This Wednesday, September 19, marks 96 years since the women of New Zealand gained the right to vote. Women's Sufferage is something which is taken for granted nowadays but in 1878 when the issue of women's sufferage first came to the fore, the fight was a very real, and at timers, bitter one.

The women of early New Zealand suffered under the same oppression and hardships as they fled from in England, as did the working class. New Zealand was not the land of hope and glory that it had been made out to be but contained the same old oppressive class structure as England. Both working class and middle class women were placed under individual and collective suppression: both had a great deal to gain from fighting it.

Working women earned as little as 2s for a twelve hour day; girl apprentices were forced to work 12 months without pay in order to learn their trade and then, when they were due to be paid, were sacked; employers would often lower the wages even further whilst they vied with other manufacturers to produce the cheapest goods. No attempts were made to protect the working conditions of women.

In 1889, the Premier of New Zealand said that it would be impossible to provide a minimum wage of 6s a week for women. There were no great principles involved: it was impossible because the demands of capital for cheap and uncomplaining labour were considered more important than those of women for just and adequate living standards. The trade unions did very little to protect the interests of working women.

Middle class women weren't much better off. Although they weren't in such a desperate position financially, they had very few outlets for productive activities apart from house-work and childbearing. Those women who attempted to step outside the traditional roles were met with undisguised violence from the male society. At the Otago Medical School male students in the dissecting room threw human flesh at one of the first women medical students in an effort to discourage her.

Marriage and divorce laws were equally restrictive to working and middle class women. Divorce was obtainable through an Act of Parliament and consequently was obtainable only by the very rich and powerful. If a husband deserted his wife, he was legally entitled to return periodically and take possession of any property or money that she might have accumulated in his absence. Upon marriage, a woman automatically gave up all rights to her own property.