Women in New Zealand, including Maori women, gained voting rights following a strong suffrage movement, an absence of entrenched conservative forces, growth in female education, women’s entry into paid employment, and a favorable political climate after a long depression. New Zealand women became the first women of any nation to gain suffrage rights and to vote in national elections.
In 1879, the government of New Zealand granted suffrage to all men; however, most women were not allowed to vote, even at the local level. From 1867 to 1875, only women ratepayers (taxpayers) could vote in municipal elections. In 1877, that right was somewhat extended when women householders were given the right to vote and to stand for school committees and educational boards.
As a former British colony, New Zealand derived its political system from British law. Similarly, women ratepayers in Great Britain could stand for and vote only in elections for local school boards since 1870, while suffrage was granted to male adults aged twenty-one and older. Women did not fare any better in Australia, another former British colony, even though the state of South Australia
The first New Zealand advocate of women’s rights and suffrage was British-born feminist writer Mary Ann Müller
A number of New Zealand politicians were sympathetic with women’s demand for the national-election vote. Before 1885, voting advocates had introduced electoral bills that included clauses to enfranchise women ratepayers and, eventually, all women. However, these attempts at legislation failed to pass either the New Zealand house of representatives or the conservative upper house, the legislative council.
Women in New Zealand did not have an organized voice for voting rights until the founding of the New Zealand Women’s Christian
After 1890, the WCTU had broadened the base of its movement and presented petitions to Parliament, including the 1891 petition, which had been signed by nine thousand women. The electoral bill for women’s suffrage passed the lower house but was defeated by the upper house. Another petition with twenty thousand signatures was presented to Parliament in 1892. The liquor industry, which opposed women’s suffrage because once granted, women would use the vote to prohibit alcohol, began circulating its own antisuffrage petitions in public houses. The Roman Catholic Church also objected to more rights for women, and other conservative institutions and groups considered woman suffrage a threat to traditional life and values. Even Prime Minister Richard John Seddon
In 1893 the WCTU
Antisuffrage petitions again were circulated, and some opposition councilors urged the governor not to sign the bill into law. Lord Glasgow, however, signed the bill on September 19, and the bill became the Electoral Act of 1893. New Zealand women won voting rights just ten weeks before the next national election. The suffrage act included the voting rights of Maori women as well. Led by suffragist Meri Te Tai Mangakahia
The woman suffrage movement achieved its goal in about eight years. Kate Sheppard’s
Woman suffrage was a major advance toward equality in citizenship for women in New Zealand. The movement and the electoral act served as shining examples to women around the world who had been struggling for emancipation from their legal and social subjection. Australia was the next country to follow New Zealand in granting voting rights for women. The state of South Australia
Britain
In 1919, the Women’s Parliamentary Rights Act was passed by the New Zealand parliament. This monumental law made all New Zealand women eligible for election to the national parliament.
-
Arneil, Barbara. Politics and Feminism. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 1999. A comprehensive review of the major currents in Western feminism. Recommended as a companion text for courses in feminism, feminist theory, or Western political thought. -
Baker, Jean H., ed. Votes for Women: The Struggle for Suffrage Revisited. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. A collection examining the struggle of American women for suffrage rights. Essential reading for studies in American politics and in women’s political participation specifically. -
Dubois, Ellen C. Women Suffrage and Women’s Rights. New York: New York University Press, 1998. A collection that provides an excellent review of the woman suffrage movement, including international and American suffrage in the context of women’s broader concerns for social and political justice. -
Grimshaw, Patricia. Women’s Suffrage in New Zealand. 2d ed. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press, 1987. Comprehensive account that describes the contributions of Maori women to achieve voting rights for both Maoris and all women in New Zealand. -
Marshall, Susan E. Splintered Sisterhood: Gender and Class in the Campaign Against Women Suffrage. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1997. Analyzes the often violent style of antisuffrage protest. -
Rei, Tania. Maori Women and the Vote. Wellington, New Zealand: Huia, 1993. Excellent overview of Maori women’s political activity, published for the suffrage centennial. Features a portrait of Mangakahia on the cover. -
Walter, Lynn, ed. Women’s Rights: A Global View. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. Case studies exploring the problems surrounding the fight for women’s rights in different countries. A cross-cultural study in attitudes toward women and efforts to provide women the same rights as men.
Seneca Falls Convention
British Parliament Passes the Matrimonial Causes Act
Woman Suffrage Associations Begin Forming
Wyoming Gives Women the Vote
Declaration of the Rights of Women
Women’s Rights Associations Unite
National Council of Women of Canada Is Founded
Meri Te Tai Mangakahia; Richard John Seddon; Sir Julius Vogel; Frances Willard.