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Trailblazers
Ettie Rout: Sexual Health Pioneer
Shunned in New Zealand during the First World War, Ettie Rout was celebrated in France for her work.
Ettie Rout was years ahead of her time for her work with soldiers in the First World War promoting safe sex. In New Zealand she was shunned publicly for this and it was more than 100 years later that her contribution was officially recognised in her home country.
Rout set up the New Zealand Volunteer Sisterhood during the Gallipoli campaign and encouraged women aged 30 to 50 to travel to support the troops. Her work in Egypt and later Paris amongst servicemen was celebrated by the French, however the Government banned newspapers from mentioning her name due to the condemnation of her sexual health advocacy.
Rout worked to provide soldiers with safe sex kits, hygienic brothels and early treatment for venereal diseases and conditions, ultimately saving many lives within the New Zealand and Australian troops (ANZAC) in WWI. These sexually transmitted diseases affected thousands of soldiers and Rout argued the issue was a medical one not a moral problem.
She teamed up with French venereologist Dr Jean Tissot to open a safe brothel. Rout would meet the trains carrying troops in Paris and advise them of the safe brothel that had been set up. Tissot described Rout as a “a real guardian angel of the ANZACs”.
In Aotearoa, however, Rout's work was not so highly regarded; in the Ashburton Guardian in 1918, the Women's Christian Temperance Union shared their thoughts on Rout's work. “[The Union] expresses its utter abhorrence, in implying that the New Zealand boys must be supplied with remedies to make wrong-doing safe and sin easy.”
A bishop speaking in the House of Lords said Rout was “the most wicked woman in Britain”.
Managing Director of the New Zealand Remembrance Army (NZRA) Simon Strombom said Rout is perhaps one of the most unvalued New Zealanders. Recognising her work is a focus of the NZRA in 2024.
“Despite criticism and controversy for her work, with even large fines being threatened to the media at the time, if her work was reported, her efforts greatly reduced transmission amongst soldiers, saving countless lives which is what the NZRA recognises her for,” Strombom said
"The soldiers loved Ettie. She became a celebrity in the New Zealand Division at the time, seen as a mother figure by the thousands of Kiwi lads overseas fighting in France and known by all,” Strombom said.
In 1917 Rout realised venereal disease was a continued problem amongst soldiers and that the New Zealand Medical Corps had not taken preventative measures, she travelled to London to progress her cause.
Rout conducted research amongst the prominent doctors in this emerging field and designed her own prophylactic kit. These were sold at Hornchurch near the New Zealand Convalescent Hospital to the New Zealand Medical Soldiers Club.
At the end of 1917 the New Zealand military finally adopted her safe sex kit for compulsory distribution.
Ettie Rout died in 1936 aged 59 in Rarotonga from an overdose of quinine. In 2023 the New Zealand and Cook Islands Remembrance Army paid tribute with a plaque on her grave.
Earlier this year the New Zealand Remembrance Army presented a portrait of Rout by former New Zealand Army artist Matt Gauldie to the Speaker of the House for the Parliamentary collection. This special event was attended by the Rout family.
The New Zealand Sexual Health Society Incorporated, a group for professionals working or interested in sexual health, features Rout prominently on their website - signalling her pioneering status in the field.