Further information - women and the vote | NZHistory.net.nz, New Zealand history online

This web feature was written by Neill Atkinson and Roberta McIntyre and produced by the NZHistory.net.nz team.

Suffrage documents

'An appeal to the men of New Zealand'. In 1869 Mary Ann Müller ('Femina') wrote this essay advocating votes for women.
Letters to and from 'Polly Plum' that appeared in the New Zealand Herald, 16 August 1871
Ten reasons why the women of New Zealand should vote (1888). This is the text of a leaflet published by the Women's Christian Temperance Union in May 1888 that was sent to every member of the House of Representatives.
'What a difference between a fish and a woman' (1892). This extract is from an address given by Marion Hatton, the president of the Women's Franchise League in Dunedin, to a meeting at Gore. Henry Smith Fish, a Member of Parliament from Dunedin, was a most vocal opponent of women's franchise.
'So that women may receive the vote' (1893). This is Meri Te Tai Mangakahia's address to the Maori parliament asking for Maori women to be allowed to vote for and become members of that body.
Number of female Members of Parliament in each Parliament from 1931 to 2003

Some international sites to explore:

Women's suffrage – winning the vote – lots of good information on the women's history website
'Votes for women' suffrage pictures, 1850–1920/American memory collection, Library of Congress
Votes For women: selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association collection, 1848–1921/Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress
On to victory! A bibliography of American fiction treating woman suffrage, 1870–1920
Read about people active in the women's suffrage campaign (including these 20 women who worked for the vote) on the online Dictionary of New Zealand biography: Lily Atkinson, Margaret Bullock, Dolce Cabot, Elizabeth Caradus, Mary Colclough, Amey Daldy, Learmonth Dalrymple, Kate Edger, Catherine Fulton, Edith Grossmann, Marion Hatton, Christina Henderson, Jessie Mackay, Meri Te Tai Mangakahia, Harriet Morison, Mary Ann Müller, Helen Nicol, Lizzie Rattray, Rachel Reynolds, Annie Schnackenberg.

Neill Atkinson, Adventures in democracy: a history of the vote in New Zealand, University of Otago Press, Dunedin, 2003
Sandra Coney, Standing in the sunshine: a history of New Zealand women since they won the vote, Viking, Auckland, 1993
Caroline Daley & Melanie Nolan (eds), Suffrage and beyond: international feminist perspectives, Auckland University Press, Auckland, 1994
Judith Devaliant, Kate Sheppard: a biography, Penguin Books, Auckland, 1992
Patricia Grimshaw, Women's suffrage in New Zealand, 2nd edn, University of Auckland Press, Auckland, 1987
Margaret Lovell-Smith (ed.), The woman question: writings by the women who won the vote, New Women's Press, Auckland, 1992
Janet McCallum, Women in the House: Members of Parliament in New Zealand, Cape Catley, Picton, 1993
The suffragists: women worked for the vote. Essays from the Dictionary of New Zealand biography, Bridget Williams Books/Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1993. Read an adapted introduction of this book (pdf).