Women and the Vote in Aotearoa NZ

Today in 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

That achievement was the result of years of effort by suffrage campaigners, led by Kate Sheppard. In 1891, 1892 and 1893 they compiled a series of massive petitions calling on Parliament to grant the vote to women. In recent years Sheppard’s contribution to New Zealand’s history has been acknowledged on the $10 note. Read more.