Venu Menon
Wellington, September 29,2023
New Zealand women won the right to vote 130 years ago this month, making the country the first in the world to achieve universal women’s suffrage.
The Electoral Act enfranchising women was passed on 19 September 1893 when Governor Lord Glasgow signed it into law.
But the struggle for female enfranchisement began around 1852, when the New Zealand Constitution Act allowed European, Maori and mixed-race men to vote in parliamentary elections.
This was followed 15 years later by the Maori Representation Act 1867, which reserved four seats for Maori men only.
In 1876, the Municipal Corporations Act gave both men and women ratepayers the right to vote and stand for local government office. However, it is not clear how many women exercised this right.
But the suffrage movement launched by women across the country in the latter part of the 19th Century fought for the right of women to vote to elect members to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The movement was spearheaded by trade unions as well as groups such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand (WCTU), alongside Maori women fighting for their right to vote and contest seats in the Maori Parliament.
The seven-year campaign culminated in a mass petition which was presented to Parliament in 1893. The petition garnered 31,872 signatures, making it one of the largest public petitions in Australasia.
Among the signatories were leading lights of the suffragette and feminist movements, including Kate Sheppard, Marion Hatton, Rachel Reynolds and Ada Wells.
Meri Te Tai Mangakahia was a Maori campaigner for women’s suffrage in New Zealand.
The petition heralded the promulgation of the Electoral Act 1893 which empowered adult women to vote and led to 109,461 women enrolling to vote in the election held barely two months later.
Suffragists’ supporters wore white camellias to Parliament during the passing of the Electoral Act 1893. The flower later became the symbol of the suffrage movement in New Zealand.
Suffrage campaigners in Britain, Australia and the United States celebrated the movement’s achievement in New Zealand.
But it took 40 years after the passing of the Electoral Act 1893 for Elizabeth McCombs to become the first Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Iriaka Ratana, the first woman Maori MP, was elected in 1949.
Other milestones followed. Jenny Shipley became New Zealand’s first woman Prime Minister in 1997. The 1999 election saw Helen Clarke become the first woman to be elected to the office of Prime Minister, while Luamanuvao Dame Winifred Laban became the first woman MP of Pacific Islands origin, and Georgina Beyer became the world’s first openly transgender Member of Parliament.
But until the mid-1980s, the number of women MPs had remained in the single digit.
However, the 2020 general election made history in New Zealand when it produced 58 women MPs. In October 2022, the New Zealand Parliament achieved gender parity as women MPs won an equal share of seats as men.
The Electoral Act 1893 cleared the decks for greater liberal reforms that included universal accident compensation, a 48-hour working week, and welfare protection for workers, children and senior citizens.
Currently, women hold statutory positions in New Zealand such as Governor-General and Chief Justice.
But the quest for gender equality continues. In 2020, an amendment to the Equal Pay Act 1972 was passed, which enabled women workers to claim equal pay as men.
“On this day we honour the women and men who fought for universal suffrage. And today, we are proud that New Zealand ensures the country continues to work toward a fairer and more equal society,” the Ministry for Women noted in a statement to mark universal women’s suffrage on 19 September 2023.
Events to commemorate this milestone included art exhibitions and installations in Auckland and Christchurch, museum tours in Whanganui and Wellington, as well as Korero (discussion) and Kai (food) in Auckland, Lower Hutt and Timaru.
Artist Vanessa Smith constructed a camellia to symbolise universal women’s suffrage, which consisted of 130 petals – one for each year.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
