Public Trust employed some of the first women in Public Service from 1892, a year before women won the right to vote in New Zealand.
In 1892, Maud Harrap transferred from the Postal Department to the Public Trust Office as a short-hand typist and became the first woman on staff. Maud was joined later that year by Susan Dimant, and, in 1895, by Julia Skerrett and Emily Smythe, all as short-hand typists.
Elvie Mooney started working for Public Trust Auckland’s office in 1962 as a shorthand typist.
She left five years later to bring up her family and during her nine-year hiatus, she studied to upskill herself. She returned in 1976, joining the Takapuna branch and later becoming the first female District Public Trustee, based in Thames with five staff.
Mooney said that gumption was what gave her an advantage over others.
“There were opportunities in the State Services Commission, and, if you were willing and able, you could take them. I was never one to stand back, I put my hand up for anything going and was eager to learn.”
On Monday, 4 December 1978, a young Shona Devoy, straight from a secretarial course at Waiariki Community College, started as a typist at the Public Trust Office in Rotorua.
"We got to serve tea to the bosses in their rooms. Very menial stuff. We weren't allowed to wear trousers in the office. We weren't allowed to drive the office car, or anything like that," recalled Devoy.
From starting at Public Trust as a typist in 1978, having worked on the frontline as an estates officer, in management roles as Customer Centre Manager for Hamilton and Thames and as Area Manager for the Central Region, to today where Devoy holds a senior role as Service Quality Manager.
"I suppose the biggest change that I've seen is the change of the role for women in the organisation,” said Devoy.
Devoy recalled the ‘monumental’ moment when Elvie Mooney became the first woman to be appointed a District Public Trustee at Thames, describing it as a landmark.
In 1990, Public Trust’s adoption of an Equal Employment Opportunity policy recognised the need to increase the gender balance and ethnic diversity of staff to better serve New Zealand’s bi-cultural foundations and increasingly diverse society.
EEO Coordinator Deborah Mullis became the first woman on the senior executive team in 1995 and the following year Rhondda Murphy joined the executive team as Communications Manager and later General Manager of Communications and Marketing.
Today, the Public Trust workforce is 67% female and is led by its first female Chief Executive, Glenys Talivai.
