The Women S Suffrage Petition 1893

In May 2017 the exhibition He Tohu opened at the National Library in Wellington. This celebrates three founding documents in New Zealand’s history – He Whakaputanga: The Declaration of Independence (1835), the Treaty of Waitangi: Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840) and the Women’s Suffrage Petition (1893). The originals of these documents are on display at the National Library, in a wonderful exhibition that tells the history of the times and the story of the documents themselves. Three slim paperbacks showcase each of the documents, published by BWB in conjunction with the National Library and Archives New Zealand. Each book is focused on the document itself, and feature a facsimile of the document (or part of it). The documents are framed by an introduction from leading scholars (Claudia Orange, Vincent O’Malley and Barbara Brookes), and a Māori perspective on the document in te reo. Short biographies of many signatories are included – showing the wide range of people who signed. The books are printed in full colour so that the richness of these significant, old documents is shown.

"In late July 1893 a roll of 546 petition sheets, glued end to end and wound around a length of broom handle, was dramatically unfurled across the floor of Parliament to reveal the names of almost 24,000 New Zealand women seeking the right to vote. As a result, a new Electoral Act was signed into law on to September, making New Zealand the first self-governing country in the world where all women could vote in parliamentary elections. In the National Library the Women's Suffrage Petition stands proud as one of the nation's landmark documents, alongside the Treaty of Waitangi and the 1835 Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand. The petition's great roll included Sheet 370, signed by 56 women (and one man), nearly all living on small family farms in Clevedon-Wairoa South. This is the story of who they were, and how they signed this rural district into history."--Publisher's description.

The definitive account of the New Zealand suffrage movement, Women's Suffrage in New Zealand remains the only study of how New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the vote. It tells the fascinating story of the courage and the determination of the early New Zealand feminists led by the remarkable Kate Sheppard, whose ideas and attitudes still resonate today.

Biographical information of suffragists followed by a contextual essay.

The 1980s and 1990s have seen an unprecedented emphasis on global feminism, on the connectedness of women regardless of race, class, or geography. And yet, the status and position of women throughout the world remains enormously disparate. Even so fundamental an issue as a woman's right to vote has been--and in many countries continues to be--hotly contested. How then have suffrage movements evolved? What are the similarities and differences in the manner in which women, in a range of different economic, religious, and political contexts, have sought the vote? Bringing together such eminent scholars as Nancy Cott, Ellen Dubois, and Carole Pateman, Suffrage and Beyond offers a comprehensive look at the political history of suffrage on a global scale.

These biographies, selected from The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography describe the lives of a range of women who worked in different ways towards the goal of suffrage. Some were leading figures in the campaign - others are not so well known.