Auckland, New Zealand – Numbers speak volumes, and in the Pacific, they tell a concerning story: less than 7 percent of parliamentarians are women.

Serving as the impetus for further collective action, women leaders from parliaments across the Pacific have convened on Auckland for the Pacific Women in Power Forum.

One of the widest smiles at the front of the National Party’s first group photo belonged to 32-year-old Katie Nimon, the new MP for Napier who not only took the seat from the Labour Party, but is the first woman to hold it.

The achievement is a testament to the fact people can succeed in politics regardless of their background, she said. “I have been myself this entire time.”

The youngest MP in 170 years is Te Pāti Māori's Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, aged 21, who won the Hauraki-Waikato electorate.

"To see young Māori wahine is so inspirational," she said.

Regardless of your political compass, New Zealand will be sure of one thing on Sunday morning: our young female candidates have shown they were the real winners of the election.

Making headway in tight races, and leaving a mark in New Zealand’s political history, these candidates from many of our major and minor parties saw massive success on Saturday night.

In practice debates before previous New Zealand elections, Nicola Willis used to play the role of formidable female politicians.

She acted the parts of Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern when preparing the leaders of her National Party for their head-to-head clashes during the 2008 and 2017 campaigns.

Now she’s getting ready to become a political heavyweight herself.

The country had elected its most diverse parliament ever under former prime minister Jacinda Ardern in 2020, significantly boosting numbers of female, Māori and LBGTQ+ members. Now, it has reached gender parity at the decision-making table of cabinet, the body of senior ministers responsible for most important policy, legislative and spending decisions.

The daughter of an abattoir worker and fruit picker, Sepuloni could have exactly the expertise the PM needs to tackle a brutal cost of living crisis

C armel Sepuloni admits her father, who arrived from Samoa in 1964 unable to speak English, had difficulty taking in the news that his daughter was shortly to become New Zealand’s first Pasifika deputy prime minister.