Geraldine McDonald CNZM (née Player; 13 May 1926 – 26 November 2018) was a New Zealand academic and teacher. She was a pioneer of research into women's education and early childhood education, and advocated for women and girls throughout her life. After an early teaching career, she completed her doctoral thesis on the development of preschool-aged Māori children, and began working for the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Throughout her later career she ran and chaired various organisations including the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation and the New Zealand Association for Research in Education, and was influential in government policy on early childhood education.