{{short description|New Zealand politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = |name = Colleen Dewe |honorific_suffix = |image = |caption = |constituency_MP3 = Lyttelton |term_start3 = 1975 |term_end3 = 1978 |predecessor3 = Tom McGuigan |successor3 = Ann Hercus |parliament3 = New Zealand |birth_date = 30 May 1930 |birth_place = Hokitika |death_date = {{death date and age|1993|5|22|1930|5|30|df=y}} |death_place = Dunedin |party = National |profession = Chartered Accountant }} '''Colleen Elizabeth Dewe''' (30 May 1930 – 22 May 1993) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. She and Marilyn Waring were the 14th and 15th women elected to the New Zealand Parliament, and she represented the Lyttelton electorate for one parliamentary term from 1975 until her defeat in 1978.
==Early life== Dewe was born in Hokitika in 1930. Her father was Leonard George Reginald Dewe and her mother was Marjory Dewe (née Armstrong; married 1922). She received her education at the Christchurch Normal School, at Christchurch West High School, and at the University of Canterbury. She was an Associate Chartered Accountant.<ref name="Who's Who">{{cite book |title=Who's Who in New Zealand, 1978 |editor-last=Traue |editor-first=James Edward |editor-link=Jim Traue |year=1978 |edition=11th |publisher=Reed Publishing |location=Wellington | page=99}}</ref>
==Professional life== Dewe was head clerk for the Christchurch company Lake & Lake from 1956 to 1958. From 1958 to 1963, she was an accountant and secretary for Flight Equipment Ltd in the United Kingdom. She was office manager for Lawrence, Godfrey & Company in Christchurch from 1964 to 1975.<ref name="Who's Who" />
==Political career== {{NZ parlbox header|nolist=true|align=left}} {{NZ parlbox |start = {{NZ election link year|1975}} |end = 1978 |term = 38th |electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Lyttelton}} |party = New Zealand National Party }} {{End}} She represented the Lyttelton electorate from 1975 to 1978, when she was defeated by Ann Hercus.<ref name="Wilson">{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= Jim | author-link=Jim Wilson (librarian) |title= New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4 |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher= V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc= 154283103 |page=192}}</ref> She told fellow MP Marilyn Waring that she had never been subject to discrimination throughout her life, to which Waring asked whether she had ever attended one of the dinners of the annual New Zealand Accountants conference. Those dinners were for men only, and Waring believes that Dewe never stated again that she wasn't a feminist.<ref>{{cite news |title=Raw data: Marilyn Waring's International Women's Day speech: 'Get some guts and join the right side'|url=https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/raw-data-marilyn-warings-international-womens-day-speech-get-some-guts-and-join-right-side|access-date=14 May 2017|work=National Business Review |date=9 March 2015}}</ref> Dewe was a resident of Sumner while she was an MP.<ref name="Who's Who" />
==Later life== After her defeat in 1978, she was appointed as Deputy Chair of the Commerce Commission, filling the vacancy left as a result of Ann Hercus being elected to Parliament. She retired from the Commerce Commission in 1988.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}} She served as the chairwoman of the Advisory Committee of Women's Affairs from 1980 to 1984 and lead the New Zealand delegation to the 1980 Vienna conference on the status of women. She was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, and the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal in 1990.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Alister |last2=Coddington |first2=Deborah |author-link1=Alister Taylor |author-link2=Deborah Coddington |title=Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand |year=1994 |publisher=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa |location=Auckland |isbn=0-908578-34-2 |page=121}}</ref> Dewe was awarded a Fellowship of the Society of Accountants in 1982 for her lifelong interest in accountancy.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
==References== {{Reflist}} *{{cite news | title=Obituary | page=13 | date=24 May 1993 | work=The Evening Post | location=Wellington}} *{{cite news | title=Images of a Political Sister | last=Waring | first=Marilyn | work=The Press | page=12 | date=27 May 1993 | location=Christchurch}} *{{cite book | title=Women In The House: Members of Parliament in New Zealand | first=Janet | last=McCallum | publisher=Cape Catley | year=1993 | isbn=0-908561-41-5 |author-link=Janet McCallum (writer)}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par | nz}} {{s-bef | before = Tom McGuigan}} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Lyttelton |years=1975–1978}} {{s-aft | after = Ann Hercus}} {{end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewe, Colleen}} Category:1930 births Category:1993 deaths Category:People educated at Christchurch West High School Category:New Zealand National Party MPs Category:Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Category:New Zealand MPs for Christchurch electorates Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Category:20th-century New Zealand politicians Category:20th-century New Zealand women politicians Category:University of Canterbury alumni Category:New Zealand accountants Category:New Zealand women accountants Category:People from Hokitika