Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 2. March 5 1979
Women's Suffrage
Women's Suffrage
Two of the most important aspects of the struggle for women's suffrage in New Zealand are often overlooked by New [ unclear: Zealar] historians. One is that the struggle was a very long one, begining in the 1840's and involving thousands of women and men. The other is that it was part of a wider struggle for women's emancipation.
Women in ninteenth century New Zealand were second class citizens both socially and in the eyes of the law. Married women did not have the right to own property, no woman had the right to vote, women had no right, as against their husbands, to the custody of their children, and the first universities were not open to women. In Britain women's rights had been hotly debated since Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her very famous book "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" in 1792.
New Zealand women were quick to organise in defence of their rights. The first woman who worked actively for women's suffrage was Mary Muller who wrote a pamphlet advocating votes for women under a pseudonym, as her husband believed very strongly that while women had thier place, it was not in politics. Mrs Muller kept in touch with a group in London who were advocates of women's emancipation and, perhaps influenced by them, she organised the agitation for giving married women the right to own porperty. The passing of the Married Women's Property Act 1884, was very much related to her leadership.
The women's leadership in New Zealand set about organising public pressure for women's suffrage through the Women's Christian Temperance Union. As the first national organisation of women the WCTU was in the forefront of the fight for women rights. Quite correctly the WCTU saw that much of the suffering that women endured was related to the high level of alcoholism and drunkenness that existed in New Zealand. The sale of liquor in New Zealand was almost completely uncontrolled. The liquor lobby was most antagonistic towards the suffrage movement as they realised that the vote, once it was given to women, would be used against them. The then Prime Minister, Richard Seddon, used the powerful liquor lobby time and time again to destroy and derail measures coming into the House that would have given women the right to vote.
Katherine W. Sheppard was given the task by the WCTU of organising public pressure for Women's Suffrage. She campaigned extensively; within the literary and debating societies, the synods, assemblies and [ unclear: junions] of the Churches and the public generally. In 1878, 1879 and 1881 the question of women's suffrage was introduced into the house, but each time it failed. However the heavy voting in favour of each motion showed the influence of the women's movement in the country. Finally after a protracted, mass campaign, women won the right to vote on 19 September 1893.