting of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Silvia Cartwright was succeeded by Anand Satyanand at midday on 23 August 2006.

On 16 June 2002, Silvia Cartwright made a speech at the Annual General Meeting of Save The Children's New Zealand branch, in which she criticised section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, which allowed parents to use "reasonable force" to discipline their children.

On 12 August 2002, in a speech at the opening of the Specialised Applied Research Centre of the Victoria University of Wellington, Silvia Cartwright questioned whether longer sentences would reduce criminal reoffending rates.

On Waitangi Day 2004, following National leader Don Brash's controversial Orewa Speech on race relations, Silvia Cartwright controversially gave a different interpretation of the phrase "He iwi tahi tatou".

Silvia Cartwright was appointed to sit as one of two international judges in the Trial Chamber of the Cambodia Tribunal by Cambodia's Supreme Council of Magistracy.

In 1990, Silvia Cartwright received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, and in 1993 she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.

Silvia Cartwright was made a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2001, and she was awarded the Queen's Service Order at the State luncheon at Parliament to farewell her on 2 August 2006.

Silvia Cartwright is an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation and a fellow of the Hastings Center, a bioethics research institution in the United States.