Rosemary Yolande Levinge Seymour was a sociologist who had a progressive influence on Women's studies. She was the daughter of Mabel and Walter Seymour, and the wife of the late William Arthur Sewell.
Seymour first studied English literature at Auckland University College and later moved into the Social Science field. In 1981, she earned her PhD for her doctoral thesis titled Women at stake: ideological cross-currents in misogyny and philogyny. Seymour was instrumental in helping to establish the Sociology Department at the University of Waikato and the first Women's Studies Department in New Zealand.
In 1985, her son Dr William Sewell presented 220 boxes of Dr Seymour's papers with the majority of the content centring on women's studies.