> > Ooo. Good thing to use as current events tomorrow in history class. On a sort of related subject, I just learned yesterday that New Zealand was one of the first countries who had workers compensation. One of those things you just learn when you're supposed to be working on something else.
> >
> > ~x~Band-"Wonder what else they've done..."Aids~x~
>
> They were the first country in the world to introduce an 8-hour working day, they had the British Empire's first female mayor (Elizabeth Yates, Mayor of Onehunga, 1894), but perhaps most importantly, they invented the automatic sheep-shearer.

We also had the world's first transsexual mayor (Georgina Beyer, 1995, now a member of Parliament) and if you really want to stretch the equal-rights issue, I suppose you could also mention that we have had two female Prime Ministers in a row now, and during the first one's tenure, the four most powerful political offices in the country (PM, leader of the opposition, Governor General and Chief Justice or whatever that role is called) were all held by women.

Personally I don't find the equal-rights issue worth stretching, as I don't see how anybody can say it's still BEEN an issue since maybe the '70s. The only people who still keep harping on how great/terrible this is, back home, are the people who write letters to the editor in the newspapers.

Brunnen-"and we all know how out of touch THOSE people are"G