N.Z. women voted first

Press, 19 September 1985, Page 3

N.Z. women voted first

By

CAROLE

VAN GRONDELLE In 1893, New Zealand politicians stunned the world by giving women the right to vote. The New Zealand women’s suffrage movement at that time was strong and a petition signed by 300,000 women and presented to Parliament forced the issue. Legislation granting women the vote was passed and signed by the Governor on September 19. Today is the ninetysecond anniversary of that day, now known as Suffrage Day.

As the first country in the world to have given its women the vote, New Zealand was lauded as an emancipated society. But it took a father 26 years before women gained the right (in 1919) to sit in Parliament — until then they had been classed with bankrupts, criminals, and lunatics in being banned from holding office. The first woman member of Parliament was not elected until 1933, when Elizabeth McCombs won the Lyttelton seat on the death of her husband. Over the decades, progress has been made but it has been slow. Today, there are 12 women members of Parliament, two of them Cabinet Ministers. Women are increasingly represented in the nation’s public life but many of their concerns continue to be trivialised or ignored. This year the Ministry of Women’s Affairs was established. Official recognition of women’s issues has been reflected in the growing sensitivity of individual Government departments to past inequalities, according to a report released by the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Mrs Hercus. Affirmative action programmes have been set up in many departments and opportunities for women were being given higher priority, the report said.