REUPLOADED: The Aotearoa History Show S2 | E12: Women's Suffrage | RNZ
Summary
TLDRThe script traces the history of women's suffrage in New Zealand, beginning with the restrictive voting laws in 19th century Britain. It explores how Māori women held leadership roles yet lost rights under colonization, while Pākehā women fought for rights they never had. Influenced by international movements, Pākehā suffragists like Kate Sheppard campaigned through groups like the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Despite opposition, petitions from nearly a quarter of the country’s women helped pass the 1893 law allowing women to vote, making New Zealand the first self-governing nation to achieve universal suffrage.
Takeaways
- 😲 In early 19th century Britain, voting rights were heavily restricted based on class, sex and property ownership.
- 👩⚖️ The 'Great Reform Acts' of 1832 and 1867 in Britain expanded voting rights for men, but women were still excluded.
- 🌍 New Zealand had more inclusive voting laws than Britain, but most Māori men were still barred from voting.
- 💡 Liberalism and the French Revolution inspired early campaigns for women's equal rights.
- ⚖️ Many Māori women held positions of power and authority in traditional Māori society.
- 🍷 The Women's Christian Temperance Union campaigned against alcohol and for women's suffrage.
- ✍️ Mass petitions signed by nearly a quarter of European women helped demonstrate widespread support for suffrage.
- 😡 A minority of anti-suffragist politicians repeatedly blocked voting reform through dirty tricks.
- 🗳️ New Zealand became the first self-governing country to grant women the right to vote in national elections in 1893.
- 👩💼 It took many more years for women to gain the right to stand for Parliament and become MPs.
Q & A
Who was Mary Mueller and what was significant about her?
-Mary Mueller was a feminist writer born in London in 1820 who migrated to New Zealand in 1849. She is celebrated as New Zealand's first feminist writer for her 1869 pamphlet 'An Appeal to the Men of New Zealand' which argued that women should have voting rights.
What reforms expanded voting rights in 19th century Britain and New Zealand?
-In Britain, the Reform Acts of 1832 and 1867 expanded voting rights for men. In New Zealand, property restrictions on voting were dropped by the 1870s so virtually all men could vote, and 4 Māori seats were established in 1867.
How did gender roles and rights differ between Māori and Pākehā in the 19th century?
-Māori women often held leadership roles and had rights regarding property and divorce that Pākehā women did not have. However, colonization started eroding many rights for Māori women.
What was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and what was its role?
-The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was an anti-alcohol group that campaigned for social reforms like women's suffrage. Key leader Kate Sheppard later focused her efforts specifically on winning voting rights for women.
Who were some of the other people and groups important to the women’s suffrage movement?
-Other groups like the Women's Franchise Leagues organized rallies and petition drives. Some Māori women like Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia advocated for suffrage, as did male politicians like Julius Vogel and John Hall.
How much support was there among New Zealand women for suffrage?
-A 1893 petition calling for women's suffrage gathered nearly 32,000 signatures, representing almost a quarter of the country's Pākehā women. This demonstrated it was a mass movement.
Why did some conservative politicians support women’s suffrage?
-Some conservatives believed women voters would support conservative candidates and policies, seeing women primarily as 'domesticated, home loving'. These views were later proven incorrect.
When were New Zealand women actually granted the right to vote?
-The Electoral Act granting women's suffrage was signed into law on September 19, 1893. This made New Zealand the first self-governing country to grant women universal suffrage.
When were New Zealand women granted the right to stand for parliament?
-It took much longer for New Zealand women to gain the right to stand for parliament - this didn't happen until 1919, 26 years after winning the right to vote. The first female MP wasn't elected until 1933.
What progress has been made in New Zealand politics since women’s suffrage?
-There has been gradual progress, with New Zealand now having had 3 female Prime Ministers and women making up 48% of MPs after the 2020 election. But equal representation took well over a century.
Outlines
📜 The early days of the suffrage movement in New Zealand
The paragraph discusses the early days of the suffrage movement in New Zealand in the 1860s and 1870s. It introduces Mary Mueller, an early feminist writer who advocated for women's voting rights. It also provides context about voting rights in the UK and New Zealand at the time, and discusses the relatively progressive voting laws in the colonies compared to Britain. There is also discussion of traditional Māori views on gender roles and leadership.
👩🎓 The cultural context for Māori and Pākehā women
This paragraph compares the cultural context around gender rights for Māori and Pākehā women in the 19th century. It explains that Māori women held more rights and leadership roles traditionally, but these were eroded through colonization. In contrast, Pākehā women had very limited rights, especially related to marriage, divorce and child custody issues. The paragraph also notes the gender imbalance between European men and women in the colonies was a factor in the suffrage movement.
😇 The Women's Christian Temperance Union
The paragraph discusses the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), an anti-alcohol organization led by women that advocated for social reforms and women's rights. It profiles visiting suffragist Mary Leavitt and notes that while the WCTU had some problematic views, it played a key role in mobilizing conservative women to push for voting rights.
👭 Diverse groups unite for suffrage
This section overviews the various groups and key figures, both women and men, Māori and Pākehā, that came together to advocate for women's suffrage. This included the tailors union, the Women's Franchise Leagues, politicians like Julius Vogel and John Hall, and Māori women leaders Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia and Iriaka Rātana.
😡 Dirty tricks block voting reform
The paragraph examines the repeated legislative attempts to grant women's suffrage in New Zealand in the late 1880s and early 1890s, and the tactics used to block these reforms. There was clear majority support among MPs, but a small group of anti-suffragists, including Premier Richard Seddon, worked behind the scenes with procedural tricks to stop the Electoral Act changes.
🎉 New Zealand leads the way on universal suffrage
Finally, on September 19, 1893, the Electoral Act is signed into law, granting women the right to vote and making New Zealand the first self-governing nation to achieve universal suffrage. But the fight continued for women to gain the right to stand for Parliament, which comes decades later, and equal representation is still ongoing.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡suffrage
💡prohibition
💡liberalism
💡democracy
💡patriarchy
💡colonization
💡activism
💡representation
💡equality
💡empowerment
Highlights
In early 19th century Britain, voting rights were heavily restricted based on class, sex and property ownership.
New Zealand had radically inclusive voting rights compared to Britain - about 34% of European men could vote in 1853.
Māori women occupied important leadership positions in traditional Māori society - positions of military, spiritual and political significance.
The relative scarcity of women in colonial NZ put a premium on them as wives, mothers and moral guardians - supporting arguments for suffrage.
The Women's Christian Temperance Union advocated for social reform on issues like prisons, kindergartens and women's rights.
Kate Sheppard focused her efforts on women's suffrage after realizing male politicians wouldn't care about women's concerns without their votes.
The 1893 petition for women's suffrage was signed by nearly 32,000 women - almost a quarter of European women in NZ at the time.
In 1893, NZ became the first self-governing country in the world with universal suffrage, allowing all adult citizens to vote regardless of gender or wealth.
Māori women won the right to vote and stand for election in the Māori parliament earlier than Pākehā women did in the colonial parliament.
Conservative support for women's right to vote didn't extend to supporting their right to stand for parliament, which wasn't achieved until 1919.
The first female MP wasn't elected until 1933, and equal numbers of male/female MPs wasn't achieved until recently.
Alcohol contributed significantly to land alienation - grog sellers targeted Māori attending Native Land Court to trap them in debt.
The Women's Franchise Leagues held the biggest rallies and collected the most petition signatures for women's suffrage.
Conservative politician Sir John Hall was a key supporter of women's suffrage, lending credibility to the cause among his peers.
Premier Richard Seddon secretly tried to block women's suffrage despite publicly claiming to support it.
Transcripts
it's
1869 and we're sitting in a house in
blenham there's a woman sitting at a
desk writing she started with a title an
appeal to the men of New Zealand at the
heart of this appeal was a question why
has a woman no power to vote no right to
vote when she happens to possess all the
requisites which legally qualify a man
for that right the name of our writer is
Mary Mueller she was born in London in
1820 and migrated to an in 18 49 these
days she celebrated as New Zealand's
first feminist writer but in 1869 very
few people knew Mary Mueller held these
views her husband disapproved of her
activism so she had her identity behind
a pen name famina in her own words she
worked like a mole underground in the
dark to some it might have seemed like a
hopeless struggle at the time there
wasn't a single self-governing country
in the world where women could vote in
national election but Mary Mueller could
see a different future as she wrote in
her pamphlet change is coming but why is
New Zealand only to follow why not take
the initiative and 24 years later that
initiative would be taken on September
19th 1893 alador became the first
self-governing country in the world
where women could
[Music]
vote
[Music]
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so let's start in the country which
brought this whole idea of democ ratic
elections to our Shores the United
Kingdom but actually Democratic might
have been a bit of a stretch yeah in
early 19th century Britain voting rights
were heavily restricted based on class
sex and the ownership of property
basically if you weren't a guy and you
weren't really really rich no votes for
you in Scotland it was estimated just
4,000 out of 2.4 million people could
vote and 1831 that's less than 0.2% of
the population so to deal with this lack
of representation Britain passed the
so-called great Reform Act of 1832 great
might have been a bit of an
overstatement it's estimated only one
out of every seven British men could
vote under that law so a second great
Reform Act was passed in 1867 still not
that great only about two and five men
could vote but compared to what was
happening in Britain Colonial New
Zealand had radically inclusive voting
rights about 34 of European men were
eligible to vote in our first
parliamentary election in 1853 and by
the standards of the time that was a lot
technically Marty men had the same
voting rights as parka but in practice
the vast majority were excluded to vote
you had to own or rent property but most
Marty men weren't counted as land owners
because they owned their land communally
rather than individually by the end of
the 1870s those property restrictions
were dropped so virtually all men could
vote in 1867 the government had also
established four Marty seats which
ensured some level of Marty
representation although based on
population numbers there should have
been about 15 Marty MPS these voting
reforms in Britain New Zealand and other
parts of the western world were part of
an international movement known as
liberalism liberalism was a big deal in
the late 18th and early 19th century
partly because of the French Revolution
and its Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the citizen right at the top of
the page this declaration said men are
born and remain free and equal in rights
but more than a few women thought you
know maybe it's not just men who are
born free and equalent rights equal
rights sound pretty awesome we'd love to
get some of that too and a lot of
liberal men were like yeah we'll
definitely get around to that but look
let's just focus on some other stuff
first and they did get around to it
about 100 years later okay so that's the
European context what about the Mali
context well this idea that men should
be the only ones with the same politics
was something very new to Mai in Mali
Society leadership is substantially
based on fuckaa and female ranga of high
birth commonly became leaders of the
Habu there are oral and written
histories of some tribes refusing to
sign the Treaty of wangi because British
officials refuse to accept the
signatures of some female leaders but at
least 12 w Mii did sign the treaty on
behalf of their people and there may
have been more traditionally Marty names
weren't gendered so some of the
signatures assumed to be from men could
actually be from women as Marty law
expert Annie midi writes Marty women and
men featured in all aspects of life and
fulfilled all manner of roles it is
clear from oral histories that Marty
woman occupied very important leadership
positions in traditional Society
positions of military spiritual and
political significance of course course
you could say the same for some high
ranked European women Queen Victoria for
example but for most European women
their rights were severely limited in
most cases when women got married all
their property was transferred to the
ownership of their husbands custody of
children defaulted to the father and
divorce was extremely difficult the same
was not true for Mai as Annie mikid
explains marriage did not entail a
transferral of property from her father
to her spouse and in cases where
misconduct was shown divorce was
relatively simple so long as the correct
procedures were followed divorce carried
no Stigma in any issues as to custody
and ongoing support of children were
sorted out within the Faro context as
history Professor Barbara Brooks writes
some Pia woman may have actually been
inspired by the relative equality
between genders and Marty Society Pia
woman could see Marty woman
participating in Warfare acting as
eloquent and advocates in court and
exercising un rights with regard to
property mm all this goes to show the
fight for women's rights in the 19th
century looked different for Mai and P
Pia women were fighting to gain rights
they never had before while wahi andari
were often fighting to regain rights
they were losing through
colonization M women were also living in
societies with relatively even numbers
of men and women whereas PIAA women were
vastly outnumbered by men Yeah by 1871
it's estimated T had twice as many
European men than women between the ages
of 21 and 65 a lot of these men were
young single and pretty Rowdy which
upset a lot of the conservative
landowning men who dominated the
political establishment in history
Professor Katie pickles argues this was
a major factor in the battle for women's
rights as she says the relative scarcity
of women put a premium on women as wives
mothers and moral Guardians The Men Who
support Ed women's suffrage believed
that women's votes would have an orderly
conservative effect on society in the
colonial setting women's part as
maternal civilizing agents was
especially needed women's value in New
Zealand was on a high and that high kept
rolling through the 1870s in 1875 female
rate payers gained the right to vote in
Municipal elections and in 1878 a bill
to allow women to vote and stand for
Parliament was only narrowly defeated
and voting wasn't the only battle for
women's rights in the late 19th century
some people wanted equality and divorce
laws some wanted married women to have
more rights to property and to their
children some wanted an increase in the
age of consent which was just 12 years
old at the time and from about 1885
onward the movement for women's voting
rights became increasingly linked to
another political
movement prohibition the struggle to ban
alcohol traditionally Marty never made
alcohol that was brought to an by
Europeans and a social historian Jo
Phillips points out Europeans were big
drinkers in British and northern
European cultures alcohol especially
beer was regarded as an essential food
which helped make blood and give energy
milk could carry disease water was often
contaminated and alternative drinks such
as cordials tea and coffee had not yet
established themselves alcohol seemed a
daily necessity then as now alcohol
contributed significantly to domestic
violence and sexual assault it wasn't
uncommon for husbands to drink away
their weekly wages and in an era where
married women were usually unable to
find well-paid work that could leave
their families and dicts given all the
problems drinking caused for women it's
probably not surprising the most
prominent anti-alcohol group was led by
women the women's Christian Temperance
Union wctu for short Temperance by the
way is just an old timey word for no
drinking the wctu was an international
movement it was founded in the United
States in 1874 and its mission was
summed up in a single policy do
everything and they really meant
everything by the 1880s representatives
of the wctu were traveling all over the
world to build support for the movement
in 1885 one of these wom Mary livit came
to altior she made speeches and
delivered lectures all over the country
encouraging kiwi women to set up their
own chapter of the wct but she wasn't
just there to talk about booze Mary L
argued forcefully for women's equality
according to one report of a meeting at
St Paul's Church in Christ Church Mary L
considered that woman as an integral
part of humanity was entitled to freedom
under the law of God it was said that
woman could not fulfill certain duties
that they could not for instance be
judges but she contended that though all
women were not fit to be judges neither
were all men the latter fact did not
prevent men from being allowed to study
the law neither should the former fact
prevent women but the wct wasn't just a
narrow anti-alcohol Pro women's rights
movement as historian Dr rayan delzell
points out following the do everything
policy the wctu worked for social reform
on a broad front its members visited
prisons set up kindergartens and ran
clubs for young mothers the wctu
provided evening classes and cook
cooking sewing carpentry and Bible
instruction and a club for boys and even
though Mary Le advocated some radical
ideas the wct generally wasn't seen as a
radical Organization no after all it was
led by devoutly Christian Middle and
upper class woman it wasn't some coven
of anarchist communist agitators how
could any upstanding kiwi bloke object
to his wife or daughter signing a pledge
not to drink alcohol or helping out at a
Bible class as hisory Professor Ian Tyra
put it the wctu was a bridge between
home and church on the one hand and
social and political action on the other
but of course the temperance Union
wasn't some perfect organization which
never did anything wrong as Dr Tyrell
says historians have generally portray
the wct in Australia as a group of
religious bigots and fanatical wowers
wower by the way is a dismissive term
for someone who doesn't drink alcohol
and while New Zealand historians tend to
have a more positive view of the w C
than their Aussie counterparts there are
aspects which were problematic yeah with
the benefit of hindsight it's clear the
temperance Union's idea that outlawing
alcohol would lead to some kind of
Utopia was Pure Fantasy prish in the
United States lead to huge growth and
organized crime illegal beer houses in
Al were also hot beds for criminal
activity as late as the 1960s and 70s
Marty woman who joined the temperance
Union had to take a pledge that they
would never receive more Co
reflecting a prejudice against Mii
culture from many Europeans at the time
but many W Mii still set up their own
local wct chapters alcohol contributed
to land alienation Grog sellers targeted
Marty attending the native land Court to
trap them in debt and forc them to sell
land so while the wctu had some
skeletons in its closet many still saw
it as a positive force and of course it
played a central role in winning both
Mary and P women the right to vote in
ALA the woman who led the battle for
voting rights within the temperance
Union was of course Kate Shephard
Shephard was born in Liverpool and
migrated to Christ Church in 1868 when
she was 21 years old she was an
extremely intelligent well-educated
woman from a middle class background and
active in her local church and short
exactly the kind of person who' be drawn
to the wct one of Kate Shepherd's first
priorities was a petition to Outlaw bids
and ban the sale of alcohol to children
but when this petition was rejected in
188 5 she realized that male politicians
wouldn't give a hoot about women's
concerns unless they needed those
women's votes by 1887 shepher had risen
to become the wct's national
superintendent of franchise and
legislation in New Zealand what a title
and from that point on she focused
virtually all her efforts on women's
suffrage suffrage by the way just means
the right to vote shepher was exactly
the right woman for the job a skilled
organizer talented public speaker and
master of propaganda yeah shepher didn't
write long essays on political Theory or
philosophy instead she wrote short
Punchy pamphlets like her famous 10
reasons why the women of New Zealand
should vote the number two reason was
because it has not yet been proved that
the intelligence of women is only equal
to that of children nor that their
social status is on par with that of
lunatics or convicts shots F K but the
story of women's suffrage isn't just a
onew woman Crusade working alongside
sheepit and the wct with the women's
franchise leagues the leagues were all
about the vote not alcohol or religion
or anything else and according to
historian Jane tolton they held the
biggest rallies and collected most of
the signatures for the key 1893 petition
to Parliament it was led by women such
as Amy dely Marian Hatton and others who
probably don't get the credit they
deserve for organizing and motivating
women to speak out historian Helen
Simpson wrote a in 1940 that the leagues
were the effective factor in the
suffrage campaign but many groups helped
push the cause including the Tailor's
Union and some influential Marty women
like M Mahia and
Akana more on those two in a minute and
of course in a system dominated by male
politicians women couldn't have won this
fight without support from some men
there were plenty of guys who opposed
the campaign one to publish in the
Littleton times complaint that if women
got the vote instead of tempering
Society with Grace and softness women
would inviter it with the asperities of
debate instead of being man's comforter
and better Angel she would be his
intellectual
antagonist but a lot of men were
actually Keen for a bit of intellectual
antagonism from women including some of
New Zealand's most prominent politicians
as former Premier Julius Vogel said in
Parliament what right has man to demand
of a woman the sacrifice of what may be
called her higher intellectual qualities
in order that she may be a greater
pleasure to him one of the strongest
supporters of suffrage was the
conservative former Premier Sir John
Hall so John is a guy with shall we say
a mixed Legacy he supported the py
hucker raid and stood for the rights of
rich land owners in Canterbury at the
expense of poor Colonial Farmers but
that reputation was actually a big help
dare I say it and convincing other
conservatives to support women's
suffrage as Sir John put it himself the
fact that the proposal was made made by
an old man who is not an inexperienced
politician gives some assurance that it
is not a rash or dangerous proposal of
course that support frustrated some
other conservatives like George Steed
the editor of the Press newspaper who
told Sir John you are making a fatal
mistake in advocating the female
franchise it will double the majority
against us I have been among the poor in
Christ Church quite lately and it is
among women that one hears the most
democratic and revolutionary theories Le
toing members of the the Liberal Party
couldn't have agreed more as Liberal
Party MP William eraw said the greatest
thing the working men can do is to bring
their wives and sisters to fight the
battle against organized Capital so why
would conservatives like Sir John Hall
support women's voting rights if their
political enemies thought it would swing
the elections in the Liberals favor well
most of the people pushing for women's
right to vote including many so-called
conservatives were inspired by the
liberal writings British philosopher and
MP John Stewart Mill but they were also
influenced by their most UN liberal
views of paraha women as history
Professor Patricia Grimshaw put it for
conservative politicians woman was
undoubtedly a conservative element in
the community their belief in the
direction the women's vote would take
was conditioned by their view of women
as largely domesticated home loving
country wives and these they felt sure
would swell the conservative ranks but
spoiler alert both sides were wrong the
first election in which women voted did
swing in favor of the Liberals but
women's votes weren't decisive it turned
out women weren't all radical
progressives all di hard conservatives
their views on politics were just as
diverse as New Zealand men shocking
who'd have guessed but we're getting
ahead of ourselves a big problem faced
by the suffragists was the argument that
they only represented a radical Fringe
as Weller to the Littleton times asked
have the woman in New Zealand asked for
the franchise does one woman in 20 know
anything about the matter but the
suffragists knew how to answer that
question they organized a petition so
New Zealand women could speak for
themselves the first was circulated in
1891 and got about 9,000 signatures the
following year a second petition got
more than 20,000 signatures and in 1893
the wctu franchise leagues and all
presented their third and final petition
it turned out quite quite a bit more
than one in 12 women wanted suffrage the
1893 petition was signed by nearly
32,000 women almost a quarter of all
parkar women in the country and this is
a key point the battle for women's
suffrage wasn't just fought by a small
group of activists it was a mass
movement which involved direct action
from a huge chunk of New Zealand's
population and it wasn't like today
where you can sign a petition online
many of these signatories traveled long
distances from remote rural areas to
have their say and the petitions
themselves were seen all over the
country the sheets of the 1893 petition
were gathered in a real of paper 270 M
long which Sir John Hall dramatically
rolled down the aisle of parliament but
the weird thing is none of this should
have been necessary it was clear women's
suffrage was already supported by a
majority of members of the House several
times in the late 1880s and early 1890s
it looked like suffrage was going to be
passed only to fail at the last second
the problem was a relatively small
number of anti-suffragists who carried
out a bewildering campaign of backro
deals and dirty tricks to prevent the
law being changed the final bit of
trickery came from Premier Richard siden
himself sidan opposed suffrage but he
avoided saying so publicly because he
worried that if women knew he opposed in
voting and they did end up winning the
vote they' punish him at the next
election instead siden appears to have
worked behind the scenes to sabotage the
elector Bill ordering one pro-suffrage
politician to change his vote so it
would fall at the final hurdle but then
at the last second two conservative MPS
changed their votes to support the bill
without those two guys Edward Stevens
and William Reynolds suffrage would have
failed yet again finally on September
19th 1893 the Electoral Act was signed
into law Al became the first
self-governing country in the world
where women could vote and you can go
even further every country to this day
has some limits on who can vote but by
usual definitions we can say something
pretty damn cool in 1893 alador became
the first self-governing country in the
world with universal suffrage and get
this Richard Sid announced the news to
Kate sheber in the telegram which said I
trust now that all doubts as to the
sincerity of this government and this
very important matter has now been
effectively removed yep after all his
behindth scenes meddling to block
women's suffrage sedan turned around and
pretended he'd been for it all along no
wonder his nickname was King dick but
Kate Shephard and her allies were
probably too busy celebrating to care
one wctu member telegrammed Kate sheeper
from denan describing a splendid meeting
last night in City Hall crammed mostly
with women enthusiasm unbounded
thousands of handkerchiefs waving for
victory our old mate Geor Ste was less
enthusiastic saying we have now got the
female franchise as surely as we had the
measles it has come to stay and we must
make the best of it at the same time
paria woman were fighting for a voice in
the paria parliament wah Mii were
fighting for representation inside the
cahi Tanga Parliament as we mentioned in
our episode on the native land Court
tahi Tanga was set up in an attempt to
counterbalance the parkyard dominated
Colonial Parliament and especially to
put an end to the alienation of Mai land
the was established in 1892 and just
like the P Parliament it was a bit of a
sausage fest only men could vote or
stand for a seat Koba Mari researcher
Professor Leon pammer suggests that
although Mar women attended the in equal
numbers to Mii men the impact of
colonial gender beliefs and practices
were already embedded with M women at
that time being denied the right to vote
or stand as members but unlike the
Colonial Parliament women did have the
right to speak at the cahi Tanga
assembly and on May 18th 1893 media ofwa
delivered a speech challenging the rules
on voting she pointed out that many Mari
women were land owners and knowledgeable
in the management of their land and she
pointed out that when Marty men had
traveled to England to Lobby Queen
Victoria for an into Lance house had
been ignored as she said perhaps the
queen May listen to the petitions if
they presented by her M sisters since
she is a woman as well but later that
day another female speaker
addressed supported proposal but thought
a debate over the role of women in K
should wait until the movement won
official recognition from P politicians
and of course that recognition was never
received toana foron in 1895 toana
argued for many years the men the Chiefs
the members of parliament and the Kinga
have been searching for answers to our
issues regarding land and the betterment
of our people they even went to England
all of this was done without us the
woman and no benefit has come back to
our people we women have not yet tried
Mari won the right to vote in quah Tanga
in
1897 they also gained the right to stand
for election it was another 22 years
before women won that same right in the
colonial Parliament part of the problem
in Wellington was that those
conservative politicians who' supported
women's voting rights wouldn't support a
law change so women could become MPS
many conservatives were annoyed that
female voters hadn't rewarded them at
The Ballot Box as one wrote in a letter
to S John Hall the women have greatly
disappointed Us in the demand we thought
they would make for pure and safe
governments well the support of
conservatives like Sir John efforts to
get women the right to stand for
Parliament repeatedly failed they didn't
win that struggle until 1919 26 years
after women won the right to vote the
first female MP Elizabeth mums wasn't
elected until 1933 another 14 years
after that and it took another 16 years
before iak Katana became New Zealand's
first female Marty MP in 1949 it's only
been in the past decade that has
approached equal numbers of male and
female MPS after the 2020 election 48%
of our MPS were women an all-time record
also we've now had three female prime
ministers and while the slow progress
must have frustrated Kate shefford she
wasn't discouraged on the 21st
anniversary of women's suffrage she
wrote The M doing of such an act of
justice as INF franchising women was the
outcome of a larger vision of Rights and
duties a growing Enlightenment a broad
conception of humanity as it now is and
as it may become the enfranchisement of
women was in itself an expression of the
growing sense of justice and
humanitarianism in New
[Music]
[Music]
Zealand
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