After completing a postgraduate diploma in household and social science from
King's College, London, Benson was appointed as a lecturer in chemistry and household and social economics in the School of Home Sciences at the
University of Otago from 1911. Benson was actively involved in the resettlement of refugees in New Zealand in the 1930s, and lectured on international affairs through the
Workers' Educational Association. From 1939 to 1948 she sat on the
University of New Zealand Senate, and was involved in the
National Council of Women of New Zealand, who she represented at an
International Council of Women meeting in Paris in 1934. Both Benson and her husband were members of the
Society of Friends. Together they represented New Zealand at the 1925
Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Japan. Benson died on 20 February 1964 in Dunedin, her husband having predeceased her in 1957. They had no children. ==Recognition==