Since 1933 thirty-six women have been elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives. They have entered politics for diverse reasons and have adopted a variety of positions across the breadth of the political spectrum. Each has had her own experience and formed her own impressions of life in what remains an essentially male-dominated institution.

And yet, within this diversity, there is perhaps some sense of a common ground of a women's constituency which transcends electoral boundaries and crosses party lines.

In compiling this book, the editors have given the women MPs of the eighties and nineties a rare chance to speak for themselves, to go beyond the constraints of the sound-bite and reflect upon the interplay between their public and private lives. They talk freely about the way Parliament is run, about their individual philosophies, and about the difficulties facing anyone thinking of following in their footsteps.

They offer fresh perspectives on the Muldoon years and the turbulence of the Lange-Douglas era. And, above all, they present a series of shrewd, contrasted, and opinionated insights into life in and around the House as experienced by parliamentary women and their male colleagues. All of this ensures that Making Policy Not Tea is both compelling reading and a unique and timely contribution to New Zealand's political culture.