Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Personal Volume

[introduction]

From time to time one is met by the statement that the enfranchisement of New Zealand women has had no effect except on Temperance Reform. When legislation affecting women and children is mentioned one finds that complete ignorance of its significance and purport prevails amongst otherwise well-informed people. One reason is that law-abiding persons and others whose interests are confined to their own pursuits and amusements do not take the trouble to investigate the conditions of life by which they are surrounded. Another reason is that the women's vote in New Zealand has never been a "sex vote," and was secured by the goodwill and co-operation of men and women without arousing any bitter sex antagonism.

Men of worth of both parties have always been ready and willing to develop the woman's point of view in legislation for the improvement of the social, economic, and industrial conditions of women and children. Any restrictions, and there are many, that have been imposed page 2 upon women's labour and hours of work have been in the interest and with the full concurrence of the workers themselves.