Ettie Rout was born in Tasmania, but her family moved to New Zealand when she was seven. A promising school career was cut short by family financial stress, so she learned shorthand and typing. She was one of the first women to take Supreme Court evidence, gaining an insight into a wide range of social issues. A born non-conformist, Ettie Rout was a physical culture enthusiast and quickly adopted unconventional (and uncorseted) dress to suit her active way of life. She became a committed socialist, and got involved in the labour movement when she reported the proceedings of an inquiry into farm labourers’ working conditions. In 1910 she was the founding editor of the left-wing newspaper, the Màoriland Worker.

In 1915 Ettie Rout established the New Zealand Volunteer Sisterhood to go overseas and work among the troops. Shocked by the appalling incidence and impact of venereal disease, she learned all she could about prophylactic methods and set out to promote “safe sex”to both the military authorities and the troops themselves. Although her concern for the well-being of soldiers extended to other rest and recreation services, it is for her courageous and outspoken efforts to achieve sexual health that she is most widely remembered. Her prophylactic kit was adopted by the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1917, but all mention of her was banned from New Zealand’s press. After the war she remained in London, continuing to promote sexual and physical health, and was acknowledged by her own country only many years after her death.