Jenny Shipley of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers. Shipley led the National Party into the 1999 election, hoping to become the first woman to be elected prime minister in her own right. However, she was defeated by the Labour Party, also led by a woman, Helen Clark. This election was a significant moment in history for New Zealand as it was the first (and to date, only) New Zealand election in which the leaders of both major parties were women. Shipley served as the Leader of the Opposition until
Helen Clark (British politician) Helen Clark (British politician) Helen Rosemary Clark, previously known as Helen Brinton, née Helen Rosemary Dyche, (b. 23 December 1954, Derby) is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was a Labour Member of Parliament for Peterborough from 1997 until the 2005 general election, when she lost her seat to Conservative Stewart Jackson. Clark went to Spondon Park Grammar School (became Spondon School in 1971 when merged with Spondon House School, and became West Park Community School in 1989) in Spondon, Derby. Clark was educated at the University of Bristol gaining a Hons 2/1 in English Literature, then an MA