November 28 - The First Vote for Women

This Day in History: 28 November 2019

 

28 November 1893

 

126 years ago, today, was the first-time women voted in a national election, in the New Zealand general election. Throughout the late 19th century, the women's suffragette movement was widespread throughout Northern Europe, America, Britain and its colonies, including New Zealand, the first self-governing country to grant all women the vote, on 19th September 1893, with the next country being Finland in 1907. The fight was won through a combination of persistence, a strong temperance movement, and some luck. The temperance movement blamed alcohol for many of the society's problems with blame towards women and children. 

 

Influences from the time came from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, who reasoned that only through political rights would women gain say and use over alcohol. Kate Sheppard, from Christchurch in the WCTU, became New Zealand 's lead suffragette. She organised a series of petitions to demand the women vote, which were very influential. In 1893, the final petition for women's suffrage gained nearly a quarter of all adult European women's signatures, and on 19 September, the Governor of New Zealand signed the bill for them to vote into the law. With six weeks to enrol for the next general election, 84% of women registered to vote on 28 November, and two-thirds of women later voted for the first time. 

 

Kate Sheppard's face is now on the New Zealand ten-dollar bill, and women's suffrage is widely celebrated in New Zealand, especially with its 100th anniversary in 1993. This also encouraged other countries, such as Canada, the UK, and the US to grant women the vote in later years.

 

Want to find out more about women's suffrage in New Zealand? Visit https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage for more information about their struggle to be granted the right to vote.