Suffrage Day

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With women currently holding the positions of Prime Minister, Chief Justice, leader of the opposition, and Attorney-General, it's hard to imagine a time when women did not even have the vote in New Zealand.

One hundred and eight years ago, on 19 September 1893, New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote. Women's Suffrage Day is remembered each year on 19 September. This hot topic highlights some history and provides some links to help with your plans to celebrate.

Worldwide movement
The call to give women the vote grew audible in the late eighteenth century as worldwide movements for moral reform and equality began to gain strength. In the US the women's movement gathered momentum in support of anti-slavery and temperance. In the 1860s women in Britain worked to claim married women's property rights, better career opportunities, and the vote.

John Stuart Mill presented a women's petition for suffrage to the British parliament in 1866 (which failed).

New Zealand
Women's rights gradually gained some ground throughout the last half of the nineteenth century. Girls' secondary schools were opened in New Zealand during the 1870s and women began to be allowed into universities. Kate Edger was the first female university graduate in New Zealand in 1877.

Women began making gains in the workforce, and the right of married women to their own property was guaranteed in 1884.

Suffrage
Momentum for women's suffrage began to gather when voting rights for women ratepayers in municipal elections were extended from Nelson and Otago to all the provinces in 1875.

The suffrage campaigners began to attract the support of politicians, among them William Fox, Alfred Saunders, and Robert Stout.

In 1879 all men over the age of twenty-one were granted the vote. What was needed to get women the vote was for the word "men" in the legislation to be changed to "persons". Various bills designed to give women the vote were introduced to Parliament, but failed, starting with Robert Stout's Electoral Bill in 1878, and followed by others in 1887, and the early 1890s.

The temperance movement
The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), started in America in the mid-1870s, reached Auckland in the form of Mary Leavitt in 1885. With the assistance of New Zealander Anne Ward, branches were quickly set up around New Zealand. Kate Sheppard headed the WCTU's legislation and franchise department from 1887.

In the early 1890s the WCTU broadened the base of their support to include working-class women and the elite as well as temperance supporters. The Women's Franchise Leagues, the Canterbury Women's Institute, and the WCTU began working together, organising heightened publicity and massive petitions supporting their cause.

The liquor lobby tried to counter the growing popularity of the suffrage movement by promoting anti-suffrage petitions in public houses. Richard Seddon also remained a staunch opponent of the WCTU and women's suffrage.

The showdown
Richard Seddon's opposition to the 1893 Electoral Bill, partially caused by his fear of losing the approaching election if women gained the vote, was concentrated in the Legislative Council.

In support of the bill, suffrage meetings were held all over the country, councillors were sent encouraging telegrams, and known supporters were given white camellias for their buttonholes.

The Legislative Council members were evenly divided on the bill. Seddon telegraphed one of the new councillors to convince him to vote against it. His move backfired and two councillors originally opposed to the bill changed their vote in response to Seddon's move.

On 8 September the bill was passed 20 to 18.

Opponents of the bill petitioned the Governor Lord Glasgow to withhold his consent, but he signed the bill into law on 19 September, ten weeks before the next general election.

As the New Zealand Herald commented at the time, "... the enfranchisement of women has been accomplished by her enemies".

Profile of Kate Sheppard
The New Zealand Edge site has a profile of Kate Sheppard (www.nzedge.com/heroes/sheppard.html) which includes extensive information about the moves to gain women the vote and what happened afterward.

Timeframes
The Timeframes website has been reviewed on TKI. It provides online access to a database of heritage images from the National Library of New Zealand's Alexander Turnbull Library (www.tki.org.nz/r/review/time_e.php).

NZHistory.net.nz
The NZHIstory site has general and Māori biographies and lists the content of the New Zealand Dictionary of Biography. A gallery profiles particular topics or events in New Zealand's history with photographs, paintings, maps, sound, and other media (www.nzhistory.net.nz/index.html). It has a section on women's suffrage (www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/Suffragists/SuffIntro.htm).

Women in Science
This website has information on a list of women scientists, categorised by time period and also by field, including biographies, photographs, an interactive quiz, and links to other sites about women in science (www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/4000WS.html).

Not For Ourselves Alone
This multimedia site uncovers the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, two key players in the suffrage movement in the United States. It includes historic documents and essays, takes a look at where women are today, and includes audio and video resources, classroom resources, and a forum. There is also a page for students with history-based games and activities (www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/).

Living the Legacy
This website presents the history of the women's rights movement in America from 1848 to 1998. It provides a timeline, curriculum ideas, and links to relevant organisations (www.legacy98.org/).

Daring to Resist
This website is based on the movie of three Jewish women who reflect on their lives as teenagers in Holland, Hungary and Poland during World War II when they refuse to remain passive in the face of the Holocaust. There are background notes, an interactive timeline, teachers guide, study questions, and photographs (www.pbs.org/daringtoresist/index.html).

Soroptimists
This is the website of Soroptimist International of the South West Pacific (SISWP). Soroptimists are women who work through a programme of service to advance human rights and status for women. The site has information about membership, projects and the clubs of SISWP (www.siswp.org/).

Australia
The State Library of South Australia has published a resource on women and politics in South Australia (www.slsa.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?area_id=15&nav_id=520).

United States
The votes for women photo library in the American Library of Congress contains images of marches, pickets, cartoons, and portraits of individuals involved in the US suffrage movement (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vfwhtml/vfwhome.html).

NZine
NZine has published articles on New Zealand women (www.nzine.co.nz/articles/New_Zealand_Women/) including a history of the suffrage movement.

Archives
Archives New Zealand has published an image of a women's suffrage petition from 1893 online (www.archives.govt.nz/holdings/petition_frame.html), which includes Kate Sheppard's signature.

Social Studies in the New Zealand Curriculum is available on TKI (www.tki.org.nz/r/socialscience/curriculum/index_e.php).