Saturday, November 26, 2011

Mum told me about Kate!




Today is Election Day in New Zealand and on our walk to the polling booth my human mum told about Kate Sheppard (1848 - 1934) and how thankful she is for what she did. In 1893, because of Kate’s actions, New Zealand became the first country in world to let women vote in parliamentary elections.


Of course us dogs don’t get to vote despite politicians holding puppies for the camera in shameless attempts (similar to kissing babies) to get as many votes as they can. Mum pointed out I could have been easily swayed by the golden retriever puppy being held up by a politician earlier this week, so perhaps it is just as well that I can’t vote.

Back to my quick history lesson - while some women in NZ were able to vote in Local Body elections (from 1867) the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, led by Kate wanted women to have the right to vote in Parliamentary elections. After many petitions, on the 8th of September 1893 their campaign was successful and a bill was passed (20-18) allowing women (of all races) to vote!

In other countries women could not vote until:

Australia 1902
UK and Ireland 1918
Germany 1918
United States 1920
South Africa 1930 (White); 1968 (Coloured); 1984 (Indian); 1994 (Black)
Brazil 1931
France 1944
Italy 1946
China 1947
Hong Kong 1949
Monaco 1962
Switzerland 1971
Iraq 1980
Kuwaiat 2005

Even now there are still countries where women don’t get a say in how their country is run as only male votes count. This is Kate on our $10 bank note. The flowers beside her are white camellias, which were given to members of parliament who supported the bill, and these flowers are the symbol of the NZ women’s campaign to vote.


So thank you Kate. My mum voted today and appreciates what you and the suffrage movement did allowing all women in NZ (including her ancestors) to vote in 1893 and every three years since then.

As for me, I’m having a lazy weekend. Dad is back from a week in Australia, so the pack is together again, and for now calm prevails.

 (Riley)

 (Enzo)



Wishing all my friends a wonderful and relaxing weekend.

Woofs,
Riley




**For anyone who is interested in reading more see
http://www.elections.org.nz/study/education-centre/history/votes-for-women.html and http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/people/kate-sheppard  and for the dates that women were allowed to vote in other countries see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_suffrage

12 comments:

Angus said...

As alway New Zealand leads the way !

Molly the Airedale said...

What an interesting post. Thank you for sharing it!

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

Mrs. JP said...

Great post! Thanks for that history lesson and the other countries dates too. I appreciate those facts now that I'm older.
Riley and Enzo are so handsome. Great pictures.

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

I've always enjoyed reading about women suffragists and their place in history. I respect admire them so much for believing in their 'cause' and being so dedicated. I also wonder what those in the US from the late 1800's would think now if they knew how far women have come in politics.

Enzo has really grown up, and Riley is just as handsome as ever!!

Golden Woofs! SUGAR said...

Woof! Woof! What a wonderful thing KATE started. We are happy that many women are allowed to do things that men do ... and somehow we see and believe women do a better job. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

STELLA and RORY from Down Under said...

Hi All, thanks for that. Its so interesting with the vast differences in allowing women to vote and some still not able to. Just shows what a complex world we live in at times. No worries, and love, Carol (and Stella and Rory)

sprinkles said...

Thanks for the history lesson. I don't remember hearing about Kate Sheppard before.

You learn something new every day!

Lee said...

Thank you for visiting my blog, Riley and Enzo now have a little Schnoodle friend by the name of Poppy.

I'll get Poppy to sniff her way back here to read future posts :).

Lee

Maxmom said...

The South African split is shameful...! (What a past we had!)
What an interesting post! Yes, there are so many icons of the struggle.
Glad you got to vote.
BTW Those two boys of yours are absolutely gorgeous!!!
Sending lotsaluv
MAXMOM IN SOUTH AFRICA

How Sam Sees It said...

That's a lot of information I never knew! Thank you for sharing!

Sam

WFT Nobby said...

Great post!
Gail.

Sue said...

Thank you for responding to my post today 2/2/12. I'm sure I'll lose some readers who don't want to face the reality for whatever reason. This is so important and too many think they can't lose their rights. It can happen before you even realize it.

I too refused to be "given away" in marriage. Rob and I walked down the aisle together hand in hand.
Sue