NZ’s first female lawyer
Ahigh achiever from a young age, Ethel Rebecca Benjamin – born in Dunedin on January 19, 1875 – excelled during her school years at Otago Girls’ High School, so much so that she was awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Otago.
While the university had, in 1871, become the first institution in Australasia and the United Kingdom to open all its classes to women, the legal profession was still not open to females at the time of her enrolment.
By her own admission, when interviewed in 1897, Benjamin was unsure that she would ever be able to use the degree she was seeking to obtain.
‘‘It is true that the legal profession was not then open to women, and that the franchise had not yet been granted, but I had faith that a colony so liberal as our own would not long tolerate such purely artificial barriers. I, therefore, entered on my studies with a light heart, feeling sure that I should not long be debarred from the use of any degree I might obtain.’’
Benjamin graduated in 1897, having achieved outstanding marks in her course. Fortunately for her, just a year earlier, the Female Law Practitioners Act was passed, allowing Benjamin to be admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand in May 1897.
‘‘She was amazing, no doubt, but the difference between Ethel and other first female lawyers around the Commonwealth was that she actually didn’t have to fight for the right to be admitted. However, she pretty much had to be very independent in her practice in The Ethel Benjamin Scholarship has been awarded to more than 30 outstanding New Zealand women law graduates for post-graduate study, enabling them to study at some of the most prestigious universities in the world, including Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, New York and Columbia.
The scholarship, administered by the New Zealand Law Foundation, will celebrate its 20th year with a winner set to be announced in the next few weeks. Additionally, each year since 1997, the Otago Women Lawyers Society (OWLS) has presented the Ethel Benjamin Commemorative Address.
The primary objectives of this address are to honour and preserve the pioneering spirit possessed by Benjamin, to encourage education and achievement in the women of today, and to stimulate debate about issues affecting social justice and gender. Dunedin and she had some very interesting experiences down there,’’ current Law Commissioner Donna Buckingham said.
Buckingham, who is on the judging panel for the Ethel Benjamin Scholarship, said it was important to honour Benjamin’s legacy.
‘‘People may say ‘why do we need a women’s only scholarship?’ but we need legal heroines as well as legal heroes and, of course, she [Benjamin] is one of ours.
‘‘I think she would be interested to know, a century later, that there are two things that are done in her name.’’
After becoming the country’s first female lawyer, Benjamin made history again, becoming the first woman in the British Empire to appear as counsel in court, representing a client for the recovery of a debt.
Earlier this year, the Dunedin Law Courts building reopened after a $20 million upgrade and while many parts have been updated, an original toilet used by Benjamin remains. It was, and is still, referred to as Ethel Benjamin’s toilet.