With the suffrage anniversary this week, an advocate says we still have a way to go when it comes to women's rights.

This Wednesday will mark 125 years of suffrage for New Zealand women.

Dame Margaret Sparrow has been the main voice in advocacy for women's reproductive rights in the country.

Her list of achievements include helping to open the first abortion clinic, reforming abortion law and introducing the emergency contraceptive pill.

Dame Margaret says she's seen huge progress being made in her lifetime but there's still more that can be done.

"We could still make some methods of contraception more accessible to people," she says

"And certainly we could make more improvements in our abortion services, such as taking it out of the Crimes Act."

The 83-year-old says they had to send people to Australia before she helped to open the first clinic in the country.

The topic is still as relevant as ever, Dame Margaret says, as we need to protect women from unsafe procedures.

"If you don't provide good, safe, easily accessible medical procedures other people will exploit that and we'll get back to having backstreet abortions."