Yates was already involved in politics through her strong support of the women's suffrage movement, as well as participation in the debates of the Auckland Union Parliament.

[6][7] Earlier in 1893, after her husband had stood down from his post due to ill health in 1892, she had accepted the nomination for the office of mayor and in November defeated her opponent, F. W. Court, at the polls (also automatically becoming a Justice of the Peace) in a close race decided by only 13 votes.

Even her opponents conceded that she had been very effective during her short tenure, having liquidated the borough debt, established a sinking fund, reorganised the fire brigade, upgraded roads, footpaths and sanitation, and having personally lobbied the government to authorise the reopening of the Waikaraka cemetery.

Yates and her husband are the subjects in The World's First Lady Mayor, the second oldest surviving New Zealand film restored by Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision, which was shot by photographer Enos Pegler in 1900.

[12] Located on the corner of Onehunga Mall Road and Pearce Street, the mural was made by two local artists, Bobby MacDonald, Karlee Hirovaana-Nicholls.