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.

The Temperance Movement

The Women's Christian Temperence Union was the principle organisations through which women organised to gain the vote. The WCTU saw that much of the suffering that women endured was related to the high level of alcoholism and drunkeness that existed in New Zealand. The sale of liquor was almost completely uncontrolled, and this of course meant that the breweries and liquor retailers were making huge profits out of the misery of men and women.

The liquor lobby was most antagonistic towards the suffrage movement because they realised the threat which women having the vote would pose to them.

Seddon used the liquor lobby extensively to block and destroy measures coming into the House to give women the vote.

In 1878, 1879, 1880 and 1881, the question of women's suffrage was introduced to the House but each time it failed. However the heavy voting in favour of each motion showed the extent to which the women's movement had been able to mobilise support.

Temperance and Suffrage

Kate Sheppard was in charge of organising public pressure for women's suffrage. She campaigned throughout New Zealand using church assemblies, synods, debating societies and the public generally. She organised the WCTU so that each branch had one person responsible for fighting for suffrage. In 1887 Sir Julius Vogel introduced a Female Franchise Bill which passed its second reading by 41 to 22. However Seddon managed to get the bill defeated in the committee stages.

In 1891 a Hill was brought before the House supported by a petition organised by the WCTU of 10,000 signatures. But the Legislative Council vetoed the Bill. Kate Sheppard went back to work and in 1892 produced a petition with 20,074 signatures. This time the Bill made it through the House and the Legislative Council, but Seddon refused to accept it with the amendments made by the Legislative Council.

Kate Sheppard went back to the people and in 1893 yet another petition for women's suffrage was presented, this time with 31,872 signatures. This time at last the Bill was passed. Shortly afterwards a minority of the House petitioned the Governor General not to sign the Bill because it would 'seriously embarrass the finances of the colony, thereby injuriously affecting the public credit.'

Kate Sheppard organised a long memorandum to the Governor proving that the matter of women's suffrage has been a long debated subject and that it had the support of the majority of the New Zealand people.

New Zealand the First

On September 19, 1893, the Governor signed the Bill and the women of New Zealand finally won the vote.

In 1893 New Zealand was the first coun country to give women the vote and as such one of the most progressive in terms of women's rights. Sadly, very little has been done to keep this up. In fact, of late, the New Zealand Government has been going to the other extreme with increasingly heavy attacks on women's rights. The 1977 Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act denies women the right to control their own bodies; cuts have been made in the Domestic Purposes Benefit and the privacy of solo mothers has been violated. Women are amongst the first to be laid off and their right to work is coming under increasing attack. And why? The reasons remain the same. Just as in the late 19th Century, women were denied equality because as an inferior sex they provided cheap and uncomplaining labour, women today are being pushed back into the home where they will form a reserve labour force if and when the economy experiences an upturn.

Isolated in the home, it is difficult for women to organise and join with others in demanding their rights. But, as the women of the late 19th Century fought until they won, so will the women of today. The fight for equality will be a long and hard one but it is a just one and as such must win.

Lamorna Rogers