Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 23. September 12 1977
The History of Women's Fight for the Vote
The History of Women's Fight for the Vote
"So one fine morning of September, 1893, the women of New Zealand woke up and found themselves enfranchised. The privilege was theirs, given freely and spontaneously in the easiest and most unexpected manner in the world by male politicians......No franchise leagues had fought the fight year after year.
This statement was made by Pember Reeves in his State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand. This is the view that was once prevalent among New Zealand historians. It is in fact far from the truth. Women in New Zealand struggled for a long time against political dishonesty, the efforts of the breweries and liquor lobby and reactionary M.P.s
It [ unclear: is] a struggle that the women of New Zealand can look back on with pride.