Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Rakaia Ashburton (1987–1990)
In office 15 August 1987 – 27 July 2002
Preceded by
Rob Talbot
Succeeded by
Brian Connell
Personal details
Born
Jennifer Mary Robson
(1952-02-04) 4 February 1952 (age 72) Gore, New Zealand
Political party
National
Spouse
Burton Shipley
(m. 1972)
Children
2
Dame Jennifer Mary ShipleyDNZM PC (née Robson; born 4 February 1952)[1] is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 36th prime minister of New Zealand from 1997 to 1999. She was the first female prime minister of New Zealand, and the first woman to have led the National Party.[2][3]
Shipley was born in Gore, Southland. She grew up in rural Canterbury, and attended Marlborough Girls' College and the Christchurch College of Education. Before entering politics, she worked as a schoolteacher and was involved with various community organisations. Shipley was elected to Parliament at the 1987 election, winning the Ashburton electorate (later renamed Rakaia). When the National Party returned to power in 1990, she was appointed to Cabinet under Jim Bolger. Shipley subsequently served as Minister of Social Welfare (1990–1996), Minister for Women's Affairs (1990–1996), Minister of Health (1993–1996), and Minister of Transport (1996–1997).
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 Shipley was elected as his replacement unopposed. She inherited an uneasy coalition with New Zealand First, led by Winston Peters. The coalition was dissolved in August 1998, but Shipley was able to remain in power with the aid of Mauri Pacific, an NZ First splinter group. At the 1999 election, her government was defeated by the Labour Party, led by Helen Clark. Shipley continued as Leader of the Opposition until October 2001. Shipley involved herself with business and charitable interests since leaving politics, and is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders. She was found liable for $9 million for her role in the financial failure of Mainzeal, a construction company.[4]
^"Jenny Shipley". New Zealand history online. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
^Skard, Torild (2014) "Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark" in Women of Power – Half a century of female presidents and prime ministers worldwide. Bristol: Policy Press, ISBN 978-1-44731-578-0
^"Judith Collins is new National Party leader, Gerry Brownlee her deputy". The New Zealand Herald. 14 July 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
^Rob Stock (25 August 2023). "Former prime minister Dame Jenny Shipley's Mainzeal Supreme Court appeal fails". Stuff. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
Privy Council and became The Right Honourable JennyShipley. Despite continued economic growth, the Shipley government became increasingly politically unstable...
coalition with the populist New Zealand First Party. National Party leader JennyShipley became New Zealand's first female prime minister in 1997; her government...
loss at the 1999 general election. In October 2001, English replaced JennyShipley as the leader of the National Party (and consequently as Leader of the...
as leader by his party caucus, and was replaced as prime minister by JennyShipley. After resigning as a Member of Parliament in 1998, Bolger became Ambassador...
opposition to the National-led government of Jim Bolger (1990–1997) and JennyShipley (1997–1999). Clark announced her first shadow cabinet on 13 December...
Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister JennyShipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour...
Zealand First. Following Bolger's resignation, the government was led by JennyShipley, the country's first female prime minister, for the final two years...
coalition dissolved in 1998 following the replacement of Bolger by JennyShipley as prime minister. In 1999, New Zealand First returned to opposition...
head of government for any independent nation in Oceania (following JennyShipley and Helen Clark of New Zealand and Julia Gillard of Australia). Heine...
judge in 1993. In 1997 JennyShipley became the first woman prime minister of New Zealand. Prior to becoming prime minister, Shipley held several portfolios...
politician. He served as the 14th deputy prime minister of New Zealand in JennyShipley's National Party government from August 1998 to December 1999. Creech...
Government of New Zealand, the New Zealand government led by Jim Bolger and JennyShipley respectively from 1990 to 1999 Fifth National Government of New Zealand...
proposal was backed by then Prime Minister JennyShipley. Along with the New Zealand Tourism Board, Shipley backed a white silver fern on a black background...
New Zealand political leader JennyShipley assembled a "shadow cabinet" within the National Party caucus after her election to the position of Leader...
Opposition. She was the second female leader of the National Party, after JennyShipley. She led the party to its second-worst defeat in the party's history...
discipline. This became increasingly the case after Transport Minister JennyShipley gained enough support within the National party room to force Bolger's...
In 1998 Prime Minister JennyShipley backed Cultural Affairs Minister Marie Hasler's call for the flag to be changed. Shipley, along with the New Zealand...
Putih Laksaur Mahidi Commanders and leaders John Howard Peter Cosgrove JennyShipley Helen Clark Sérgio Vieira de Mello Brig. Gen. Paulo Pereira Guerreiro...
Ashburton seat, plus part of the Selwyn seat. Won by former Ashburton MP JennyShipley (National). Waitakere – chiefly, the abolished seat of West Auckland...
MSc, 1955) John Key, 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand (BCom, 1983) JennyShipley, 36th Prime Minister of New Zealand (Christchurch Teachers College,...
He held later appointments under the premierships of Jim Bolger and JennyShipley as Minister of Housing, Minister of Immigration and Minister for Sport...
In 1998, Prime Minister JennyShipley backed Cultural Affairs Minister Marie Hasler's call for the flag to be changed. Shipley, along with the New Zealand...
"waka-jumping" entered the public consciousness in 1998 when then-Prime Minister JennyShipley expelled the New Zealand First party from the ruling coalition government...
Robert Muldoon (1974–1984) Jim McLay (1984–1986) Jim Bolger (1986–1997) JennyShipley (1997–2001) Bill English (2001–2003) Don Brash (2003–2006) John Key...
of Malta (2014–2019) Dilma Rousseff President of Brazil (2011–2016) JennyShipley Prime Minister of New Zealand (1997–1999) Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir Prime...
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