Title : Celebrating 125 years of New Zealand women’s suffrage
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Celebrating 125 years of New Zealand women’s suffrage
[Guest post by Anne Taylor in Wellington]
People gathered at the steps of Parliament Buildings in Wellington on Wednesday, 19 September for speeches and free performances in honour of the day, 125 years ago, when the 1893 Electoral Act was passed in New Zealand, making this country the first in the world to grant all women voting rights in parliamentary elections.
A group of men and women in colourful traditional Cook Islands dress waited in the shadow of the 'Beehive'. Then a solitary figure dressed in black moved slowly towards the group, holding a large, gently smoking poi in one hand.
Speakers highlighted that women in the Cook Islands beat NZ women to the polls by a matter of days, having been allowed to vote in elections for island councils and a federal parliament also from 1893.
A group of six Maori and Pasifika women moved in a stately procession across the grounds.
The performance was called 'Mausina', and directed by internationally acclaimed artist Lemi Ponifasio (founder of the dance theatre company MAU). It combined Maori and Pasifika languages, sound and movement, expressing 'adaptability and resilience' in a turbulent world.
In 1893, a petition carrying the signatures of more than 30,000 women (and some men) was unrolled down the central aisle of the debating chamber of Wellington’s Parliament Buildings. It was made up of 500 pages glued together at a kitchen table and wrapped around a broom handle by Kate Sheppard who spearheaded the campaign. It kept rolling until it hit the end wall with a thud. Two months later, women in New Zealand had finally (after their third major campaign) gained the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
The wind played over the dancers' graceful dresses on this beautiful spring evening.
This wahine (woman) with her spanner was unforgettable!
While we celebrate New Zealand’s anniversary, we know that there are still many countries such as Kenya, Pakistan and Uganda where voting is practically impossible for women due to the threat of sexual violence at polling stations, and other cultural and societal issues. Women in Saudia Arabia have only recently been able to vote (2015). In fact the road to women’s voting rights has generally been long and arduous – that’s worth remembering whenever and wherever polling day rolls around for us.
Fast-forward 125 years from the 1893 broom handle petition, and Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s third female Prime Minister, hit international headlines by becoming only the second world leader to give birth while in office. Incredibly, her baby Neve (born in June 2018) shares a birthday with the late former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was the first world leader to have a baby while in office (in 1990).
Anne Taylor is a designer, writer and exhibiting artist based in Wellington, New Zealand. For more of her work, check out Urban Sketchers Aotearoa, Instagram and her website.
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