WRNZAF recruitment poster

‘A modern career for a modern woman’: Cover of recruitment booklet for the Women’s Royal New Zealand Air Force (WRNZAF), 1955.

In 1977 the WRNZAF was integrated into the RNZAF as part of a broad policy shift by the New Zealand military. Prompted by staff shortages and accelerated by the passing of the Human Rights Commission Act 1977, the change radically reshaped the air force. Women gained equal pay, equal rights to accident compensation and superannuation and access to more trades and training. Some restrictions remained – aircrew positions remained male-only and women were denied combat roles. Further changes in the 1980s allowed women to become non-combatant aircrew, and the first New Zealand woman gained her ‘wings’ as a pilot in 1988. Today women in the RNZAF have access to all ranks and trades and to all overseas postings.