Women's suffrage was an important political issue in the late-nineteenth-century New Zealand. In early colonial New Zealand, as in European societies, women were excluded from any involvement in politics. Public opinion began to change in the latter half of the nineteenth century and after years of effort by women's suffrage campaigners, led by Kate Sheppard, New Zealand became the first nation in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.[1]
In the 21st century, there are more eligible female voters than male, and women also vote at a higher rate than men.[3] However, a higher percentage of female than male non-voters perceive a barrier that prevents them from voting.[4]
Early campaign
In both Polynesian society and European aristocracy, women could achieve significant formal political rank through ancestry.[5] However, Polynesian and by extension Māori society differed in letting charismatic women have significant direct influence.[6][7] This was limited by the inability of women to speak at some meetings on marae (community houses). As a result, some historians see colonialism as a temporary step back for women's rights in New Zealand.[8]
The New Zealand suffrage movement began in the late 19th century, inspired by similar groups in the British Empire and United States.[9] The right to vote was largely sought as a way to improve social morality and, by extension, improve women's safety and quality of life. Therefore, the suffrage campaigns were intertwined with the prohibition of alcohol movement. This was the focus of some resistance, with the movement being often portrayed as puritanical and draconian in the local press. This also led to politicians who supported the alcohol industry opposing women's suffrage, like the MP for South Dunedin Henry Fish.[10]
In 1869, under a pseudonym, Mary Müller wrote An appeal to the men of New Zealand, the first pamphlet on the issue of women's suffrage to be published in New Zealand.[11] In the 1870s, Mary Ann Colclough (Polly Plum) was an active advocate for women's rights in general and women's suffrage.[12]John Larkins Cheese Richardson was a keen proponent of women's equality, he was responsible for allowing women to enroll at the University of Otago in 1871, and helped to remove other barriers to their entry.[13] Some politicians, including John Hall, Robert Stout, Julius Vogel, William Fox and John Ballance, also supported women's suffrage and in 1878, 1879 and 1887 bills extending the vote to women were narrowly defeated in Parliament.[9]
Successful campaign
Women's suffrage was granted after about two decades of campaigning throughout New Zealand by women. The New Zealand branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) led by Anne Ward (1886–1887), Emma Packe (1887–1889), Catherine Fulton (1889–1892), and Annie Jane Schnackenberg (1892–1900) was particularly instrumental in the campaign. Influenced by the American Frances Willard of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the philosophy of thinkers like Harriet Taylor Mill and John Stuart Mill, the movement argued that women could bring morality into democratic politics.[14]Kate Sheppard, a WCTU NZ activist, was a leading advocate for political action for women's rights. Opponents argued instead that politics was outside women's 'natural sphere' of the home and family. Suffrage advocates countered that allowing women to vote would encourage policies which protected and nurtured families.[9]
Suffragists in WCTU, Political Franchise Leagues and trade unions organised a series of petitions to Parliament: over 9,000 signatures were delivered in 1891, followed by a petition of almost 20,000 signatures in 1892, and finally in 1893 nearly 32,000 signatures were presented – almost a quarter of the adult European female population of New Zealand.[14]
An 1893 cartoon depicting William Rolleston urging women to vote for the Conservative Party to whom they "owe the franchise".
From 1887, several attempts were made to pass bills enabling female suffrage, the first of which was authored by Julius Vogel, the 8th Premier of New Zealand. Each bill came close to passing. Various electoral bills that would have given adult women the right to vote were passed in the House of Representatives but were never ratified by the Legislative Council.[citation needed]
In 1891, Walter Carncross moved an amendment that was intended to make a new bill fail in the Legislative Council. His amendment was for women to become eligible to be voted into the House of Representatives and in this way Carncross ensured that the conservative Upper House would reject the bill. This tactic infuriated the suffragist Catherine Fulton, who organised a protest at the 1893 election.[15] An 1892 Electoral Bill, supported by John Ballance, would have provided for the enfranchisement of all women, yet was delayed due to Ballance believing "the majority of women were politically uneducated and that their vote in the coming election would not be to the Liberals' [his party's] advantage".[16]
By 1893 there was considerable popular support for women's suffrage. The 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition was presented to Parliament and a new Electoral Bill passed through the Lower House with a large majority. During debate, there was majority support for the enfranchisement of Māori as well as Pākehā women; the inclusion of Māori women was championed by John Shera, who was married to a woman of Māori and European descent.[17] Lobbyists for the liquor industry, concerned that women would force the prohibition of alcohol, petitioned the Upper House to reject the bill. Suffragists responded with mass rallies and telegrams to Members of Parliament. They gave their supporters in Parliament white camellias to wear in their buttonholes. The Upper House was divided on the issue, and PremierRichard Seddon hoped to stop the bill.[18]
Seddon needed one more vote to defeat the measure in the Upper House. A new Liberal Party councillor, Thomas Kelly, had decided to vote in favour of the measure, but Seddon obtained his consent by wire to change his vote. Seddon's manipulation incensed two other councillors William Reynolds and Edward Cephas John Stevens, so they changed sides and voted for the bill, allowing it to pass by 20 votes to 18 on 8 September 1893. The two opposition councillors had been opposed to women's suffrage without the 'electoral rights' safeguard of postal voting, seen as necessary to allow all women in isolated rural areas to vote, although seen by the Liberals as rendering the vote open to manipulation by husbands or employers.[18]
Eighteen legislative councillors petitioned the new governor, Lord Glasgow, to withhold his consent in enacting the law, but on 19 September 1893 the governor consented and the Electoral Act 1893 gave all women in New Zealand the right to vote.[1]
Both the Liberal government and the opposition subsequently claimed credit for the enfranchisement of women and sought women's newly acquired votes on these grounds.[19]
In 1893, Elizabeth Yates became the first woman in the British Empire to become mayor, though she held the post in Onehunga, a city now part of Auckland, for only about a year.[21] In 1926, Margaret Magill, an openly lesbian teacher and school administrator[22] was elected to serve on the executive board of the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI). She became president of the organisation in 1933, and her election to that post marked the first time it had been held by a woman.[23][24]
In 1989 Helen Clark became the first female Deputy Prime Minister. In 1997, the then-current Prime Minister Jim Bolger lost the support of the National Party and was replaced by Jenny Shipley, making her the first female Prime Minister of New Zealand. In 1999, Clark became the second female Prime Minister of New Zealand, and the first woman to gain the position at an election. In 2017, Jacinda Ardern became the third female Prime Minister of New Zealand, and the second woman to gain the position at an election.[29][30]
The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 was authorised by the Queen by Royal Warrant dated 1 July 1993, and was awarded to 546 selected persons in recognition of their contribution to the rights of women in New Zealand or to women's issues in New Zealand or both.[31]
John Ballance was an Irish-born New Zealand politician who served as the 14th premier of New Zealand from January 1891 until his death in April 1893. Elected Leader of the Opposition in 1889, he led liberal factions to victory in the election of 1890. After the election he would form the Liberal Party, New Zealand's first formal political party. Ballance supported women's suffrage and land reform. As a Georgist, he introduced a land tax to New Zealand.
Richard John Seddon was a New Zealand politician who served as the 15th premier of New Zealand from 1893 until his death. In office for thirteen years, he is to date New Zealand's longest-serving head of government.
Sir Julius Vogel was the eighth premier of New Zealand. His administration is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works. He was the first Jewish prime minister of New Zealand. Historian Warwick R. Armstrong assesses Vogel's strengths and weaknesses:
Vogel's politics were like his nature, imaginative – and occasionally brilliant – but reckless and speculative. He was an excellent policymaker but he needed a strong leader to restrain him....Yet Vogel had vision. He saw New Zealand as a potential 'Britain of the South Seas', strong both in agriculture and in industry, and inhabited by a large and flourishing population.
Katherine Wilson Sheppard was the most prominent member of the women's suffrage movement in New Zealand and the country's most famous suffragist. Born in Liverpool, England, she emigrated to New Zealand with her family in 1868. There she became an active member of various religious and social organisations, including the Women's Christian Temperance Union New Zealand. In 1887 she was appointed the WCTU NZ's National Superintendent for Franchise and Legislation, a position she used to advance the cause of women's suffrage in New Zealand.
Elizabeth Reid McCombs was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party who in 1933 became the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament. New Zealand women gained the right to vote in 1893, though were not allowed to stand for the House of Representatives until the election of 1919. McCombs had previously contested elections in 1928 and 1931.
Tini "Whetu" Marama Tirikatene-Sullivan was a New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1967 to 1996, representing the Labour Party and was New Zealand’s first Māori woman cabinet minister. At the time of her retirement, she was the second longest-serving MP in Parliament, being in her tenth term of office. She was one of twenty holders of the Order of New Zealand, the highest honour of the country.
The 1893 New Zealand general election was held on 28 November and 20 December in the European and Māori electorates, respectively, to elect 74 MPs to the 12th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The election was won by the Liberal Party, and Richard Seddon became prime minister.
Voting in New Zealand was introduced after colonisation by Britain. The first New Zealand Constitution Act was passed in 1852, and the first parliamentary elections were held the following year.
Catherine Campbell Stewart was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.
Mary Manson Dreaver was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. She was the third woman to sit in the New Zealand House of Representatives, one of the first two women to sit in the New Zealand Legislative Council, and the only woman to sit in both chambers.
The following lists events that happened during 1893 in New Zealand.
Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia was a campaigner for women's suffrage in New Zealand, who inspired future generations of Māori women.
Alfred Saunders was a New Zealand farmer, reformer, women's suffrage and temperance advocate and politician. He was Superintendent of Nelson Province and represented several electorate in the House of Representatives.
The National Council of Women of New Zealand was established in 1896, three years after women in New Zealand won the right to the vote, as an umbrella organisation uniting a number of different women's societies that existed in New Zealand at that time. Its founding president was Kate Sheppard, who had led the campaign for women's suffrage. The NCWNZ went into recess in 1906 but was reformed in 1919. As of 2021, the NCWNZ remains a leading and influential organisation that works to achieve gender equality in New Zealand. Since 1896, members have agreed resolutions by majority vote at national conferences, which form policies for the NCWNZ's work. These resolutions inform submissions made by the NCWNZ to Parliament, government departments and other organisations.
Feminism in New Zealand is a series of actions and a philosophy to advance rights for women in New Zealand. This can be seen to have taken place through parliament and legislation, and also by actions and role modelling by significant women and groups of people throughout New Zealand's history. The women's suffrage movement in New Zealand succeeded in 1893 when New Zealand became the first nation where all women were awarded the right to vote. New Zealand was also the first country in the world in which the five highest offices of power were held by women, which occurred between March 2005 and August 2006, with Queen Elizabeth II, Governor-General Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Margaret Wilson and Chief Justice Sian Elias.
The 1893 women's suffrage petition was the third of three petitions to the New Zealand Government in support of women's suffrage and resulted in the Electoral Act 1893, which gave women the right to vote in the 1893 general election. The 1893 petition was substantially larger than the 1891 petition, which had around 9,000 signatures, and larger still than the 1892 petition, which contained some 20,000 signatures. The third petition was the largest petition presented to Parliament at that point with nearly 32,000 signatures. The petition was signed in various parts of the country by women, aged 21 or older, who signed their names and addresses. At least 20 men also signed the petition.
Women in New Zealand are women who live in or are from New Zealand. Notably New Zealand was the first self-governing country in the world where women were entitled to vote. In recent times New Zealand has had many women in top leadership and government roles, including three female Prime Ministers, most recently Jacinda Ardern.
Ellen Ballance was a New Zealand suffragist and community leader. She was a vice-president of the Women's Progressive Society, an international suffrage organisation based in London, and the inaugural president of the Wanganui Women's Franchise League in 1893.
Women's Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand is a non-partisan, non-denominational, and non-profit organisation that is the oldest continuously active national organisation of women in New Zealand. The national organisation began in 1885 during the visit to New Zealand by Mary Clement Leavitt, the first world missionary for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. The WCTU NZ was an early branch of the World Woman's Christian Temperance Union and a founding affiliate of the National Council of Women of New Zealand. Men may join the WCTU NZ as honorary members.
↑ Gunson, Niel (1987). "Sacred women chiefs and female 'headmen' in Polynesian history". The Journal of Pacific History. 22 (3): 139–172. doi:10.1080/00223348708572563. JSTOR25168930.
↑ McLintock, Alexander Hare; R.F; Taonga, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu. "TraditionslSocial Structure". An encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, 1966. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
↑ Atkinson, Neill (4 December 2017). "Elizabeth Yates". New Zealand History. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
↑ Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. p.402. ISBN0-475-11200-8.
↑ Malcolm, Tessa (30 October 2012). "Sheppard, Katherine Wilson". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
↑ McLean, Gavin (October 2006). The Governors: New Zealand's Governors and Governors-General. Otago University Press. ISBN978-1-877372-25-4.
1 2 Skard, Torild (2014) "Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark" in Women of Power – Half a century of female presidents and prime ministers worldwide. Bristol: Policy Press, ISBN978-1-44731-578-0
Further reading
Dalziel, Raewynn. "Presenting the Enfranchisement of New Zealand Women Abroad" in Caroline Daley, and Melanie Nolan, eds. Suffrage and Beyond: International Feminist Perspectives (New York University Press, 1994) 42–64.
Grimshaw, Patricia. Women's Suffrage in New Zealand (1988), the standard scholarly study
Grimshaw, Patricia. "Women’s Suffrage in New Zealand Revisited: Writing from the Margins," Caroline Daley, and Melanie Nolan, eds. Suffrage and Beyond: International Feminist Perspectives (New York University Press, 1994) pp 25–41.
Markoff, John. "Margins, Centers, and Democracy: The Paradigmatic History of Women's Suffrage," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture & Society (2003) 29#1 pp 85–116. compares NZ with Cook Islands & Finland in JSTOR
Ramirez, Francisco O., Yasemin Soysal, and Suzanne Shanahan. "The Changing Logic of Political Citizenship: Cross-National Acquisition of Women’s Suffrage Rights, 1890 to 1990," American Sociological Review (1997) 62#5 pp 735–45. in JSTOR
Primary sources
Lovell-Smith, Margaret, ed. The Woman Question: Writings by the Women Who Won the Vote (Auckland: New Women's Press, 1992)
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