Did one of your ancestors sign the giant 1893 petition calling for women’s right to vote? This historic document records the names of one in five New Zealand women at the time. Now you can search their names in an online database and contribute comments and information about them.
Three years after the vote was won in 1893, a convention of representatives of 11 women's groups from throughout New Zealand resolved itself into the National Council of Women.
Ada Wells is remembered for her contribution to the women's suffrage campaign in the 1880s and 90s, and for becoming the first woman elected to the Christchurch City Council in 1917.
Seated portrait of Mrs Elizabeth Yates, c.1894. In 1893 Yates was
elected mayor of Onehunga, the first woman in the British Empire to
hold this position.
New Zealand women went to the polls for the first time, just 10 weeks after the Governor signed the Electoral Act 1893, making this country the first in the world to enfranchise all adult women.
As well as appearing on out $10 note, women's suffragist Kate Sheppard features in The A to Z of New Zealand stamp series produced by New Zealand Post in 2008.
In 1889 former Premier Julius Vogel wrote a futuristic novel entitled Anno domini 2000; or, woman's destiny in which women held the highest posts in government and poverty had vanished.
Anna Stout was dedicated to the
advancement of women, championing calls for equal political, legal, social and
educational rights. She was particularly concerned for the education of Maori
women.
This extract is from 'What a difference between a fish and a woman', which was an address given by the president of the Women's Franchise League in Dunedin.
This is the text of a leaflet published by the Women's Christian Temperance Union in May 1888, which was sent to every member of the House of Representatives.
