tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/kate-sheppard-59642/articlesKate Sheppard – The Conversation2021-09-17T03:05:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676272021-09-17T03:05:27Z2021-09-17T03:05:27ZOn the money: Kate Sheppard and the making of a New Zealand feminist icon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421744/original/file-20210917-19-4o13rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1278%2C672&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1992 four New Zealand icons (and the queen) appeared on new banknotes. Part of creating national identity, these notable citizens were chosen to represent the pinnacles of achievement. </p>
<p>Āpirana Ngata, Edmund Hillary, Ernest Rutherford and Kate Sheppard — all in circulation so their acts and values can be admired, celebrated and emulated. </p>
<p>Collectively, the banknote icons signalled a bicultural nation that celebrates Māori knowledge and success, a place where women are equal and where it is possible to lead the world, including in science and exploration. </p>
<p>But while positioned on individual pedestals, these people were also part of citizenship-building that relied on team efforts. </p>
<p>Ngata was one of many talented members of the Young Māori Party. Hillary didn’t climb Everest alone. And Rutherford’s scientific breakthroughs resulted from collaborative work that stood “on the shoulders of giants”. </p>
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<img alt="Bronze sculpture showing Kate Sheppard and other suffrage leaders" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421747/original/file-20210917-23-htheh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421747/original/file-20210917-23-htheh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421747/original/file-20210917-23-htheh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421747/original/file-20210917-23-htheh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421747/original/file-20210917-23-htheh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421747/original/file-20210917-23-htheh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421747/original/file-20210917-23-htheh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A detail from Margriet Windhausen’s Kate Sheppard National Memorial, unveiled in Christchurch in 1993 by New Zealand’s first female governor-general, Dame Catherine Tizard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>Cast in bronze</h2>
<p>So what of Kate Sheppard’s position? A year after she graced the $10 note, she was put on another pedestal, literally. Unveiled in 1993, the national memorial provides a useful interpretation of the suffrage leader’s place in the collaborative women’s movement of the late 19th century. </p>
<p>The memorial’s Christchurch location, Sheppard’s name in its title and her central position cast in bronze all recognise her leadership. But the monument also recognises how, after the victory, she brought together the networks that had formed during the suffrage campaign. </p>
<p>Sheppard became the first president of the National Council of Women (NCW) in 1896, but flanking her in bronze are others central to the women’s movement.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-epicentre-of-womens-suffrage-kate-sheppards-christchurch-home-finally-opens-as-a-public-museum-151828">The 'epicentre of women's suffrage' — Kate Sheppard's Christchurch home finally opens as a public museum</a>
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<p>Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia of Taitokerau requested the vote for women from the Kotahitanga parliament. Amey Daldy was a leader of Auckland’s Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and Franchise League. Ada Wells of Christchurch worked for equal educational opportunities for girls and women. Harriet Morison of Dunedin was an advocate for working-class women and active in the Tailoresses’ Union. And Helen Nicol led the important women’s franchise campaign in Dunedin.</p>
<p>The monument also recognises the complex layers and themes of women’s suffrage, including the place of men such as MP Sir John Hall who played a vital part in the suffrage victory. Seven other prominent suffragists are also named. Smaller panels depict generic women going about their daily lives, all part of the wider movement.</p>
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<img alt="Kate Sheppard memorial" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421764/original/file-20210917-21-he0oru.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421764/original/file-20210917-21-he0oru.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421764/original/file-20210917-21-he0oru.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421764/original/file-20210917-21-he0oru.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421764/original/file-20210917-21-he0oru.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421764/original/file-20210917-21-he0oru.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421764/original/file-20210917-21-he0oru.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The full Kate Sheppard memorial in Christchurch: layers of context and meaning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>An archetypal heroine?</h2>
<p>So what makes Sheppard so iconic? As well as her role in a world-first episode in New Zealand history, I would argue Sheppard embodies many of the characteristics common to modern heroines globally. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421749/original/file-20210917-15-u2a6ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421749/original/file-20210917-15-u2a6ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421749/original/file-20210917-15-u2a6ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421749/original/file-20210917-15-u2a6ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421749/original/file-20210917-15-u2a6ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421749/original/file-20210917-15-u2a6ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421749/original/file-20210917-15-u2a6ph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>She is emblematic of a mother figure, specifically as a maternal feminist concerned with home, purity and well-being. Metaphorically, her work involves giving birth to the nation. </p>
<p>Accompanied by an image of the symbolic white camellia flower presented to pro-suffrage MPs, Sheppard’s image on the banknote is part of her invention as a feminine, stylishly dressed, commanding figure. </p>
<p>But there are other dynamics at work, too. Sheppard is sometimes framed as a reformer, called to work for a more peaceful and egalitarian society. But the 2015
punk-rock musical That Bloody Woman portrays her as a rebel warrior queen, fighting with bravery and determination. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/did-a-tragic-family-secret-influence-kate-sheppards-mission-to-give-new-zealand-women-the-vote-141526">Did a tragic family secret influence Kate Sheppard's mission to give New Zealand women the vote?</a>
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<p>Intrigue in her private life also adds to Sheppard’s appeal. Was her marriage to Walter Sheppard unhappy? They lived apart from 1905 until he died in 1915. Author Rachel McAlpine wrote a fictional account involving an extramarital affair and a love child. </p>
<p>And what of the rumours surrounding Sheppard’s friendship with William Lovell-Smith, who she married towards the end of her life after the death of his wife Jenny? Her private life hints at mystery and suggests a woman advancing new ways of co-habiting.</p>
<p>There is also tragedy. Sheppard lost her only child, Douglas, in 1910, and outlived her nearest and dearest friends and relations, including her only grandchild. </p>
<p>Sheppard’s shape-shifting presence leaves room for us to create our own versions to augment all the writing she left revealing her beliefs and ideas. The Kate Sheppard Women’s Bookshop aptly memorialises her, and her leadership is honoured through scholarships and awards. </p>
<p>All this has helped keep her memory alive, especially with the feminists who have always claimed her as a heroine. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421752/original/file-20210917-25-184f5wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421752/original/file-20210917-25-184f5wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421752/original/file-20210917-25-184f5wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421752/original/file-20210917-25-184f5wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421752/original/file-20210917-25-184f5wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421752/original/file-20210917-25-184f5wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421752/original/file-20210917-25-184f5wv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Princess Te Kirihaehae Te Puea Herangi as a girl.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ref: 1/2-005159-G. Alexander Turnbull Library</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<h2>Who else but Sheppard?</h2>
<p>Sheppard is on the money, then, but who else might represent the heroic archetype?
Waikato woman of mana and Kīngitanga leader Te Puea Hērangi is surely one, described by historian J.G.A. Pocock as possibly the most influential woman in New Zealand’s political history. </p>
<p>Te Puea was also a mother figure. A literal healer, she nursed her people back to health — especially after the smallpox epidemic of 1913 and the devastating 1918 influenza epidemic that killed a quarter of the population at Mangatāwhiri, leaving many orphans to be cared for. </p>
<p>Her motto is said to have been “work, eat, pray, work again”. Te Puea was called to help her people and was dedicated to leading their resurgence. In particular, her efforts secured the Kīngitanga movement. Part of her legacy as the most active leader of her generation was the building of Tūrangawaewae marae at Ngāruawāhia. </p>
<p>Like Sheppard, Te Puea’s health and welfare work included campaigns against alcohol and smoking. In the face of Pākehā resistance she built an impressive health facility at Tūrangawaewae. In 1951 she became the first patron of the Māori Women’s Welfare League.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nz-was-first-to-grant-women-the-vote-in-1893-but-then-took-26-years-to-let-them-stand-for-parliament-123467">NZ was first to grant women the vote in 1893, but then took 26 years to let them stand for parliament</a>
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<p>Her activism included seeking compensation for land confiscation. An early peace warrior, she led a non-violent campaign against conscription during the first world war. Like Sheppard, she was part of an international network and well-connected around the Pacific. </p>
<p>Also like Sheppard, Te Puea was strategic and collaborated with many men. She launched Māui Pōmare’s political career and later collaborated with Āpirana Ngata. Well known in the Pākehā world as Princess Te Puea, in 1937 she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. </p>
<p>In many ways, of course, Christchurch and Ngāruawāhia were worlds apart. While both women challenged the state, Sheppard represented a mainstream Pākehā establishment, whereas Te Puea pursued mana motuhake for her people. Yet, placed side by side and viewed through an early 21st-century lens, both are important heroines in history. </p>
<p>Both stand for citizens working together for the common good. Kate Sheppard might be on the money to represent women’s rights as a fundamental part of Aotearoa New Zealand. But, as her memorial suggests, it’s important we don’t see her as the only woman worthy of being on a pedestal.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Pickles received funding from Royal Society Te Aparangi James Cook Research Fellowship. </span></em></p>This Suffrage Day, September 19, we remember Kate Sheppard as a heroine of the movement. But we should also remember others who paved the way, even if they don’t have a banknote to their name.Katie Pickles, Professor of History, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1518282020-12-14T18:17:22Z2020-12-14T18:17:22ZThe ‘epicentre of women’s suffrage’ — Kate Sheppard’s Christchurch home finally opens as a public museum<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374655/original/file-20201214-17-17rwyox.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3988%2C2994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kate Sheppard was around 40 in 1888, the year she and her family moved into the brand-new wooden villa at 83 Clyde Road, Ilam. Now part of inner Christchurch, it was then a rural section some five kilometres from the city centre.</p>
<p>Today, 132 years later, what is now known as Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House will be opened by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.</p>
<p>The government <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/houses/122992796/jacinda-ardern-says-kate-sheppard-house-will-open-to-the-public-this-year">bought the house</a> in 2018 to mark the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage and its former owner’s pivotal role in the movement. The landmark property will now be open to the public as a museum promoting and and celebrating Sheppard’s life and achievements.</p>
<p>The feminist pioneer had migrated to Christchurch from Scotland in 1869. She married city councillor and merchant Walter Sheppard in 1871. Their son Douglas was seven when they moved into Clyde Road, which was near where her two sisters, a brother and friends already lived. </p>
<p>Because women were largely excluded from the male world of politics, the house served as both home and unpaid workplace. Emblematically, a domestic space was the epicentre of woman’s suffrage, birthplace of the campaign that would see New Zealand become the first country in the world to enfranchise all women, regardless of race, class or creed, on September 19, 1893. </p>
<h2>A centre of activism</h2>
<p>During the prime years of her activism, from 1888 until 1902, Sheppard worked in the house, writing letters, speeches and articles. It was where newspapers and books were read, ideas formed and actions plotted. Other women activists, such as Ada Wells, and male supporters Alfred Saunders and John Hall were regular visitors. </p>
<p>It was in the dining room that the iconic <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/womens-suffrage-petition-presented-to-parliament">third petition</a>, with 32,000 signatures from around the country, was pasted together and wrapped around a wooden handle for Hall to roll down the aisle in parliament. And it was where the suffrage victory was celebrated. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-new-zealand-was-the-first-country-where-women-won-the-right-to-vote-103219">Why New Zealand was the first country where women won the right to vote</a>
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<p>After 1893 the property remained a hub of feminist ideas for social change. As Sheppard later put it, there were still many “fossilised prejudices” to work on. In 1896, she became the founding president of the National Council of Women, directing activities and fostering international connections from the house. </p>
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<img alt="Kate Shappard" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374652/original/file-20201214-15-7b5kzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Kate Sheppard.</span>
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<p>Sheppard worked hard, advocating for health and well-being, education and social, political and economic justice. The Married Women’s Property Act 1884 and the Divorce Act 1898 were two further important feminist victories, but it took until 1910 for the repeal of the 1869 Contagious Diseases Act, which unfairly targeted prostitutes.</p>
<p>Sheppard believed in women’s economic independence, their place in the professions and equal pay for equal work. She campaigned for women to be able to stand for parliament, to be appointed as justices of the peace, to act as jurors and to be guardians of children. </p>
<p>Despite its illustrious history, the Clyde Road house was mostly overlooked for decades. But thanks to a succession of owner-occupiers who poured love and money into the villa, it has not only survived but thrived. </p>
<p>John Joseph Dougall, lawyer and mayor of Christchurch from 1911 to 1912, bought the house from Walter Sheppard and undertook grand Edwardian improvements. It was further extended and modernised during the ownership of Julia Burbury and family, who for 33 years were the last private owners. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/did-a-tragic-family-secret-influence-kate-sheppards-mission-to-give-new-zealand-women-the-vote-141526">Did a tragic family secret influence Kate Sheppard's mission to give New Zealand women the vote?</a>
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<p>Unlisted and largely unknown when Burbury bought it, the house eventually became a category one historic place in 2010. By then, a second wave of feminism had raised the status of women’s history, recovering and celebrating Sheppard and her colleagues as role models. </p>
<h2>A feminist shrine?</h2>
<p>With the 1993 suffrage centenary and Sheppard’s likeness gracing the New Zealand $10 note, she has become a national heroine. Is her house likely to become something of a feminist shrine, too? If so, it would be part of a global trend. </p>
<p>In 1965, the family home of US women’s rights pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Seneca Falls, New York, became a National Historical Landmark. She lived there from 1847 until 1862, and referred to the farmhouse as the “centre of the rebellion”. </p>
<p>It is now part of the extensive Women’s Rights National Historical Park. Opened in 1980, it focuses on the first Women’s Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls in 1848, but <a href="https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/elizabeth-cady-stanton-house.htm">claims</a> a broad philosophical brief:</p>
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<p>It is a story of struggles for civil rights, human rights, and equality, global struggles that continue today. The efforts of women’s rights leaders, abolitionists, and other 19th century reformers remind us that all people must be accepted as equals. </p>
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<p>The former home of Cady Stanton’s suffrage partner, Susan B. Anthony, also became a National Historic Landmark in 1965. The celebrated American civil rights leader ran the National American Woman Suffrage Association from the house in Rochester, New York, where she lived until her death in 1906. </p>
<p>Today, the Susan B. Anthony <a href="https://susanb.org/">Museum and House</a> “collects and exhibits artifacts related to her life and work, and offers tours and interpretive programs to inspire and challenge individuals to make a positive difference”. </p>
<p>In Britain, Manchester’s Pankhurst Centre opened in 1987 as “an iconic site of women’s activism, past and present”. The home of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and her family from 1898 to 1907, the first meeting of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) took place in its parlour. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/nz-was-first-to-grant-women-the-vote-in-1893-but-then-took-26-years-to-let-them-stand-for-parliament-123467">NZ was first to grant women the vote in 1893, but then took 26 years to let them stand for parliament</a>
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<p>Keeping activism alive, the house is also a women’s centre and home to Manchester Women’s Aid, a service for victims of domestic abuse. It <a href="https://www.pankhursttrust.org/pankhurst-centre">seeks to be</a> a “unique and vibrant place where women can learn together, work on projects and socialise”.</p>
<p>With hindsight, early European feminists were reformers, but they could also be agents of colonisation. In Aotearoa New Zealand, their connections with Māori focused on temperance and they tended to assume assimilation was inevitable. </p>
<p>In the US and Britain the emerging feminist “shrines” have attempted to widen their remits accordingly. How Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House views its purpose and makes public history is a story that begins today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151828/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Pickles received funding from Royal Society Te Apārangi as a James Cook Research Fellow and a University of Canterbury Tessa Malcolm Bequest. She was part of a Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Kate Sheppard House Interpretation Reference Group.</span></em></p>Overlooked for decades, the house where the women’s suffrage campaign was launched finally becomes a public landmark.Katie Pickles, Professor of History, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1415262020-07-02T20:08:47Z2020-07-02T20:08:47ZDid a tragic family secret influence Kate Sheppard’s mission to give New Zealand women the vote?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345161/original/file-20200702-2644-tsb1hh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C14%2C4943%2C3597&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kate Sheppard (seated at centre) with the National Council of Women in Christchurch. 1896.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The family of pioneering New Zealand suffragist Kate Sheppard kept an important secret – one that possibly explains a lot about her life, her beliefs and her motivation.</p>
<p>The secret involved her father, Andrew Wilson Malcolm, and what happened to him after Kate was born. An extensive and painstaking quest by her great great niece Tessa Malcolm has revealed the truth about his fate.</p>
<p>Sadly, Tessa died in 2013 before publishing her decades-long research. I am now completing her work and hope to publish a new biography of Sheppard in 2023, the 130th anniversary of New Zealand becoming the first place in the world to give women the vote. </p>
<p>Solving the mystery of Andrew’s death deepens our understanding of Kate and her extraordinary life.</p>
<h2>What happened to Kate Sheppard’s father?</h2>
<p>Following family leads and with detailed searches of official and military records, wills and graves, Tessa finally established the truth: Andrew Malcolm died aged 42 of the delirium tremens (DTs) in New Mexico on January 26, 1862. </p>
<p>The DTs are a severe form of alcohol withdrawal and a horrible way to die. Symptoms include fever, seizures and hallucinations.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345155/original/file-20200702-2679-1dvu58m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345155/original/file-20200702-2679-1dvu58m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345155/original/file-20200702-2679-1dvu58m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345155/original/file-20200702-2679-1dvu58m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345155/original/file-20200702-2679-1dvu58m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345155/original/file-20200702-2679-1dvu58m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345155/original/file-20200702-2679-1dvu58m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Kate Sheppard.</span>
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<p>It had already been a long and difficult slog for Andrew. He was one of thousands of Scotsmen who served in overseas armies throughout the 19th century, motivated by a lust for adventure, sympathy for a cause, financial reward, a desire to emigrate or just to escape their lives at home. </p>
<p>When he died he was months short of completing ten years service in the Union Army. His burial site at Fort Craig was <a href="https://www.historynet.com/grave-robbers-desecrate-and-loot-fort-craig-nm-cemetery.htm">recently looted</a>, which led to the official exhumation and reburial of bodies, Andrew’s remains possibly among them. </p>
<p>So we now know the Scottish father of a leader in the New Zealand Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) died an alcoholic amid the horrors of the American Civil War. He had served and sacrificed his life on US soil, far from his wife and five children at home in the British Isles. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nz-was-first-to-grant-women-the-vote-in-1893-but-then-took-26-years-to-let-them-stand-for-parliament-123467">NZ was first to grant women the vote in 1893, but then took 26 years to let them stand for parliament</a>
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<h2>The personal becomes political</h2>
<p>As is well known, after the family left Scotland and re-grouped in New Zealand, Kate went on to play a key role in the movement to grant women the vote.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345162/original/file-20200702-2658-8oeq17.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345162/original/file-20200702-2658-8oeq17.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345162/original/file-20200702-2658-8oeq17.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345162/original/file-20200702-2658-8oeq17.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345162/original/file-20200702-2658-8oeq17.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345162/original/file-20200702-2658-8oeq17.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345162/original/file-20200702-2658-8oeq17.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The late Tessa Malcolm, great great niece of Kate Sheppard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The peaceful campaign was closely aligned with the temperance movement. It argued that moral, enfranchised women were needed to clean up society by voting against the “demon drink”. </p>
<p>A New Zealand tour in 1885 by Mary Leavitt of the American WCTU was a catalyst for local organising. Sheppard became the secretary of the WCTU franchise department. </p>
<p>With her own family experience and connection with America, we can certainly speculate that for Kate temperance was more than a platform from which women could gain the vote. It’s highly probable that her quests for a sober society and votes for women were personally entwined. </p>
<h2>A missing page from history</h2>
<p>So why did Andrew’s death remain a secret? Stigma, a sense of shame, or just the natural desire for privacy could all be explanations.</p>
<p>In her 1992 biography of Kate Sheppard, Judith Devaliant dedicated only two pages to Kate’s life prior to her 1869 migration to New Zealand around the age of 21. Of Andrew she wrote: “His death has not been traced with any accuracy, although it is known that he died at an early age leaving his widow to cope with five young children.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hundred-years-of-votes-for-women-how-far-weve-come-and-how-far-theres-still-to-go-91169">Hundred years of votes for women: how far we've come and how far there's still to go</a>
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<p>The biography is also vague about the details of his life. He was born in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, in 1819 and married Jemima Crawford Souter on Islay in the Hebrides in 1842. Documents describe his occupation variously as lawyer, banker, brewer’s clerk and legal clerk. </p>
<p>There is no mention of Andrew in either the New Zealand History Net or <em>Book of New Zealand Women</em> entries on Kate Sheppard. Until now, the focus is on Kate’s adult life and work, with family taking a back seat. </p>
<p>Even in her own 1993 <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2s20/sheppard-katherine-wilson#:%7E:text=This%20biography%2C%20written%20by%20Tessa,and%20updated%20in%20May%2C%202013.&text=She%20was%20called%20Catherine%20after,the%20names%20Katherine%20or%20Kate.">entry</a> on Kate in the <em>Dictionary of New Zealand Biography</em> Tessa simply wrote: “Her father died in 1862”. The implication was that Andrew had died in Scotland, although Dublin and Jamaica also appear in genealogical records. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345167/original/file-20200702-2674-346gej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345167/original/file-20200702-2674-346gej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345167/original/file-20200702-2674-346gej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345167/original/file-20200702-2674-346gej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345167/original/file-20200702-2674-346gej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345167/original/file-20200702-2674-346gej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345167/original/file-20200702-2674-346gej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ruins of the officers’ quarters, Fort Craig, New Mexico, USA: last resting place of Kate Sheppard’s father.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>The search goes on</h2>
<p>But Tessa was already aware of Andrew’s New Mexico fate by 1990, two years before Devaliant’s book was published. After following dead ends and disproving family rumours she had solved the puzzle of what really happened to the ancestor she referred to as the “bete noire” of her research. </p>
<p>Can we conclusively say that Kate Sheppard’s temperance and suffragist work was directly linked to knowledge of her father’s death? Or are we dealing with an irony of history, albeit a sad one?</p>
<p>As yet we can’t be sure. But Kate’s mother definitely knew the cause of Andrew’s death and we know she greatly influenced Kate. I believe it was also likely known by other senior (and also influential) family members, but kept quiet. </p>
<p>The fact the truth was hidden so well suggests a degree of deliberate concealment. By building on Tessa’s groundbreaking research I hope to reveal more of a remarkable story that connects Scotland, America and New Zealand to a global first for women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141526/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Pickles receives funding from University of Canterbury Tessa Malcolm Bequest. </span></em></p>We now know how the father of New Zealand’s suffrage pioneer died, and it raises fascinating questions about what drove her morally and politically.Katie Pickles, Professor of History at the University of Canterbury, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1234672019-09-18T20:36:05Z2019-09-18T20:36:05ZNZ was first to grant women the vote in 1893, but then took 26 years to let them stand for parliament<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292896/original/file-20190917-19045-ei5tjs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C28%2C795%2C470&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After winning the right to vote in 1893, New Zealand's suffragists kept up the battle, but the unity found in rallying around the major cause had receded.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tribute_to_the_Suffragettes,_close_up.jpg">Jim Henderson/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today marks the passing of the much celebrated <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage">1893 Electoral Act</a>, 126 years ago, which made New Zealand the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote.</p>
<p>But it would take 26 years before the often twinned step of allowing women to stand for parliament happened. On October 29, it will be a century since the passing of the <a href="http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_act/wpra191910gv1919n16391/">1919 Women’s Parliamentary Rights Act</a>, which opened the way for women to enter politics. </p>
<p>Women’s suffrage and women’s right to stand for parliament are natural companions, two sides of the same coin. It would be fair to assume both happened at the same time. </p>
<p>Early women’s suffrage bills included women standing for parliament. But, in the hope of success, the right was omitted from the third and successful 1893 bill. Suffragists didn’t want to risk women standing for parliament sinking the bill. </p>
<p>The leader of the suffrage movement, <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2s20/sheppard-katherine-wilson">Kate Sheppard</a>, reluctantly accepted the omission and expected that the right would follow soon afterwards. But that didn’t happen. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-new-zealand-was-the-first-country-where-women-won-the-right-to-vote-103219">Why New Zealand was the first country where women won the right to vote</a>
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<h2>Post-vote agitation</h2>
<p>After women won suffrage, agitation for several egalitarian causes, including women in parliament, continued. The Women’s Christian Temperance Movement (<a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/women-together/new-zealand-womens-christian-temperance-union">WCTU</a>) and, from 1896, the National Council of Women (<a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/women-together/national-council-women-new-zealand">NCW</a>) both called for the bar to be removed. </p>
<p>Women including Kate Sheppard, <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2s24/sievwright-margaret-home">Margaret Sievwright</a>, <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2h29/henderson-stella-may">Stella Henderson</a> and <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3p1/page-sarah">Sarah Saunders Page</a> kept up the battle. But the unity found in rallying around the major women’s suffrage cause was lacking and the heady and energetic climate of 1893 had receded. </p>
<p>From 1894 to 1900, sympathetic male politicians from across the political spectrum presented eight separate bills. Supportive conservatives emphasised the “unique maternal influence” that women would bring to parliament. Conservative MP <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3n4/newman-alfred-kingcome">Alfred Newman</a> argued that New Zealand must retain its world-leading reputation for social legislation, but he downplayed the significance. He predicted that even if women were allowed to stand for parliament, few would be interested and even fewer would be elected. </p>
<p>Left-leaning supportive MPs <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2r31/russell-george-warren">George Russell</a> and <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2t16/taylor-thomas-edward">Tommy Taylor</a> saw the matter as one of extending women’s rights and the next logical step towards societal equality. But contemplating women in the House was a step too far and all attempts failed. </p>
<h2>Enduring prejudice</h2>
<p>The failure in the pre-war years was largely because any support for women in parliament was outweighed by enduring prejudice against their direct participation in politics. </p>
<p>At the beginning of the new century, Prime Minister <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2s11/seddon-richard-john">Richard Seddon</a> was well aware of public opinion being either indifferent to or against women in parliament. A new generation of women with professional careers who might stand for parliament, if allowed, comprised a small minority. </p>
<p>Much to the chagrin of supporters, New Zealand began to lag behind other countries. <a href="https://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/Australian_Electoral_History/milestone.htm">Australia simultaneously granted women the right to vote</a> and stand for parliament in 1902 at the federal level, with the exception of Aboriginal women in some states. </p>
<p>Women in Finland were able to both vote and stand for election from 1906, as part of reforms following unrest. In 1907, 19 women were elected to the <a href="http://www.helsinki.fi/sukupuolentutkimus/aanioikeus/en/articles/first.htm">new Finnish parliament</a>. </p>
<h2>The game changer: the first world war</h2>
<p>Importantly, during the first world war, women’s status improved rapidly and this overrode previous prejudices. Women became essential and valued citizens in the war effort. Most contributed from their homes, volunteering their domestic skills, while increasing numbers entered the public sphere as nurses, factory and public sector workers. </p>
<p><a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3m51/melville-eliza-ellen">Ellen Melville</a> became an Auckland city councillor in 1913. <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2w11/wells-ada">Ada Wells</a> was elected to the Christchurch City Council in 1917. Women proved their worth in keeping the home fires burning while men were away fighting. </p>
<p>In 1918, British women, with some conditions, were enfranchised and allowed to stand for parliament. <a href="https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=his&document=chap2&lang=e">Canada’s federal government</a> also gave most of its women both the right to vote and stand for parliament. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/100-years-since-women-won-the-right-to-be-mps-what-it-was-like-for-the-pioneers-105907">100 years since women won the right to be MPs – what it was like for the pioneers</a>
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<p>Late in 1918, MP <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3m3/mccombs-james">James McCombs</a>, the New Zealand Labour Party’s first president and long-time supporter of women’s rights, opportunistically included women standing for parliament in a legislative council amendment bill. It was unsuccessful, mostly due to technicalities, and Prime Minister <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2m39/massey-william-ferguson">Bill Massey</a> promised to pursue the matter. </p>
<p>Disappointed feminist advocate <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2m15/mackay-jessie">Jessie Mackay</a> pointed to women’s service during the war and the <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/keyword/influenza">recent influenza epidemic</a> and shamed New Zealand for failing to keep up with international developments. </p>
<p>Women’s wartime work, renewed feminist activism and male parliamentary support combined to make the 1919 act a foregone conclusion. Introducing the bill, Massey said he did not doubt it would pass because it was important to keep up with Britain. The opposition leader, Joseph Ward, thought war had changed what was due to women, and Labour Party leader Harry Holland pushed <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106019788832&view=1up&seq=1001">women’s role as moral citizens</a>.</p>
<p>The Legislative Council (upper house) held out and women had to wait until 1941 for the right to be appointed there. It took until 1933 for the first woman, <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4m3/mccombs-elizabeth-reid">Elizabeth McCombs</a>, to be elected to parliament. The belief that a woman’s place was in the home and not parliament, the bastion of masculine power, endured. </p>
<p>Between 1935 and 1975, only 14 women were elected to parliament, compared to 298 men. It was not until the advent of a <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/womens-movement/page-6">second wave of feminism</a> and the introduction of <a href="https://elections.nz/democracy-in-nz/what-is-mmp/">proportional representation in 1996</a> that numbers of women in the house began to increase.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Pickles receives funding from Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi.</span></em></p>New Zealand was the first nation to grant women the vote in 1893, but during the pre-war years enduring prejudice against women in politics outweighed any support for women to stand for parliamentKatie Pickles, Professor of History at the University of Canterbury and current Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi James Cook Research Fellow, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1032192018-09-19T00:02:08Z2018-09-19T00:02:08ZWhy New Zealand was the first country where women won the right to vote<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236328/original/file-20180914-177962-ftgwba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=89%2C53%2C2306%2C1394&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A memorial by sculptor Margriet Windhausen depicts the life-size figures of Kate Sheppard and other leaders of the Aotearoa New Zealand suffrage movement.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bernard Spragg/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>125 years ago today Aotearoa New Zealand became the first country in the world to <a href="https://mch.govt.nz/suffrage-125">grant all women the right to vote</a>. </p>
<p>The event was part of an ongoing international movement for women to exit from an inferior position in society and to enjoy equal rights with men. </p>
<p>But why did this global first happen in a small and isolated corner of the South Pacific?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/womens-votes-six-amazing-facts-from-around-the-world-91196">Women's votes: six amazing facts from around the world</a>
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<h2>Setting the stage</h2>
<p>In the late 19th century, Aotearoa New Zealand was a volatile and rapidly changing contact zone where British settlers confidently introduced systematic colonisation, often at the expense of the indigenous Māori population. Settlers were keen to create a new world <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/ideas-in-new-zealand/page-5">society that adapted the best of Britain</a> and left behind behind the negative aspects of the industrial revolution – Britain’s <a href="https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/dark-satanic-mills-the-archaeology-of-the-worlds-first-industrial-city.htm">dark satanic mills</a>. </p>
<p>Many supported universal male suffrage and a less rigid class structure, enlightened race relations and humanitarianism that also extended to improving women’s lives. These <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/new-zealand-society-its-characteristics/page-2">liberal aspirations towards societal equality</a> contributed to the 1893 women’s suffrage victory. </p>
<p>At the end of the 19th century, feminists in New Zealand had a long list of demands. It included equal pay, prevention of violence against women, economic independence for women, old age pensions and reform of marriage, divorce, health and education – and peace and justice for all. </p>
<p>The women’s suffrage cause captured widespread support and emerged as the uniting right for women’s equality in society. As <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2h28/henderson-christina-kirk">suffragist Christina Henderson</a> later summed up, 1893 captured “the mental and spiritual uplift” women experienced upon release “from their age-long inferiority complex”. </p>
<p>Two other factors assisted New Zealand’s global first for women: a relatively small size and population and the lack of an entrenched conservative tradition. In Britain, <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/john-stuart-mill-9408210">John Stuart Mill</a> presented a <a href="https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/womens-suffrage-timeline">first petition for women’s suffrage to the British Parliament</a> in 1866, but it took until wartime 1918 for limited women’s suffrage there.</p>
<h2>Women as moral citizens</h2>
<p>As a “colonial frontier”, New Zealand had a surplus of men, especially in resource towns. Pragmatically, this placed a premium on women for their part as wives, mothers and moral compasses. </p>
<p>There was a fear of a chaotic frontier full of marauding single men. This colonial context saw conservative men who supported family values supporting suffrage. During the 1880s, depression and its accompanying poverty, sexual licence and <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/alcohol/page-2">drunken disorder</a> further enhanced <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/womens-health/page-4">women’s value as settling maternal figures</a>. Women voters promised a stabilising effect on society. </p>
<p>New Zealand gained much strength from an <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/womens-movement/print">international feminist movement</a>. Women were riding a first feminist wave that, most often grounded in their biological difference as life givers and carers, cast them as <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/gender-inequalities/page-1">moral citizens</a>. </p>
<p>Local feminists eagerly drew upon and circulated the best knowledge from Britain, America and Europe. When Mary Leavitt, the leader of the US-based <a href="https://www.wctu.org/">Women’s Christian Temperance Union</a> (WCTU) visited New Zealand in 1885, her goal was to set up local branches. This had a direct impact, leading to the country’s <a href="http://www.wctu.org.nz/">first national women’s organisation</a> and providing a platform for women to secure the vote in order to affect their colonial feminist concerns. </p>
<p>Other places early to grant women’s suffrage shared the presence of liberal and egalitarian beliefs, a surplus of men over women, and less entrenched conservatism. The four frontier US western mountain states led the way with Wyoming (1869), Utah (1870), Colorado (1893) and Idaho (1895). South Australia (1894) and Western Australia (1899) made the 19th century and, before the first world war, were joined by other western US states, Australia, Finland and Scandinavia. </p>
<h2>Local agency</h2>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236494/original/file-20180915-177956-iza4cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236494/original/file-20180915-177956-iza4cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236494/original/file-20180915-177956-iza4cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236494/original/file-20180915-177956-iza4cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236494/original/file-20180915-177956-iza4cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236494/original/file-20180915-177956-iza4cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236494/original/file-20180915-177956-iza4cg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Social reformer and suffragist Kate Sheppard, around 1905.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>New Zealand was fortunate to have many effective women leaders. Most prominent among them was <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2s20/sheppard-katherine-wilson">Kate Sheppard</a>. In 1887, Sheppard became head of the WCTU’s Christchurch branch and led the campaign for the vote. </p>
<p>The campaign leaders were well organised and hard working. Their tactics were petitions, pamphlets, letters, public talks and lobbying politicians - this was a <a href="https://natlib.govt.nz/he-tohu/about/womens-suffrage-petition">peaceful era</a> before the suffragette militancy during the early 20th century elsewhere.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/adela-pankhurst-the-forgotten-sister-who-doesnt-fit-neatly-into-suffragette-history-101918">Adela Pankhurst: the forgotten sister who doesn't fit neatly into suffragette history</a>
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<p>The women were persistent and overcame setbacks. It took multiple attempts in parliament before the Electoral Act 1893 was passed. Importantly, the suffragists got public opinion behind the cause. Mass support was demonstrated through petitions between 1891 and 1893, in total <a href="http://archives.govt.nz/provenance-of-power/womens-suffrage-petition/about">garnering 31,872 signatures</a>, amounting to a quarter of Aotearoa’s adult women.</p>
<p>Pragmatically, the women worked in allegiance with men in parliament who could introduce the bills. In particular, veteran conservative <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1h5/hall-john">Sir John Hall</a> viewed women’s suffrage as a way to a more moral and civil society. </p>
<p>The Suffrage 125 celebratory slogan “<a href="http://women.govt.nz/about/new-zealand-women/history/suffrage-125">whakatū wāhine – women stand up</a>!” captures the intention of continuing progressive and egalitarian traditions. Recognising diverse cultural backgrounds is now important. With hindsight, the feminist movement can be implicated as an agent of colonisation, but it did support votes for Māori women. <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/27887/meri-mangakahia">Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia</a> presented a motion to the newly formed Māori parliament to allow women to vote and sit in it.</p>
<p>New Zealand remains a small country that can experience rapid social and economic change. Evoking its colonial past, however, it retains both a reputation as a tough and masculine place of beer-swilling, rugby-playing blokes and a tradition of staunch, tea drinking, domesticated women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103219/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Pickles receives funding from the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi as a James Cook Research Fellow.</span></em></p>125 years ago today women in New Zealand were the first to win the right to vote. Why did this global first happen in a small and isolated corner of the South Pacific?Katie Pickles, Professor of History at the University of Canterbury and current Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi James Cook Research Fellow, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.