Dames in New Zealand: Gender, Representation And
Dames in New Zealand: Gender, Representation and the Royal Honours System, 1917-2000 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History in the University of Canterbury by Karen Fox University of Canterbury 2005 Contents Abstract List of Figures ii Abbreviations iii Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 Chapter One: 28 An elite male institution: reproducing British honours in New Zealand Chapter Two: 58 In her own right: feminism, ideas of femininity and titles for women Chapter Three: 89 The work of dames and knights: exceptional women and traditional images of the feminine Chapter Four: 119 The work of dames and knights: traditional patterns in honours and non traditional work for women Conclusion 148 Appendix One: 166 Honours awarded in New Zealand, 1917-2000 Appendix Two: 174 Database of titular honours, 1917-2000 Bibliography 210 19 MAY Z005 Abstract The New Zealand royal honours system, as a colonial reproduction of an elite British system with a white male norm, has been largely overlooked in all fields of scholarship. Yet, as a state expression of what is valued in society, honours provide a window into shifts in society. This study of dames and knights is undertaken in the context of the changes in the lives of New Zealand women in the twentieth century. Situated in a changing and shifting environment, the honours system has itself changed, influenced by the ebb and flow of the feminist movement, the decline of imperial and aristocratic forces, and New Zealand's evolving independence and identity. At the same time, the system has been in some respects static, slow to respond to charges of being an imperial anachronism, and, despite some change in what areas of service titles were granted for, remaining a gendered space focused on the traditionally male-dominated fields of politics, law and commerce.
[Show full text]