Women's suffrage in New Zealand
Encyclopedia
Women's suffrage in New Zealand was an important political issue in the late 19th century. Of countries presently independent, New Zealand was the first to give women the vote in modern times.
The Electoral Bill granting women the franchise was given Royal Assent
by Governor Lord Glasgow
on 19 September 1893, and women voted for the first time in the election
held on 28 November 1893 (elections for the Māori electorates were held on 20 December). In 1893, Elizabeth Yates
also became Mayor of Onehunga
, the first time such a post had been held by a female anywhere in the British Empire
.
was granted after about two decades of campaigning by women such as Kate Sheppard
and Mary Ann Müller
and organisations such as the New Zealand branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union led by Anne Ward. They felt that female voting would increase the morality of politics; their opponents argued that politics was outside women's 'natural sphere' of the home and family. Suffrage advocates countered that allowing women to vote would encourage policies which protected and nurtured families.
From 1887, various attempts were made to pass bills enabling female suffrage, the first one by Julius Vogel
, 8th premier of New Zealand. Each bill came close to passing but none succeeded until a government strategy to foil the 1893 bill backfired. By 1893 there was considerable popular support for women's suffrage, and the Electoral Bill passed through the Lower House
with a large majority.
The Legislative Council
(upper house) was divided on the issue, but when Premier Richard Seddon
ordered a Liberal Party councillor to change his vote, two other councillors were so annoyed by Seddon's interference that they changed sides and voted for the bill, allowing it to pass by 20 votes to 18. Seddon had hoped to stop the bill in the upper house.
Both the Liberal government
and the opposition subsequently claimed credit for the enfranchisement of women, and sought women's newly acquired votes on these grounds.
Women were not eligible to be elected to the House of Representatives
until 1919 though, when three women, including Ellen Melville
stood. Elizabeth McCombs
was the first woman to win an election (to the seat held by her late husband, via widow's succession
) in the , followed by Catherine Stewart
(1938), Mary Dreaver
(1941), Mary Grigg
(1942) and Mabel Howard
(1943). Melville stood for the Reform Party
and Grigg for the National Party
, while Stewart, Dreaver and Howard were all Labour Party
. The first Maori woman MP was Iriaka Ratana in 1949; she also succeeded to the seat held by her late husband.
Women were not eligible to be appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council
(the Upper House of Parliament) until 1941. The first two women (Mary Dreaver
and Mary Patricia Anderson of Greymouth) were appointed in 1946 by the Labour Government
. In 1950 the "suicide squad" appointed by the National Government
to abolish the Legislative Council included three women: Mrs Cora Burrell of Christchurch, Mrs Ethel Gould of Auckland and Agnes Louisa Weston of Wellington.
In 1989 Helen Clark
became the first female Deputy Prime Minister
. In 1997, the then-current Prime Minister Jim Bolger
lost the support of the National Party
and was replaced by Jenny Shipley
, making her the first female Prime Minister of New Zealand
. In 1999, Clark became the second female Prime Minister of New Zealand, and the first woman to gain the position at an election.
The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 was authorised by the Queen by Royal Warrant dated 1 July 1993, and was awarded to 546 selected persons in recognition of their contribution to the rights of women in New Zealand or to women's issues in New Zealand or both.
The Electoral Bill granting women the franchise was given Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
by Governor Lord Glasgow
David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow
David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow, GCMG was a Governor of New Zealand.-Royal Navy:Boyle served with the Royal Navy during the Crimean and Second Opium Wars...
on 19 September 1893, and women voted for the first time in the election
New Zealand general election, 1893
The New Zealand general election of 1893 was held on Tuesday, 28 November in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 20 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 12th session of the New Zealand Parliament...
held on 28 November 1893 (elections for the Māori electorates were held on 20 December). In 1893, Elizabeth Yates
Elizabeth Yates (mayor)
Elizabeth Yates was the mayor of Onehunga borough in New Zealand for most of 1894. She was the first female mayor anywhere in the British Empire. Onehunga is now part of the city of Auckland.- Life :...
also became Mayor of Onehunga
Onehunga
Onehunga is a suburb of Auckland City, New Zealand and the location of the Port of Onehunga, the city's small port on the Manukau Harbour. It is eight kilometres south of the city centre, close to the volcanic cone of One Tree Hill, Maungakiekie....
, the first time such a post had been held by a female anywhere in the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
.
History
Women's suffrageWomen's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
was granted after about two decades of campaigning by women such as Kate Sheppard
Kate Sheppard
Katherine Wilson Sheppard Some sources, eg give a birth year of 1847; others eg give a birth year of 1848. was the most prominent member of New Zealand's women's suffrage movement, and is the country's most famous suffragette...
and Mary Ann Müller
Mary Ann Müller
Mary Ann Müller was a New Zealand campaigner for women's suffrage and, more generally, women's rights. She is described by the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography as "New Zealand's pioneer suffragist".She moved to New Zealand with her two sons in 1849...
and organisations such as the New Zealand branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union led by Anne Ward. They felt that female voting would increase the morality of politics; their opponents argued that politics was outside women's 'natural sphere' of the home and family. Suffrage advocates countered that allowing women to vote would encourage policies which protected and nurtured families.
From 1887, various attempts were made to pass bills enabling female suffrage, the first one by Julius Vogel
Julius Vogel
Sir Julius Vogel, KCMG was the eighth Premier of New Zealand. His administration is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works...
, 8th premier of New Zealand. Each bill came close to passing but none succeeded until a government strategy to foil the 1893 bill backfired. By 1893 there was considerable popular support for women's suffrage, and the Electoral Bill passed through the Lower House
Lower house
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...
with a large majority.
The Legislative Council
New Zealand Legislative Council
The Legislative Council of New Zealand was the upper house of the New Zealand Parliament from 1853 until 1951. Unlike the lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, the Legislative Council was appointed.-Role:...
(upper house) was divided on the issue, but when Premier Richard Seddon
Richard Seddon
Richard John Seddon , sometimes known as King Dick, is to date the longest serving Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is regarded by some, including historian Keith Sinclair, as one of New Zealand's greatest political leaders....
ordered a Liberal Party councillor to change his vote, two other councillors were so annoyed by Seddon's interference that they changed sides and voted for the bill, allowing it to pass by 20 votes to 18. Seddon had hoped to stop the bill in the upper house.
Both the Liberal government
First Liberal Government of New Zealand
The First Liberal Government of New Zealand was the first responsible government in New Zealand politics organised along party lines. The Government formed following the founding of the Liberal Party and took office on the 24 January 1891, and governed New Zealand for over 21 years until 10 July...
and the opposition subsequently claimed credit for the enfranchisement of women, and sought women's newly acquired votes on these grounds.
Women were not eligible to be elected to the House of Representatives
New Zealand House of Representatives
The New Zealand House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the legislature of New Zealand. The House and the Queen of New Zealand form the New Zealand Parliament....
until 1919 though, when three women, including Ellen Melville
Ellen Melville
Eliza Ellen Melville was a New Zealand feminist and politician.Melville was born in Tokatoka, on the Wairoa River south of Dargaville. Her father was a farmer and boatbuilder, while her mother was a former teacher...
stood. Elizabeth McCombs
Elizabeth McCombs
Elizabeth McCombs was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party, and the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament. New Zealand women gained the right to vote in 1893, though were not allowed to stand for the House of Representatives until the election of 1919...
was the first woman to win an election (to the seat held by her late husband, via widow's succession
Widow's succession
Widow's succession was a political practice prominent in some countries in the early part of the 20th century, by which a politician who died in office was succeeded by his widow, either through election or direct appointment to the seat...
) in the , followed by Catherine Stewart
Catherine Stewart
Mrs Catherine Campbell Sword Stewart was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.She won the seat of Wellington West in 1938, and was the second woman to be elected to Parliament after Elizabeth McCombs. She was defeated in the next election.Born in Glasgow, she migrated with her family to...
(1938), Mary Dreaver
Mary Dreaver
Mrs Mary Manson Dreaver was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.She won the seat of Waitemata in 1941 when a by-election was held after the death of the previous Labour Party MP, William John Lyon...
(1941), Mary Grigg
Mary Grigg
Mary Victoria Cracroft Grigg, Lady Polson, MBE was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.She represented the Mid-Canterbury electorate in Parliament from 1942 after the death of her husband Arthur Nattle Grigg who she had married in 1920, and who had held the seat from 1938...
(1942) and Mabel Howard
Mabel Howard
|-...
(1943). Melville stood for the Reform Party
New Zealand Reform Party
The Reform Party, formally the New Zealand Political Reform League, was New Zealand's second major political party, having been founded as a conservative response to the original Liberal Party...
and Grigg for the National Party
New Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...
, while Stewart, Dreaver and Howard were all Labour Party
New Zealand Labour Party
The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
. The first Maori woman MP was Iriaka Ratana in 1949; she also succeeded to the seat held by her late husband.
Women were not eligible to be appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council
New Zealand Legislative Council
The Legislative Council of New Zealand was the upper house of the New Zealand Parliament from 1853 until 1951. Unlike the lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, the Legislative Council was appointed.-Role:...
(the Upper House of Parliament) until 1941. The first two women (Mary Dreaver
Mary Dreaver
Mrs Mary Manson Dreaver was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.She won the seat of Waitemata in 1941 when a by-election was held after the death of the previous Labour Party MP, William John Lyon...
and Mary Patricia Anderson of Greymouth) were appointed in 1946 by the Labour Government
First Labour Government of New Zealand
The First Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1935 to 1949. It set the tone of New Zealand's economic and welfare policies until the 1980s, establishing a welfare state, a system of Keynesian economic management, and high levels of state intervention...
. In 1950 the "suicide squad" appointed by the National Government
First National Government of New Zealand
The First National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1949 to 1957. It was a conservative government best remembered for its role in the 1951 waterfront dispute. It also began the repositioning of New Zealand in the cold war environment...
to abolish the Legislative Council included three women: Mrs Cora Burrell of Christchurch, Mrs Ethel Gould of Auckland and Agnes Louisa Weston of Wellington.
In 1989 Helen Clark
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark, ONZ is a New Zealand political figure who was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008...
became the first female Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand
The Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand is second most senior officer in the Government of New Zealand, although this seniority does not necessarily translate into power....
. In 1997, the then-current Prime Minister Jim Bolger
Jim Bolger
James Brendan "Jim" Bolger, ONZ was the 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was elected on the promise of delivering a "Decent Society" following the previous Labour government's economic reforms, known as Rogernomics...
lost the support of the National Party
New Zealand National Party
The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...
and was replaced by Jenny Shipley
Jenny Shipley
Dame Jenny Shipley, DNZM , served as the 36th Prime Minister of New Zealand from December 1997 to December 1999, the first woman to hold this office and the first, and to date only, woman to serve as parliamentary leader of the National Party of New Zealand.-Early life:Shipley was born as Jennifer...
, making her the first female Prime Minister of New Zealand
Prime Minister of New Zealand
The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...
. In 1999, Clark became the second female Prime Minister of New Zealand, and the first woman to gain the position at an election.
The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 was authorised by the Queen by Royal Warrant dated 1 July 1993, and was awarded to 546 selected persons in recognition of their contribution to the rights of women in New Zealand or to women's issues in New Zealand or both.
See also
- Women's suffrageWomen's suffrageWomen's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
- History of voting in New ZealandHistory of voting in New Zealand-Early local body elections:Probably the first notable election held in the new colony was the election of the first Wellington Town council pursuant to the Municipal Corporations Act in October 1842. It was open to all "Burgessers". These were undoubtedly male only, though it is not clear whether...
- Henry Smith FishHenry Smith FishHenry Smith Fish was a 19th century New Zealand politician.He represented the Dunedin South electorate from 1881 to 1884 when he was defeated, then from 1887 to 1890. He then held one of the three seats for the City of Dunedin multi-member electorate from 1890 to 1893 when he was defeated, and...
(opponent)