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Story: Women and men

Urban women and rural men

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Urban women and rural men

This map uses census data from 1916 to compare the number of men with the number of women in different parts of New Zealand in that year. Women congregated in towns, while men were found in greater numbers in rural areas. As a result, in urban areas the population was evenly balanced between men and women earlier than in the rest of the country.

Using this item

Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: New Zealand census, 1916

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How to cite this page

Charlotte Macdonald, Women and men – Colonial beginnings: 1840s–1880s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/29210/urban-women-and-rural-men (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Charlotte Macdonald, published 30 March 2011, updated 1 August 2017.