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# Kiwi As
- URL: https://goodoil.news/kiwi-as-51/
- Published: 2019-07-14T04:30:06.000Z
- Updated: 2019-07-20T02:58:43.000Z
- Author: WH
- Tags: Blog, NZ, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 04:14

In yet another Kiwi first, our ladies were blazing equality trails in academia and thus they join us as a keen individuals who inspire and surprise.

> \[In july 1877\] Kate Edger became the first woman in New Zealand to gain a university degree and the **first woman in the British Empire** to earn a Bachelor of Arts (BA).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/31/f4/31f4e20a-0315-499e-83ff-139e8eab53bf/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/kate_edger.jpg)

> She was soon joined by other pioneering New Zealand woman graduates. Helen Connon, Canterbury College’s first female student, graduated with a BA in 1880, and became the **first woman in the Empire** to graduate with an honours degree in 1881\. New Zealand’s first woman lawyer, Ethel Benjamin, graduated from the University of Otago’s law school in 1898.  
>  
> Stella Henderson achieved unusual academic distinction for a 19th-century woman, gaining a BA with a special focus on political science, a Masters of Arts (MA) with first-class honours in English and Latin, and completing the requirements for a Bachelor of Laws during the 1890s.  
>  
> Elizabeth Gregory graduated Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in biochemistry at University College, London, in 1932\. She received an honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) degree in 1967 – the **first New Zealand woman graduate to be so honoured.**  
>  
> [NZHistory](https://nzhistory.govt.nz/first-woman-graduates-from-new-zealand-university?ref=goodoil.news)