Harpies and Heroines - A Cartoon History of Women's Changing Roles

New Zealand Cartoon Archive, 2003. 96 pages.

There's been a revolution in the lives of New Zealand women in the 110 years since they gained the vote. 'Harpies and Heroines' tells that story, in cartoons and text, as women have travelled the often bumpy road from economic dependence to emancipation and from the traditional domestic confines to the most public of roles.
The cartoonists, mostly male, have depicted women as simpering misses, grim-faced bluestockings, battle-axe wives, flirtatious sirens, household drudges and inept money managers with frivolous preoccupations. Some balance has been provided by the contributions of women cartoonists to the feminist magazines of the 1970s.

'Harpies and Heroines' was researched, and the cartoons chosen, by Rachel Macfarlane and Cerridwyn Young of the New Zealand Cartoon Archive. The introductory essay was written by Wellington writer Dale Williams.