New Zealand — Universal Women's Suffrage
On September 19, 1893, Governor Lord Glasgow signed the Electoral Act, making New Zealand the first self-governing country to extend voting rights to all women, including Maori women. Kate Sheppard led the campaign, gathering a petition signed by roughly 32,000 women, nearly a quarter of the adult female population of the colony. Women first voted in the November 28 general election, with female turnout at 82 percent. Australia followed in 1902, Finland in 1906, the UK (partial) in 1918, the US in 1920. The precedent proved universal suffrage was administratively workable.
The campaign was led by Kate Sheppard, whose face appears on the NZ$10 note. Women first voted in the November 1893 election, with a turnout of 82% — higher than many modern elections.
04 · The Ballot
Consent in principle is meaningless without a mechanism. The 19th and early 20th centuries were the long, contested project of actually counting that consent — extending the vote from property-owning men to working men, to women, to racial minorities. It is a project that is, in many places, still unfinished.
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