The Suffrage Experiment in New Zealand

125 years ago – on 19 September 1893 – New Zealand women won the right to vote . Registrations closed six weeks after that date for the next election on 28 November. This would have been fairly exciting for New Zealand women but how did the rest of the world view our landmark decision? Armed with an excellent selection of newspaper archives from around the world, I have researched what was said. For this exercise I used Gale Primary Sources; it searches 19 digital archives of newspapers, periodicals, monographs and manuscripts.

Some of the most interesting articles quote other papers, and titles like ‘The New Zealand Experiment’ seemed to be popular.

VICTORY IN NEW ZEALAND. (1893, September 14). Women’s Penny Paper, (30), [465].

“With a slight feeling of envy, we offer our hearty congratulations to our fortunate sisters , who will now be the pioneers in the British Empire in the exercise of franchise.”

The Experiment in New Zealand. (1893, November 16). Women’s Penny Paper, (39), 620.

This article “The Experiment in New Zealand” has the review of the editor of the Australian edition of The Review of Reviews. This writer suggests what might happen in the upcoming elections.

“The new voters, it is suggested will apply quite new tests to candidates. A candidate, one critic argues, who is old, bald, and, say, bandy-legged, will have no chance of winning the suffrages of the voters in petticoats, as against a candidate who is young, has good teeth, and parts his hair in the middle.”

Pretty Souls! (1893, November 28). Fun [UKP], LVIII(1490), 229.

“…with the result that women are now entitled vote for parliamentary candidates in New Zealand. They were not keen to learn their fate, as the empty benches showed. But a correspondent supplies the key to their apparent apathy. A “Society” wedding was in progress a few yards off! Pretty Souls! “

Hope for New Zealand. (1894, February 25). Rocky Mountain News, p. 12

This article reports on another article that appeared in The Nineteenth Century quoting it:

“The colony is now committed to a course of extreme radical legislation. Such are the results of the female franchise! IT is to be hoped that it will be a warning to English conservatives. We shall probably for some years to come be a dreadful object lesson to the rest of the British Empire. We must trust to beer and the banks to save us from absolute ruin.”

Women Voters in New Zealand. (1894, April 8). New York Herald [European Edition], p. 6.

A report on women voter numbers –

“Dunedin had 7,644 women on the roll, and only 1,338 failed to record their votes. Many of the the absentees were no doubt deterred by the heavy rains which fell on the polling day.”

“…and in Christchurch 5,989 out or 6,710 went to the poll.”

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN NEW ZEALAND. (1894, August 18). Nottinghamshire Guardian, p. 8.

“An interview with Mrs. Sheppard, New Zealand deserves to be called the land of political experiments. Its rulers, with a boldness that would startle even many Democratic English politicians, are passing into law measure after measure of radical reform. Among other changes universal suffrage was last year conferred on adult women, married as well as single, irrespective of property qualifications.”

The journalist finishes his article with this summary:

“Mrs Sheppard is the very opposite of the bogey “advanced women.” held up to frighten reformers. Handsome, well proportioned, and with a glow of health in her cheeks, she is a good representation of the Colonial woman at her best, strong physically and mentally.

The Suffrage Experiment in New Zealand. (1893, December 7). Women’s Penny Paper, (42), 669.

This article reports on a number of other newspapers views on in particular the quotes from a article in The Melbourne Age of October 21 1893.

“….the bulk of their womankind did not demand it and did not want it. The agitation was “got up by a few women” – chiefly women’s Christian associations and kindred bodies..”

Woman in New Zealand. (1894, January 1). Daily Inter Ocean, p. 14.

Mr Webster relays his views on the election in New Zealand in November 1893.

“It was rather amusing” continued Mr. Webster, “to note the eagerness which the ladies working on the committees brought in voters of their own sex to the polls. Wherever a voter had a baby a member of the committee remained to care for it while the mother recorded her vote. Everything was conducted in the most orderly manner, no rowdyism was apparent.” …”All the same” concluded Mr. Webster in a regretful tone of voice, “I cannot, while appreciating the advantages that are certain to result, but imagine that the dainty blush of womanhood is somewhat blurred when woman steps into the arena of political strife.”

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN NEW ZEALAND: LADY VOTERS GOING TO THE POLL AT DEVONPORT, NEAR AUCKLAND. (1894, January 27). Graphic

Suffrage 125 in Ōtautahi – celebrating women winning the right to vote in 19 September 1893

New Zealand women gained the right to vote on 19 September 1893, so this year marks 125 years since women won the right to vote. The Suffrage 125 celebration is being led by the Ministry for Women, New Zealand Minitatanga mō ngā Wahine in partnership with Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

The Suffrage 125 Events and Celebrations include happenings in Ōtautahi, on Wednesday 19 September (and before and after the anniversary date):

• The Challenges of Women’s Biography and the Life of Kate Sheppard Margaret Lovell-Smith at the Canterbury Workers Educational Association. Wednesday 12 and 19 September.
• 125th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage in NZ Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel and Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern as keynote speaker. Thursday 13 September.
• Kate Sheppard Celebration Tour Saturday 15 September 9.45am to 1pm, Canterbury Workers Educational Association.

Kate Sheppard memorial, Friday 19 September 2014. Flickr 2014-09-19-IMG_2212

Events on Wednesday 19 September

• National Council of Women Christchurch Branch Suffrage Day 19 September 12pm to 12.30pm at the Kate Sheppard Memorial.
• Kate Sheppard Memorial Trust Suffrage 125th Celebration and Fundraiser 19 September 6.15pm to 9.30pm at Knox Church.
• The Mix: Suffrage City 125: Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū Wednesday 19 September 6pm to 9pm Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.
  Includes curator Felicity Milburn in conversation with Barbara Brookes, author of A History of New Zealand Women,  NZI Foyer takeover with Fun Natural Fun (join Instant Fantasy, Misfit Mod. Trainwreck & blle fmme for an all-inclusive DJ night, drop in Feminist Badge making workshop …Subscribe to the Facebook event.
• Suffrage Day Workshop: Researching Women’s Stories Heritage New Zealand, Canterbury Museum, Archives New Zealand, Memories in Time 19 September 7pm to 9pm
• PechaKucha Night Christchurch: Women, Science and Conservation Wednesday 19 September, 7.30pm to 9.30pm
• UC FemSoc and the National Council of Women – Christchurch Branch are putting on a series of events including:
  • 10.30am Suffrage 125 Tea Party – Raising Awareness to end Period Poverty Toi Moroki CoCA Centre of Contemporary Art (66 Gloucester Street)
    Bring a sanitary item to donate and enjoy morning tea and cakes with fellow students and members of the National Council of Women. Then walk over to the Kate Sheppard Memorial.
  • 12pm to 12.30pm National Council of Women Christchurch Branch Suffrage Day Kate Sheppard Memorial (159 Oxford Terrace)
    Be inspired by listening to a variety of women on what the vote means to them, along with some poetry readings.

Kate Sheppard Suffrage Dollshouse display and Raffle for Cholmondeley Children’s Centre

Come along and see tiny suffrage dollshouses at the new Woolston Community Library 689 Ferry Road from Saturday 15 to Saturday 22 September and enter the live raffle draw at 11am on Saturday 22 September at the Woolston Library. You could win the Kate Sheppard dollshouse ($2 a ticket or 3 tickets for $5). Come and enjoy the display, tiny cupcakes, and coffee – and also see tiny dollshouse tributes to other women who campaigned for the vote including the Dunedin Tailoresses Union, Meri Te Tai Mangakahia and more.

  

More local Suffrage 125 events

• Women’s Suffrage Ride Sunday 7 October 1-3pm Armagh Street bridge, Hagley Park. Part of Biketober, this guided ride around the central city will incorporate significant places of interest related to the women of Christchurch, both past and present. Places limited. Sign up via Facebook to secure your spot.
• Suffrage Series at the Arts Centre Tuesday 16, Wednesday 17, and Friday 19 October
  The Suffrage Series celebrates the diverse range of women we have in Canterbury through three nights of quick fire talks, discussions and music.
• We do this 12 May 2018 to 26 May 2019 and We Do This – Suffrage art tours (12 to 22 October 2pm)
  A recharged contemporary exhibition to mark 125 years of women’s suffrage at Christchurch Art Gallery.
• Suffrage and Suffering – Changing Canterbury Canterbury Museum 12 October to 22 October
  Visit a display commemorating Kate Sheppard’s role in achieving suffrage for women in New Zealand. Tours: Tuesday 16 October 3.30pm to 4.30pm; Thursday 18 October 3.30pm to 4.30pm
• Suffrage and Heroism Saturday 13 October 2pm to 3.30pm, Former Trinity Congregational Church, 124 Worcester Street
  A floor talk by Dr Anna Crighton of the Christchurch Heritage Trust, will explain why the theme of Suffrage and Heroism relates to the history of the Church.
• Methodist Suffrage Trail Talk [bookings required]  Thursday 18 October 2pm to 3pm Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives, 50 Langdons Road, PapanuiCome to an illustrated presentation on the role of the Methodist Church in the campaign for women’s suffrage in New Zealand during the 1890s.
• Trust the Women: Dora Meeson Coates Friday 19 October 12.30pm to 1pm Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o WaiwhetūChristchurch Art Gallery Curator Felicity Milburn discusses the extraordinary life of Canterbury College-trained artist Dora Meeson Coates (1869-1955).

Meri Te Tai Mangakahia of Taitokerau who requested the vote for women from the Kotahitanga Māori Parliament. Kate Sheppard Memorial.

Suffrage 125 national events

Here are some events and resources online specially for Suffrage 125:

#Trailblaizing125

#Trailblazing125 marks this massive milestone and honours all the amazing women of New Zealand.  We are proud and privileged to bring you 24 incredible wāhine toa – one post for every day for the first 24 days of September.

Suffrage 125: The Women on Wikipedia Challenge

Celebrate 125 years of women’s suffrage by helping to increase the visibility of New Zealand women who have made a contribution to the arts and community life in Aotearoa. Your mission if you choose to accept it: think of a female NZ writer, artist or community figure, check whether they are represented on Wikipedia, and if not, create an article about them and their work. If an article already exists, check there’s nothing important missing and fill the gap if you can. When you’re done, post the links to the Women on Wikipedia Challenge Facebook page so other people can read, share, and add to them. Find out more.

FUNNY GIRLS

And hooray, there’s a Funny Girls NZ Suffrage Special on THREE on Thursday 20 September 8.30pm to 9.30pm

Connect with Suffrage 125

• Like the Suffrage 125 Facebook page
• Like the Suffrage 125 Christchurch Facebook page

Suffrage 125 resources

Suffrage 125 resources
Explore suffrage resources compiled by the Ministry for Women, New Zealand Minitatanga mō ngā Wahine in partnership with Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

New Zealand women and the vote
Information on women and suffrage from New Zealand History Online.

Women’s Suffrage Petition
The petition was organised in 1893, and was described by Kate Sheppard as “a monster petition” demanding the right for women to vote. A digital image of the actual petition held at National Archives. Search for the names of women who signed the petition at New Zealand History Online.

Our pages:

• Kate Sheppard 1847-1934
• Kate Sheppard Memorial

125 Years – Are We There Yet?: WORD Christchurch Festival 2018

Are we there yet? 125 years on from the historic law change that granted New Zealand women the right to vote, an impressive line-up of women gathered in a WORD Christchurch panel at The Piano to discuss this question. Georgina Beyer, Dame Anne Salmond, Sacha McMeeking, Lizzie Marvelly, and Paula Penfold were chaired by the indomitable Kim Hill.

Things kicked off  in an unexpectedly musical fashion with sparkles and a ukulele as Gemma Gracewood and Megan Salole of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra led in with a waiata, the workers’ anthem “Bread and roses”, even managing to get the crowd chiming in with a refrain at the end, Gracewood quipping that “it’s in Kim Hill’s contract to be introduced like this at every event she does”, which is most certainly a lie but it’s nice to pretend it’s not.

In panel discussions it can sometimes be a challenge to make sure that each person gets space to share their thoughts though for this event each panellist got their own turn at the podium. Unsurprisingly all of them answered in the negative but were good enough to elaborate on why, and to speculate on how we could, indeed, get there.

Dame Anne Salmond, Georgina Beyer, Paula Penfold, Sacha McMeeking, Lizzie Marvelly, and Kim Hill. WORD Christchurch Festival 2018. Thursday 30 August 2018. File reference: 2018-08-30-IMG_0132

Dame Anne Salmond bemoaned the “experiment” that’s seen public services turned into businesses and the damage it’s done to our communities. “What price work,” she asked “if you have to trade away some of your desires and dreams? What price a thriving economy if we’ve got children dying of Third World diseases?”. Change, she felt,  must be a shared task.

She also queried why, as someone who has an academic background in New Zealand history, and the Treaty she is always being asked by journalists about comments made by Don Brash, someone who has never deigned to study these topics. “Why am I still hearing the same voices?” she wondered.

Georgina Beyer remembered and paid tribute to Sonia Davies, the “lovely little piece of firework” who talked her into joining and running for the Labour Party. Davies’ autobiography (later turned into a movie) took it’s name from the waiata that opened the session.

Beyer outlined the slow, but building momentum leading on from 1893, pointing out that it took many years before a woman was elected into parliament (Lytteltonian MP, Elizabeth McCombs in 1933) but that change has been more rapid in the last few decades. Though parliament is still much more balanced in its distribution of power than the boardroom is.

She acknowledged that in some corners of feminism there was a pushing back against transgender activism, that some felt perhaps that all the work and achievements up to this point were being “ridden on the coattails by this ‘transgender lot’.” But she felt that this division wasn’t helpful and that we need to move forward together.

Although initially reticent to offend – egged on by a throaty “Oh, go ON!” by Kim Hill – Beyer confessed that she felt religious dogma had a lot to answer for, citing Brian Tamaki’s “Man up” campaign as just another way of saying “women, go back to the kitchen”, expressing outrage at Gloriavale as “detrimental” to both men and women, and that “conversion therapy is a breach of human rights”.

Journalist Paula Penfold, who is involved with Stuff’s #MeTooNZ campaign, used her time at the podium to present a “listicle” of good news/bad news facts including such sobering statements as “New Zealand has the worst rate of family and intimate partner violence in the world”, an estimated 80% of which is unreported. That the gender gap is closing… but her mother probably won’t live to see it. But she was hopeful, watching her teenage children engage with these issues, that the “young people are seeing a way forward with this”. Which was something of a life-raft in a sea of not great news, which I’m sure was her intention.

Sacha McMeeking, though thwarted initially by screeching feedback, had the audience in the palm of her hand as she gently and wittily guided us through the complicated topic of how you effect social change, noting that we often try to do this from a very top level way, via laws, or on an individual level but that we need to focus on the part in the middle where we collectively create new social habits. She used the metaphor of desire paths, those well-trodden dirt path “shortcuts” that show where people have chosen to diverge from a paved walkway, the implication being that it’s a repeated wearing down by many feet on many trips that can leave a trail for others to follow.

“Society,” she said “is inherently conservative. The status quo is given every possibility to replicate”. It’s about consciously looking, then, for ways to subvert this. Looking for places to blaze (or just wear down, slowly over time) a different trail. And what was this audience, if not a core of people who might help do that? This was about as uplifting as the evening got, and as such, received the largest round of applause.

Musician and columnist Lizzie Marvelly was at her most compelling when describing the culture shock she felt when, after being raised in a family that valued gender equality and attending the female-centric Rotorua Girls High, she changed schools and became one of a minority of female pupils at Kings College in Auckland. Being rated out of ten for attractiveness by boys via the unexpected medium of vegemite-smeared pieces of toast, or having chants of “get back in the kitchen” called out to girls on the sportsfield. And of course, the sad realisation that she was not allowed to be head prefect because that was a title reserved for boys only.

When questioned by Hill on whether exerting the right to make choices is, in and of itself feminist, Marvelly had this to say:

The fact that we have choices is a feminist victory but that doesn’t mean that every choice you make is a feminist one.

For her, unless the choice you’re making in is in support of gender equality then it’s not a feminist one. I’ve never heard this stated so simply, and it makes complete sense to me, though I imagine, as with most things, the devil is in the details/interpretation.

During question time, the questions were, well, largely musings masquerading as questions. Interesting issues were raised, certainly, but it was hard for most of the panellists to grasp onto an answer when questions were somewhat fuzzy. The exception being Georgina Beyer’s recollection of the pack-rape she suffered as a young woman in Sydney – it was devastating in content, sure, but also in her matter of factness about it. And it exposed the flaw in the questioner’s definition of women as “people with vaginas”, introduced as it was with the wryly delivered, “prior to my having a vagina…”

It was a very sobering and downbeat story to end the evening on, but it was also a session that went significantly over time. And I suspect many of the people in the audience did as I did and talked over the issues with their companion on the journey home.

Are we there yet? No, but not for want of trying.

Find out more

• Kate Sheppard and the Suffrage Movement
• Our WORD Christchurch 2018 page
• WORD Christchurch festival programme

Find titles in the library by:

• Paula Penfold
• Georgina Beyer
• Dame Anne Salmond
• Lizzie Marvelly
• Kim Hill

“They would much prefer staying at home and attending to their household duties”: 19 September 1893

124 years ago – on 19 September 1893 – women in New Zealand got the vote.

On the day after, The Press editorial  shows that some of the population felt this was an imposition upon women who would much rather be “staying at home and attending to their household duties”. Yeah right. Kia ora to our founding mothers who fought for the vote, and to all wahine who have carried on fighting ever since.

The colony, however, has now got female franchise, and we must endeavour to make the best of it. Obviously it is now the duty of every woman in New Zealand to get her name placed on the electoral roll. To refuse to do so will be to give the shrieking sisterhood an influence in the elections out of all proportion to their legitimate claims. Here again, we admit, coercion makes its appearance. We believe that a very large number of women do not desire to vote. They shrink from having to go to the polling booths on election days. They would much prefer staying at home and attending to their household duties. But the right of voting has been forced upon them against their wishes. They must now realise that if they refrain from exercising their newly acquired privileges, others will not. The noisy agitators, the advocates of fads, and the “advanced” women generally, will not be so retiring. If then, the womanly women of New Zealand desire to counteract these influences they can only do so in one way. They must take part in the elections. They, too, must study public questions, and seek to make their influence felt. We admit frankly that it is unfair to the great majority of women to force this duty upon them. But it cannot now be helped. They are practically being coerced, in self-defence and in the best interests of the colony, to take this fresh responsibility on their shoulders.

The Press. WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 20, 1893. WOMAN’S FRANCHISE., Press, Volume L, Issue 8592, 20 September 1893

Kate Sheppard Memorial. Flickr CCL-KateSheppard-2013-03-25-IMG_1866

Suffrage resources

• Find information about women’s suffrage in New Zealand in our collection
• Kate Sheppard
• The Kate Sheppard Memorial
• Elizabeth McCombs
• Unsung heroines: Biographies of Christchurch women
• A to Z of Christchurch people
• Photos of Christchurch women
• Previous blog posts on suffrage

More on votes for women

• New Zealand women and the vote (Ministry for Culture and Heritage) updated 12-Jul-2016
• DigitalNZ suffrage sets

Mothers of the Present: Christchurch women and the vote

On 19 September 1893 women in New Zealand got the vote. Campaigners, led by Kate Sheppard, had fought for years for Māori and Pakeha women’s suffrage.

The Press editorial on 20 September 1893 stated:

We believe that a very large number of women do not desire to vote. [1]

Election day was Tuesday 28 November 1893. The Press reported:

The pretty dresses of the ladies and their smiling faces lighted up the polling booths most wonderfully, and one envied the returning officer and poll clerks whose duty it was to pass in review such a galaxy of beauty.[2]

About 10,000 Christchurch women voted, with only a few incidents:

At the Provincial Council Chamber some peculiar scenes took place. In one instance a man and his wife and daughter came to vote. The man first wished to go into the recess to instruct his wife how to vote. The poll clerks removed him. Then he went into where his daughter was recording her vote and wished to instruct her. This also he was prevented from doing much to his chagrin.[3]

40 years later the first woman was elected into the New Zealand Parliament. Christchurch woman Elizabeth McCombs had been heavily involved in working for the community. She won the Lyttelton seat in a by-election September 1933, after the death of her husband James. She held the seat until her death in June 1935. [4]

Elizabeth Reid McCombs, née Henderson (1873-1935) [between 1919 and 1925] CCL PhotoCD 6, IMG0028

100 years after women got the vote, the Kate Sheppard National Memorial was unveiled by Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard. The words on the Memorial end with the words of The White Ribbon editor, Nelly Perryman, from 1918:

We, the mothers of the present need to impress upon our children’s minds how the women of the past wrestled and fought, suffered and wept, prayed and believed, agonised and won for them the freedom they enjoy today.[5]

Kate Sheppard National Memorial. Flickr 2014-09-19-IMG_2212

Suffrage resources

• Find information about women’s suffrage in New Zealand in our collection
• Kate Sheppard
• The Kate Sheppard National Memorial
• Elizabeth McCombs
• Unsung heroines: Biographies of Christchurch women
• A to Z of Christchurch people
• Photos of Christchurch women

References

[1] Woman’s Franchise, The Press, Volume L, Issue 8592, 20 September 1893, page 4

[2] Polling Day in Christchurch, The Press, Volume L, Issue 8652, 29 November 1893, page  5

[3] Polling Day in Christchurch, The Press, Volume L, Issue 8652, 29 November 1893, page  5

[4] Death of Mrs E. R. McCombs, The Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21493, 7 June 1935, page 13

[5] The Kate Sheppard National Memorial

This feature was first published in our quarterly magazine, uncover – huraina. It is our newest channel to help you explore and celebrate the resources, content, events, programmes and people of Christchurch City Libraries, Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi.

Suffrage Day and Women’s Rights

Today is Suffrage Day. It’s the day we set aside to commemorate and celebrate the efforts of women (and men) who, 122 years ago campaigned long and hard so that women could have the right to have a say in how New Zealand is governed.

You could argue that the suffrage movement was just part of the broader role that feminism, and the fight for female emancipation, has played in securing modern Kiwi women the rights they enjoy like –

• being able to own property (1860)
• allowed entrance to university (1871)
• voting (1893)
• running for parliament (1919)
• the right to body autonomy (before 1985 a husband could force his wife to have sex with him. Legally, this was not rape.)

Things have changed a lot since 1893, or even since 1902 when this infamous poster was created by a not very forward-thinking Mr Henry Wright.

Wright, Henry Charles Clarke, 1844-1936. Wright, Henry Charles Clarke, 1844-1936 :Notice to epicene women. Electioneering women are requested not to call here. 12706 – Alex Ferguson, Printer, Wellington. [1902]. Ref: Eph-B-WOMEN-1902. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22872683

“Epicene” is not a word that gets used a lot in everyday conversation, but it means “of indeterminate sex”. The implication being that women who showed an active interest in politics were not really women at all. Lovely.

Posters like the above help to illustrate how very committed and brave those suffragette campaigners were. To keep on fighting for what they knew was right when many in the community considered them offensive or even freakish shows great fortitude and strength of character.

I’m personally incredibly grateful. We honour them by remembering their struggle not just for themselves but for all women.

Learn more about the suffragettes and votes for women –

• Kate Sheppard Memorial
• Kate Sheppard
• Women in the Council Chamber
• Unsung heroines
• A to Z of Christchurch people
• Previous blog posts on suffrage and White Camellia Day
• New Zealand women and the vote (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 1-Sep-2013
• Women’s suffrage 1893 a DigitalNZ set

Ada Wells : Picturing Canterbury

Ada Wells was a school teacher, notably at St. Albans. She was the right-hand woman of Kate Sheppard in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union struggle for women to get the vote in parliamentary elections and, later, was the first woman on the Christchurch City Council, 1917-1919.

• Women first voted in the general election, 28 November 1893
• Ada Wells – biography
• Women in the Council Chamber

 

Votes for women – 19 September 1893

19 September 1893 – women in New Zealand got the vote.

On 19 September 1993 this Christchurch landmark – the Kate Sheppard Memorial – was unveiled. Kia ora to all the women who fought so hard for us to get the vote. Here are the women celebrated on the Memorial:

Helen Nicol who pioneered the women’s franchise campaign in Dunedin.

Kate Sheppard of Christchurch, the leader of the suffrage campaign.

Ada Wells of Christchurch who campaigned vigorously for equal educational opportunities for girls and women.

Harriet Morison of Dunedin, vice president of the Tailoresses’ Union and a powerful advocate for working women.

Meri Te Tai Mangakahia of Taitokerau who requested the vote for women from the Kotahitanga Māori Parliament.

Amey Daldy, a foundation member of the Auckland WCTU and president of the Auckland Franchise League.

Public notice for a meeting on the present and outlook of woman’s suffrage to be held at the Oddfellows Hall, Lichfield Street, Chch. 20 Oct. 1892

Some of the first women voters entering the Tuam Street hall. November 1893.

Another group of leaders are Christchurch’s own Women in the Council Chamber and we have brief political audio biographies on Ada Wells, Elizabeth McCombs, the famed Mabel Howard as well as more recent councillors.

Our collection of Unsung heroines highlights local identities. These women were characters in all senses of the word. Bella Button – famed for her horseriding prowess – trained cats to jump like horses. Lizzie Coker, of Coker’s Hotel fame, was remembered as a ‘fantastic creature in elaborate wigs and huge fur coats’.

Other things to explore:

• A brief diary written on board the Tintern Abbey en route from Gravesend to Christchurch, December 1874 – May 1875 by Mary Anne McCrystal, 1849-1929.
• Ngaio Marsh – one of Canterbury’s most famous authors.
• Elsie Locke – one of our Canterbury Heroes, her plaque reads ‘Political, social and local community activist, well-loved historian and writer, determined and doughty fighter for the rights of the under-dog, active to the end’.

Our suffrage related stuff

• Kate Sheppard Memorial
• Kate Sheppard
• Women in the Council Chamber
• Unsung heroines
• A to Z of Christchurch people
• Photos of Christchurch women
• Previous blog posts on suffrage and White Camellia Day

More on votes for women

• New Zealand women and the vote (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 1-Sep-2013
• Women’s suffrage 1893 a DigitalNZ set

What did our local newspaper The Press report about women getting the right to vote on 19 September 1893?
Now that Papers Past has The Press digitised for our pleasure we can find out!

It will be an evil day for New Zealand if the female agitators are alone to vote. Why, when I see some of these voluable persons, whom I have the pleasure of knowing, I involuntarily bolt into the nearest shop for safety. What will happen to the State if these join their votes with the hysterical male women who desire to control this demented colony, I tremble to depict.

Letter to the editor, Volume L, Issue 8591, 19 September 1893

Women’s Franchise: 20 September 1893. Volume L, Issue 8592

It was passed by a House, the majority of whose members are in their hearts opposed to the change. It has been forced upon the colony, the majority of the electors in which are opposed to the revolution. It has, finally, been forced upon the women of New Zealand, although the majority of them do not want the franchise, and have made no claims to obtain the privilege.

A telegram from Premier Richard Seddon to Kate Sheppard and the Executive of the W.C.T.U.:

Electoral Bill assented to by his Excellency the Governor at quarter to twelve. “I trust now that all doubts as to the sincerity of the Government in this very important matter has been effectually resolved”.

Read all about it – women get the vote

What did our local newspaper The Press report about women getting the right to vote on 19 September 1893?
Now that Papers Past has The Press digitised for our pleasure we can find out!

It will be an evil day for New Zealand if the female agitators are alone to vote. Why, when I see some of these voluable persons, whom I have the pleasure of knowing, I involuntarily bolt into the nearest shop for safety. What will happen to the State if these join their votes with the hysterical male women who desire to control this demented colony, I tremble to depict.

Letter to the editor, Volume L, Issue 8591, 19 September 1893

Women’s Franchise: 20 September 1893. Volume L, Issue 8592

It was passed by a House, the majority of whose members are in their hearts opposed to the change. It has been forced upon the colony, the majority of the electors in which are opposed to the revolution. It has, finally, been forced upon the women of New Zealand, although the majority of them do not want the franchise, and have made no claims to obtain the privilege.

A telegram from Premier Richard Seddon to Kate Sheppard and the Executive of the W.C.T.U.:

Electoral Bill assented to by his Excellency the Governor at quarter to twelve. “I trust now that all doubts as to the sincerity of the Government in this very important matter has been effectually resolved”.

Suffrage City

120 years ago today – 19 September 1893 – women in New Zealand got the vote.

And 20 years ago today this Christchurch landmark – the Kate Sheppard Memorial – was unveiled.

Kia ora to all the women who fought so hard for us to get the vote.

Public notice for a meeting on the present and outlook of woman’s suffrage to be held at the Oddfellows Hall, Lichfield Street, Chch. 20 Oct. 1892

Some of the first women voters entering the Tuam Street hall. November 1893.

Our suffrage related stuff

• Kate Sheppard Memorial
• Kate Sheppard
• Women in the Council Chamber
• Unsung heroines
• A  to Z of Christchurch people
• Photos of Christchurch women
• Previous blog posts on suffrage and White Camellia Day

More on votes for women

• New Zealand women and the vote (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 1-Sep-2013
• DigitalNZ suffrage sets