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Helen Marsh, a former Green Party member, said Real - the Egalitarian Party of Aotearoa/ New Zealand - was not a "women's party" but was founded on the belief that its policies would enable the values of women and other under-represented groups to be heard.
"A lot of people, women especially, are feeling disenfranchised because there is no party which seems to be addressing the fundamental inequity in our society," Ms Marsh said.
She had been working on the philosophies of Real for six years and decided Suffrage Day was an appropriate time to launch the party, which to date has only one other member - her son Robert Marsh. "I would like to think I am following in the suffragist's footsteps, fighting for equality," she said.
She and her son would stand in Hamilton-area electorates this year but the party was unlikely to have a full field of candidates this election.
"We're not expecting there to be a rapidly building popular movement. Our policy is radically different and it will take people time to assess it."
"Real believed in a free-market economy with no government interference but wanted a change to the way property rights were defined so people had equal access to the market.
The party planned to reveal its policies in about a week, she said.