Kate Sheppard Quotes
The news is being flashed far and wide, and before our earth has revolved on her axis every civilized community within the reach of the electric wires will have received the tidings that civic freedom has been granted to the women of New Zealand. ... It does not seem a great thing to be thankful for, that the gentlemen who confirm the laws which render women liable to taxation and penal servitude have declared us to be "persons"... We are glad and proud to think that even in so conservative a body as the Legislative Council there is a majority of men who are guided by the principles of reason and justice, who desire to see their womenkind treated as reasonable beings, and who have triumphed over prejudice, narrow-mindedness and selfishness.
Much as a result of her efforts, New Zealand became the first country in the world to allow women to vote.
Katherine Wilson Sheppard, 1847–1934, (Catherine Wilson Malcolm), New Zealand Reformer & Suffragette, Statement after the New Zealand legislature gave women the right to vote, September 1893
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This was more than 30 years earlier than the United States.
She was overly optimistic. She would be dead for 30 years before women got the vote and some would argue that full equality has not been reached yet.
She was in China as a delegate to the international congress and not in an official capacity as a representative and First Lady of the United States. Nonetheless, such implied criticism of the Chinese leadership in their own capital.
The following year, women got the right to vote, the first nation to reach that level of enlightenment.
The editorial was in support of women’s suffrage—the right to vote which at the time women did not have in Britain. Women were very active in protests and demonstrations. Tactics sometimes involved civil disobedience and chaining themselves to public buildings. It was the civil disobedience and disruptions that the newspaper referred to as the “follies and excesses.” In retrospect today, it is amazing how threatened the society felt and how they reacted to the “threat” of females voting. It does however give us a perspective on those contemporary societies which restrict women’s voting rights.
Stowe persuaded Lockwood to stand for President. They tried to recruit a man for the Vice Presidential nomination, and when they could not, Stowe became the first female to become a Vice Presidential candidate.
Hunt gave as an example Mary Smith of Stanmore. This quotation is very interesting in the history of women’s suffrage. Hunt was a strong advocate for Universal Suffrage (See {616653}.) At the time, even men had to be a taxpayer and own a sufficient amount of property to vote. Less than 20% of the population of Britain were allowed to vote. The argument at the time was that the husband would represent the family’s interest at the ballot box and there was no need for women to vote. But by facing parliament with the logical inconsistency of its position, he was able to make his point, although there were very few women like Mary Smith who were single and had the economic resources to qualify. Most widows remarried so even if they had economic resources, there was a man who could assume the then perceived role of head of the household.
Billinghurst was physically handicapped without the use of her legs. She protested and marched in protest parades using a hand propelled tricycle which the police sometimes dumped her out of and left her immobile in alleys.
Katherine Wilson Sheppard (née Catherine Wilson Malcolm; 10 March 1848 – 13 July 1934) was the most prominent member of the women's suffrage movement in New Zealand and the country's most famous suffragist. Born in Liverpool, England, she emigrated to New Zealand with her family in 1868. There she became an active member of various religious and social organisations, including the Women's Christian Temperance Union New Zealand (WCTU NZ). In 1887 she was appointed the WCTU NZ's National Superintendent for Franchise and Legislation, a position she used to advance the cause of women's suffrage in New Zealand.
