Women voting in Auckland, 1899

‘Lady voters’ approach the polling booth at the Drill Hall in Rutland Street, just off Queen Street, Auckland, on 6 December 1899. Despite its striking novelty in international terms, the presence of women at the polling booths – if not yet on the hustings or in Parliament – soon became an accepted part of New Zealand’s political scene. The number of women enrolled as electors climbed steadily from 109,461 in 1893 to 163,215 in 1899 and to 212,876 in 1905.