New Zealand becomes the first country to grant all women the right to vote - September 19th, 1893

On this day in 1893, the Governor of New Zealand signed a landmark piece of legislation that gave women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that flips through the pages of history to
deliver old news in a new way. I'm Gabe Louisier,
and in this episode, we're looking at the time New
Zealand put the rest of the world to shame by

(00:21):
becoming the first country to enfranchise women. The day was
September David Boyle, the Governor of New Zealand, signed a
landmark piece of legislation that gave women the right to

(00:44):
vote in parliamentary elections. This act made New Zealand the
first self governing nation in the world to make women's
suffrage the law of the land. In other democracies, including
the United States and Britain, women did not win the
right to vote until nearly three decades later. The women

(01:04):
of New Zealand got there first, in part because of
the country's relatively small size and population, but also because
it's society was more malleable and open to change than
traditionalist europe Social movements that began abroad found more purchase
in the young nation of New Zealand than they did
on their own shores. But that said, the fight still

(01:27):
wasn't easy. When British colonists first took control of New
Zealand in the mid eighteen hundreds, they brought with them
the all too common idea that only men were suited
for the world of politics. As a result, the social
order of New Zealand quickly snapped into alignment with that
of European societies, with women and minorities firmly at the bottom. However,

(01:51):
by the end of the century, an international movement began
to shift the balance of power. Some women started pushing
back against a world view that excluded them from public life.
Throughout Europe and the United States, women found new opportunities
outside their homes. Some began attending high schools and colleges.

(02:12):
Others found careers in nursing or started taking on church
and charity work. Gradually, the conversation shifted to women's political rights,
and the fight for the vote was on New Zealand's own.
Suffragists took inspiration from these foreign campaigns. They agreed with
British feminists that women should have equal rights, and they

(02:34):
agreed with American temperance groups that society was in need
of moral reform and that women would need the vote
to make it happen. In eighty five, the leader of
a US based temperance group visited New Zealand to help
set up a local branch. The result was New Zealand's
first national women's organization, which ultimately provided a platform for

(02:57):
the women of New Zealand to secure their right to vote.
By the early eighteen nineties, prominent New Zealand suffragists Kate
Shepard and her fellow campaigners were ready to take the
fight to Parliament. In eighteen ninety one, they organized the
first of three petitions, gathering more than nine thousand signatures.

(03:18):
In eighteen ninety two, a second petition garnered almost twenty
thousand signatures. Meanwhile, opponents of women suffrage warned that upsetting
the natural order would have dire consequences for society. The
local liquor industry shared this conviction and even launched its
own counter petitions, Probably because women voters were more likely

(03:41):
to support the prohibition of alcohol, the suffragists did find
some support among male members of Parliament when their petitions
were submitted. Both in eighteen ninety one and eighteen ninety two,
the House of Representatives passed electoral bills that would have
given women the right to vote. Unfortunately, on both occasions,

(04:02):
the bills failed in Parliament's more conservative upper house, the
Legislative Council. Refusing to give up, the suffragists presented their
third petition in eighteen ninety three. This time they had
a mass nearly thirty two thousand signatures, a quarter of
the population of European women in New Zealand. With public

(04:24):
opinion clearly on their side, a bill supporting the measure
was easily passed in the House for a third time.
The big question was whether the Legislative Council would once
again reject the bill. Suffragists held huge rallies to show
how many people backed their cause, and they flooded members
of the Council with telegrams urging their support. Opponents tried

(04:47):
several ways to sabotage the bill, but in the end
it was passed on September eighth, eighteen ninety three, with
a narrow margin of twenty votes to eighteen. Opponents of suffrage,
including some members of Parliament, tried to convince the governor
not to sign the bill, but he totally did. On
September nine, the law went into effect and all women

(05:11):
who were citizens aged twenty one and over, including Maori,
became eligible to vote. Suffrage just throughout the country and
across the world celebrated the victory. That November, the women
of New Zealand went to the polls for the first
time in a national election for women. In many other countries,

(05:31):
the fight for voting rights would continue for years to come,
but the change in New Zealand gave hope that their
own struggle would not be in vain. I'm gay, Bluesier,
and hopefully you now know a little more about history
today than you did yesterday. If you have something on
your mind you'd like to share, you can send it
my way at this Day at i heart media dot com.

(05:55):
Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank
you as always for listening. I'll see you back here
again tomorrow for another Day in History class. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,

(06:18):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.