Organising for Suffrage Day - 19th September.

Many TEU branches organise events to mark Suffrage Day. For a number of years, a Suffrage day breakfast at Victoria University was partly funded by the branch and partly by the vice-chancellor; at Lincoln it is fully funded by the vice-chancellor and women give a koha to a women’s organisation.

TEU Women have organised 'Suffrage morning teas', lunchtime speaker events and cocktail hours. In recent years, branches have shown "A gal some gratitude" by gifting a white camellia to amazing women in their workplace on Suffrage Day. If this sounds like a great thing to do for your branch, check out the easy steps outlined in the PDF guide below.

So, get a few women together and start planning a celebration at your institution. Start small and keep it simple.

Contact the National Women’s Officer for more support and information: womens.officer@teu.ac.nz

In 1893, New Zealand became the first nation in the world to grant women the right to vote within a self-governing western democratic political system. The women who fought for this right were known as ‘Suffragettes’, from the word ‘suffrage’ which means political franchise, or simply franchise, which is the right to vote in public, political elections.

Kate Sheppard (check a $10 note for her picture) was an instrumental figure in securing the right to vote for women in New Zealand, but it did not come easily. Facing entrenched views of male domination, media backlash and counter-petitions, it took years of hard work and struggle by the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement and many suffragists. These women and their supporters had been campaigning for the right to vote since the mid-1880s, and organised a series of huge petitions to Parliament. In 1891 eight petitions containing more than 9000 signatures were gathered, and in 1892 six petitions containing almost 20,000. The final 32,000 signature petition was presented on a 766-foot-long document and led to the signing of a new Electoral Act into law on 19 September 1893.

Suffragists celebrated throughout the country, and congratulations poured in from suffrage campaigners in Britain, Australia, the United States and elsewhere: one wrote that New Zealand’s achievement gave ‘new hope and life to all women struggling for emancipation’. It is important to note however, that the ability for ALL women in Aotearoa to vote was not assured. At that time, electoral franchise only extended to British citizens, including those who had become naturalised. For this reason most Chinese were excluded, as were people of other nationalities. While the legislation extended suffrage to wāhine Māori, wāhine registered on the European roll and the Māori roll voted on different days and by different methods. Europeans voted by secret ballot but those in the Māori electorate voted by a show of hands meaning there was no anonymity.

Today Suffrage day (19 September) provides an opportunity for individuals and organisations to celebrate New Zealand’s suffrage achievements and look for ways to make further progress to benefit women and achieve gender equality.

• A brief NZ history of women’s suffrage with national and international timelines can be found here: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/womens-suffrage
  
• A more complete picture of suffrage for wāhine Māori can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/archives-new-zealand/m%C4%81ori-women-go-to-the-polls/2132000660196539/
  
• A history of NZ’s women’s movement can be found here: https://teara.govt.nz/en/womens-movement
  
• A short essay adapted from Dorothy Page’s introduction to The Suffragists: Women Worked for the Vote. Includes details of political contexts and events in NZ leading up to the granting of the vote: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/files/documents/womenandthevoteinNewZealand.pdf

You might also be interested in the movie Suffragette is a 2015 British historical period drama: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3077214/