Women's suffrage in New Zealand

[5] In both Polynesian society and European aristocracy, women could achieve significant formal political rank through ancestry.

[9] The New Zealand suffrage movement began in the late 19th century, inspired by similar groups in the British Empire and United States.

This also led to politicians who supported the alcohol industry opposing women's suffrage, like the MP for South Dunedin Henry Fish.

The New Zealand branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) led by Anne Ward (1886–1887), Emma Packe (1887–1889), Catherine Fulton (1889–1892), and Annie Jane Schnackenberg (1892–1900) was particularly instrumental in the campaign.

[15] Kate Sheppard, a WCTU NZ activist, was a leading advocate for political action for women's rights.

[15] From 1887, several attempts were made to pass bills enabling female suffrage, the first of which was authored by Julius Vogel, the 8th Premier of New Zealand.

Various electoral bills that would have given adult women the right to vote were presented to the House of Representatives but were either defeated or withdrawn.

The 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition was presented to Parliament and a new Electoral Bill passed through the Lower House with a large majority.

[19] Lobbyists for the liquor industry, concerned that women would force the prohibition of alcohol, petitioned the Upper House to reject the bill.

[22] In 1893, Elizabeth Yates became the first woman in the British Empire to become mayor, though she held the post in Onehunga, a city now part of Auckland, for only about a year.

[23] In 1926, Margaret Magill, an openly lesbian teacher and school administrator[24] was elected to serve on the executive board of the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI).

[27][28] Elizabeth McCombs was the first woman to win an election (to the Lyttelton seat held by her late husband, via widow's succession) in the 1933 by-election.

In 1950 the "suicide squad" appointed by the National Government to abolish the Legislative Council included three women: Cora Louisa Burrell of Christchurch, Ethel Gould of Auckland and Agnes Weston of Wellington.