[1] Since 1896, members have agreed resolutions by majority vote at national conferences, which form policies for the NCWNZ's work.

Some early frictions arose because Anna Stout, the founder of the Women's Franchise League, had expected that she would be president of the organisation, given her husband's title and position as a leading politician in New Zealand, and indeed she had been offered that role by McLaren prior to the first meeting.

[4] Other founding members of the NCWNZ included: Margaret Sievwright, founder of the Gisborne branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union; Annie Schnackenberg, president of Woman's Christian Temperance Union during the suffrage campaign; Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain, president of Canterbury Women's Institute; and Ada Wells, a founder of the Canterbury Women's Institute.

[10] At its early meetings, the NCWNZ's resolutions focussed on the need for legal equality for men and women, in areas such as marriage and employment.

The NCWNZ resolved that women should be eligible for election to Parliament, appointment as police officers and for jury service.

It also made various resolutions to support the moral reform of society; for example, that the age of consent be raised, that homes be established for alcoholics, that the liquor laws be more strongly enforced, that children be freely educated for longer and that capital punishment be abolished.

[5] The NCWNZ had some early successes; for example, in 1896 new legislation raised the age of consent and permitted women to become lawyers, and in 1898 divorce conditions were made equal for both genders.

[1] Other ambitions took longer: women were not permitted to stand for Parliament until 1919 and equal pay was not made a legal requirement in the private sector until 1972.

[12] Ethel Benjamin, New Zealand's first female lawyer, also criticised the NCWNZ for passing resolutions unanimously after only superficial discussions.

Some New Zealand feminists continued to work with the International Council of Women, and Sheppard was elected as an honorary vice-president in 1909.

[13] The NCWNZ was revived when Sheppard, Jessie Mackay and Christina Henderson set up a preliminary committee and contacted prominent women around the country.

Women were still very firmly placed in the family context with much of their secondary schooling and in some cases even university education focusing on home sciences.

The Christchurch branch set up a programme to teach cookery to unemployed young women which produced meals for needy families.

[22] During World War II, the NCWNZ collected nearly 70 tons of food for Britain, after a suggestion of the Dunedin branch became a national initiative.

[27] Mavis Tiller, president from 1966 to 1970, was a key modernising figure; she enhanced the role of the Parliamentary Watch Committee, which became an effective advocate for women by making submissions on bills and discussion papers.

[28][29] Tiller's work to dispose of the 1966 resolution that the Council only make submissions to Parliament in exceptional circumstances led to a growth in importance and extended terms of reference for the Parliamentary Watch Committee.

The NCWNZ also experimented with different publications and methods of communicating with members: Between 1952 and 1958 the Christchurch-based New Zealand Women in Council was published.

[32] It was said at the time that although the NCWNZ could be "disparaged by both the very conservative and the very radical", it remained the voice of thousands of New Zealand women, including groups who would not normally agree.

[25] In the late 1990s and early 2000s the NCWNZ continued its work monitoring debates, researching opinions and drafting submissions to Parliament and other bodies on its core interests of health, social justice and equality.

NCWNZ adjusted its constitution to accommodate individual as well as organisational membership, and focussed its attention on aligning with government and with overseas forums such as the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, for which it produced an NGO Alternate Report.

[33] In 2015 the NCWNZ published a white paper, Enabling Women's Potential, which made twelve recommendations for action to achieve substantive equality in New Zealand.

President Vanisa Dhiru, said: "We are fighting for gender equality because we want all New Zealanders to have the freedom and opportunity to determine their own future.