The role of women was crucial in colonial society. I think that the trick here is to look at the History or herstory of women without too much of a 21st century lens - particularly if we only have one lens. Within the colonial context it is absolutely correct that women played a huge role as a mother, wife, worker, colonial helpmeet and upholders of morality in the colony. Society was incredibly labour-intensive because they did not have all of the toots and whistles of modern consumer society. Society and Attitudes A social issue: The vote Developed by Steve Watters Context
This year 13 history activity is designed to help students examine the struggle for women's suffrage as a major social issue in nineteenth century New Zealand by considering some of the key personalities involved in the issue. It examines the arguments for and against women attaining the right to vote, as well as examining the overall position of women in nineteenth century New Zealand society.
History curriculum links
New Zealand in the Nineteenth Century Part C–Society and Attitudes: Major social issues of the nineteenth century
Coney, S. (1993). Standing in the Sunshine: A history of New Zealand women since they won the vote.
Olssen, E. & Stenson, M. (1997). A Century of Change.
Useful Suffrage Book Sources for the 3.2 Internal: from Lucy
Macdonald, C. (1993). The vote, the pill and the demon drink: a history of feminist writing in New Zealand, 1869-1993. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams Books. (Also gives goals of Maori women as part of the Kotahitanga Mvmt.) The Suffragists, women who worked for the vote: essays from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. (1993). Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams Books
Hutching, M. (2010). Leading the way: how New Zealand women won the vote. Auckland, N.Z.: HarperCollins.
Atkinson, D. (2010). The suffragettes in pictures. Stroud: History Press. Camellia quotes: voices from the debate on the women's franchise.. (1993). Wellington [N.Z.]: Women's Studies, Victoria University.
The Women's Suffrage Centennial 1893-1993 Kit is also really useful - you can look at a reference copy if you ask at the desk at Central Library. Also the Central Library basement has heaps of useful books and resource kits on NZ Suffrage, you just have to ask one of the librarians to request books to be brought up for you.
The Digital Library is also a really good source.The New Zealand Knowledge Basket is particularly good. Also you may be able to find relevant images for your powerpoint on the Heritage images and photography eResources section of the library website. And a photo of the Suffrage memorial mural on the stairs near the Auckland Art Gallery would be really good for a powerpoint on suffrage! :)
Extending this activity Students may use the information gathered to write a practice essay or for research Select a social issue of nineteenth-century New Zealand and explain its nature and causes. Evaluate the contributions of individuals and groups involved with this issue.
Viewpoint: Select a relevant quote that expresses this persons point of view
Katherine (Kate) Sheppard
Alfred Saunders
Lily May Atkinson
Margaret Bullock
John Hall
Henry Fish
Meri Te Tai Mangakahia
Elizabeth Mary Rolleston
Richard Seddon
John Balance
Step 2 Use the information gathered in step 1 to complete two star-diagrams that outline reasons for and against giving women the vote.
Reasons for supporting Women’s Franchise
Reasons for opposing Women’s Franchise
Step 3 Either: use the information gathered in step 1 to prepare a speech that could be delivered to a street meeting either “for” or “against” giving New Zealand women the vote. You must give at least three reasons to support your position. Your speech must be written.
Or: use the information gathered in step 1 to write an article that might have been sent to a local newspaper outlining the arguments for or against giving New Zealand women the vote. You must give at least three reasons to support your position.
Note: many women who wrote to newspapers on such matters in the nineteenth century often used an assumed name.
THE SCHOLARSHIP EXAM 2009 asked a question about the role of women in Colonial Society.
Have a look at the Question Book and then the Assessment Schedule
Prof Raewyn Dalziel wrote an important paper called the Colonial Helpmeet. It was refuting an argument from Patricia Grimshaw that success in gaining the vote was the first step in a feminist revolution. Note in particular the references.
This is the Colonial Helpmeet article
Mrs McGurkenshaw is a good example of the way that the moral benchmark of a class of boys can be improved just by her mere presence!
Topic Two: Essay Five 2006 AS 3.5 SITUATION Describe the changes that took place in the rights and roles of women in nineteenth century New Zealand society between 1850 and 1900. Evaluate the influence of these changes on the lives of women by 1900. The candidate’s response to the first part of the essay question could include: · There was a great variety of women’s experiences in nineteenth century New Zealand. These tended to be dependent on location, age, ethnicity, and class. · The most common role for nineteenth century Pākehā women was as a mother, wife, worker, and “colonial helpmeet”. Marriage opportunities were greater in New Zealand than in Britain because of the imbalance in the genders, but this imbalance and the isolated nature of the frontier society brought problems with it as well. These included loneliness, male alcoholism and violence, diseases, and problems with childbirth. · Marriage laws were discriminatory but improved slightly between 1850 and 1900. Deserted wives gained the “right” to their wages and property in 1860, and the 1884 Married Women’s Property Act gave them the right to the wages and property that they had brought into the marriage. · Until 1898, the Divorce Laws made it much easier for a man to divorce his wife than it was for a woman to divorce her husband. · The Contagious Diseases Act of 1869 legislated for the arrest, inspection for venereal disease, and incarceration of women suspected of being prostitutes. Their male clients were not inspected. · The Education Act of 1877 made schooling compulsory for boys and girls, but the curriculum prepared girls for the domestic sphere. · The “woman question” was the subject of articles and debates in the 1860s and 1870s. Mary Ann Muller (Femina), Mary Taylor, and Mary Colclough (Polly Plum) were key writers about women’s rights. In particular, they focused on the injustices of inequalities between women and men before the law and within the constitution. · 1850–1900 saw some challenging of women’s roles, eg some questioning of women’s subordinate position in marriage, arguing for schools for girls, establishing cycling clubs, women entering the paid workforce, women’s trade unions (Tailoresses Union), the emergence of the Rational Dress Movement. · Concerns over alcohol abuse advanced the programme for prohibition and temperance. · Women’s suffrage – finally won in 1893. Entry of women into political sphere.
The candidate’s response to the second part of the essay question could include: · Towards the end of the century, some women made it in the workplace despite the patriarchal society (eg Kate Edger, Elizabeth Yates, and Ethel Benjamin) but the majority of women were in a limited range of jobs, most of which were related to their accepted domestic roles. · Rutherford Waddell’s sermon, the Sweating Commission and the Liberal legislation (Factory Acts, Shop and Shop Assistants Act) that resulted helped women improve their working conditions. · Development of trade unions such as the Tailors and Tailoresses Union helped improve pay and working conditions for women. · Very few women had economic independence from men. · Women were appointed to sit on Charitable Aid Board. · Old Age Pensions (1898) were NOT determined by gender (but the amount was rather stingy and Māori received only about half what Pākehā got!) · There was still a double standard in attitudes to sex. · Success of female suffrage by 1900 – 78 percent of women registered for the 1893 election and 85 percent (90 000) of these voted. Only 70 percent of men on the roll voted. The Liberals were elected. · Female voting patterns don’t appear to have been much different to those of men, but male politicians did start to take note of issues concerning women and families. · Meri Mangakahia sought rights for Māori women through Kotahitanga; in 1895, Te Hauke enabled Māori women to discuss land matters / equal rights for women within Kotahitanga. · The franchise movement of the 1880s-90s led to wider debate on the comparative physical and intellectual capabilities of men and women and their social positions. · Although women won the right to vote in 1893, they were not able to stand as parliamentary candidates until 1919. · The National Council of Women was set up in 1896 to agitate for further improvements and a broadening of women’s rights. · Infant Life Protection Act (1896). · The Married Women’s Property Act improved the situation of women but was still well short of equality. · Divorce Act Reform (1898) gave equal access to divorce for men and women. · Factory Act (1896).
Topic Two: Essay Six 2007 as 3.4 DECISION
Explain the factors that contributed to the decision made by Central Government to grant women the vote in 1893. Evaluate the extent to which winning the vote changed the lives of women in New Zealand between 1893 and 1900.
The candidate’s response to the first part of essay question could include: · The newness of New Zealand meant an absence of the conservative inertia that held back the campaign for women’s franchise in Great Britain. · The newness of parliamentary democracy in New Zealand meant that tight party structures were not in place. Even the Liberal Government, which was in power when women won the vote, operated a far less rigid party discipline than modern New Zealand political parties. · The highly developed nature of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Women’s Franchise League, and the drive and ability of Kate Sheppard and other campaigners was crucial. The WCTU provided a platform that enabled the campaign to take shape. William Pember-Reeves (himself a Liberal MP) claimed that women’s suffrage was a fortuitous by-product of the temperance movement, but Patricia Grimshaw has argued that the franchise movement used the WCTU as an organisational springboard but that the franchise movement did have its own framework outside of the WCTU · The relative smallness of New Zealand also helped the campaign. Access to politicians was easier than it was in other societies, and in a small society it was a simpler task to gain a high proportion of the nation’s signatures than it was in more populous places. · Late nineteenth-century feminist thought focused on the improvement of the lot of women within the family context. These ideas gained rapid support and a unifying idea for the suffrage campaigners to rally behind. J. S. Mill’s On the Subjection of Women was very influential from the 1860s onwards. · The support of key male politicians was crucial. Men like Sir John Hall hoped that women would support conservative governments that were family-focused and that the need for male politicians to attract women voters would lead to an improvement in the behaviour of the politicians. Electioneering often took place in the pubs and was seen by some as quite unsavoury. · The petition was a brilliant campaign method. The huge number of names on it made it very difficult for men like Henry Fish to claim that women didn’t want the franchise. It also enabled women to show their support for women’s suffrage without having to leave the home. Most of the prominent campaigners were middle class. · By 1893, many politicians had become sick of Richard Seddon’s continued meddling in previous franchise Bills and decided to stop voting against the franchise for him.
.As Raewyl Dalziel mentions, women were granted the vote for several reasons- they weren't a threat to the status quo, as a recognition of their worth as mothers and economic contribution as an elevation of their own perception of their role
The candidate’s response to the second part of essay question could include: · In the 1893 election, 65% of all women over 21 voted. · Women did largely vote conservatively but there was no clear evidence of a major political shift brought about by female voting patterns. Women generally voted in similar ways to men. · Women were not granted the right to stand for parliament (this right wasn’t granted until 1919), and most of the suffrage campaigners had not been interested in pursuing this idea in the nineteenth century. Some, such as Annie Schnackenberg, specifically opposed women’s becoming MPs because she felt the parliamentary process would be too corrupting. (The first woman MP was Elizabeth McCombs in 1933 – she was elected after the sudden death of her husband.) · After the first meeting of the Parliament of Women in 1896, the National Council of the Women of New Zealand was established to continue the fight for women’s rights in New Zealand. Many of the key suffrage campaigners joined this organisation, and the WCTU was the first women’s group to affiliate. · Some of the Liberal party’s legislation passed after 1893 was probably attributable to the influence of women as voters. Such legislation included changes to divorce laws and the age of consent. · The Married Women’s Property Act gave women greater equality, but they still had fewer rights than men. · The Contagious Diseases Act stayed on the statute books. (The Repeal Act wasn’t passed until 1910, and it is arguable that this may not have happened at this time had women not won the vote.) · Nineteenth-century feminism differed greatly from modern feminism in that its primary focus concerned the family and a woman’s role as a mother. The suffrage campaign aimed to secure this role rather than challenge it. Suffragists also campaigned for the moral reform of society. The evaluation of the impact of the vote on women’s lives should be made within this context.
Society and Attitudes A social issue: The vote
Developed by Steve Watters
Context
This year 13 history activity is designed to help students examine the struggle for women's suffrage as a major social issue in nineteenth century New Zealand by considering some of the key personalities involved in the issue. It examines the arguments for and against women attaining the right to vote, as well as examining the overall position of women in nineteenth century New Zealand society.
History curriculum links
New Zealand in the Nineteenth Century Part C–Society and Attitudes: Major social issues of the nineteenth century
Resources
PODCASTSRADIO NZ OCT 2012
Useful Suffrage Book Sources for the 3.2 Internal: from Lucy
Macdonald, C. (1993). The vote, the pill and the demon drink: a history of feminist writing in New Zealand, 1869-1993. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams Books. (Also gives goals of Maori women as part of the Kotahitanga Mvmt.)
The Suffragists, women who worked for the vote: essays from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. (1993). Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams Books
Hutching, M. (2010). Leading the way: how New Zealand women won the vote. Auckland, N.Z.: HarperCollins.
Atkinson, D. (2010). The suffragettes in pictures. Stroud: History Press.
Camellia quotes: voices from the debate on the women's franchise.. (1993). Wellington [N.Z.]: Women's Studies, Victoria University.
The Women's Suffrage Centennial 1893-1993 Kit is also really useful - you can look at a reference copy if you ask at the desk at Central Library. Also the Central Library basement has heaps of useful books and resource kits on NZ Suffrage, you just have to ask one of the librarians to request books to be brought up for you.
The Digital Library is also a really good source.The New Zealand Knowledge Basket is particularly good. Also you may be able to find relevant images for your powerpoint on the Heritage images and photography eResources section of the library website. And a photo of the Suffrage memorial mural on the stairs near the Auckland Art Gallery would be really good for a powerpoint on suffrage! :)
Extending this activityStudents may use the information gathered to write a practice essay or for research
Select a social issue of nineteenth-century New Zealand and explain its nature and causes. Evaluate the contributions of individuals and groups involved with this issue.
Step 1 Go to www.dnzb.govt.nz to complete the following chart
Person
Step 2
Use the information gathered in step 1 to complete two star-diagrams that outline reasons for and against giving women the vote.
Reasons for supporting Women’s Franchise
Reasons for opposing Women’s Franchise
Step 3
Either: use the information gathered in step 1 to prepare a speech that could be delivered to a street meeting either “for” or “against” giving New Zealand women the vote. You must give at least three reasons to support your position. Your speech must be written.
Or: use the information gathered in step 1 to write an article that might have been sent to a local newspaper outlining the arguments for or against giving New Zealand women the vote. You must give at least three reasons to support your position.
Note: many women who wrote to newspapers on such matters in the nineteenth century often used an assumed name.
THE SCHOLARSHIP EXAM 2009 asked a question about the role of women in Colonial Society.
Have a look at the Question Book and then the Assessment Schedule
Prof Raewyn Dalziel wrote an important paper called the Colonial Helpmeet. It was refuting an argument from Patricia Grimshaw that success in gaining the vote was the first step in a feminist revolution. Note in particular the references.
This is the Colonial Helpmeet article
Mrs McGurkenshaw is a good example of the way that the moral benchmark of a class of boys can be improved just by her mere presence!
Topic Two: Essay Five 2006 AS 3.5 SITUATION
Describe the changes that took place in the rights and roles of women in nineteenth century New Zealand society between 1850 and 1900. Evaluate the influence of these changes on the lives of women by 1900.
The candidate’s response to the first part of the essay question could include:
· There was a great variety of women’s experiences in nineteenth century New Zealand. These tended to be dependent on location, age, ethnicity, and class.
· The most common role for nineteenth century Pākehā women was as a mother, wife, worker, and “colonial helpmeet”. Marriage opportunities were greater in New Zealand than in Britain because of the imbalance in the genders, but this imbalance and the isolated nature of the frontier society brought problems with it as well. These included loneliness, male alcoholism and violence, diseases, and problems with childbirth.
· Marriage laws were discriminatory but improved slightly between 1850 and 1900. Deserted wives gained the “right” to their wages and property in 1860, and the 1884 Married Women’s Property Act gave them the right to the wages and property that they had brought into the marriage.
· Until 1898, the Divorce Laws made it much easier for a man to divorce his wife than it was for a woman to divorce her husband.
· The Contagious Diseases Act of 1869 legislated for the arrest, inspection for venereal disease, and incarceration of women suspected of being prostitutes. Their male clients were not inspected.
· The Education Act of 1877 made schooling compulsory for boys and girls, but the curriculum prepared girls for the domestic sphere.
· The “woman question” was the subject of articles and debates in the 1860s and 1870s. Mary Ann Muller (Femina), Mary Taylor, and Mary Colclough (Polly Plum) were key writers about women’s rights. In particular, they focused on the injustices of inequalities between women and men before the law and within the constitution.
· 1850–1900 saw some challenging of women’s roles, eg some questioning of women’s subordinate position in marriage, arguing for schools for girls, establishing cycling clubs, women entering the paid workforce, women’s trade unions (Tailoresses Union), the emergence of the Rational Dress Movement.
· Concerns over alcohol abuse advanced the programme for prohibition and temperance.
· Women’s suffrage – finally won in 1893. Entry of women into political sphere.
The candidate’s response to the second part of the essay question could include:
· Towards the end of the century, some women made it in the workplace despite the patriarchal society (eg Kate Edger, Elizabeth Yates, and Ethel Benjamin) but the majority of women were in a limited range of jobs, most of which were related to their accepted domestic roles.
· Rutherford Waddell’s sermon, the Sweating Commission and the Liberal legislation (Factory Acts, Shop and Shop Assistants Act) that resulted helped women improve their working conditions.
· Development of trade unions such as the Tailors and Tailoresses Union helped improve pay and working conditions for women.
· Very few women had economic independence from men.
· Women were appointed to sit on Charitable Aid Board.
· Old Age Pensions (1898) were NOT determined by gender (but the amount was rather stingy and Māori received only about half what Pākehā got!)
· There was still a double standard in attitudes to sex.
· Success of female suffrage by 1900 – 78 percent of women registered for the 1893 election and 85 percent (90 000) of these voted. Only 70 percent of men on the roll voted. The Liberals were elected.
· Female voting patterns don’t appear to have been much different to those of men, but male politicians did start to take note of issues concerning women and families.
· Meri Mangakahia sought rights for Māori women through Kotahitanga; in 1895, Te Hauke enabled Māori women to discuss land matters / equal rights for women within Kotahitanga.
· The franchise movement of the 1880s-90s led to wider debate on the comparative physical and intellectual capabilities of men and women and their social positions.
· Although women won the right to vote in 1893, they were not able to stand as parliamentary candidates until 1919.
· The National Council of Women was set up in 1896 to agitate for further improvements and a broadening of women’s rights.
· Infant Life Protection Act (1896).
· The Married Women’s Property Act improved the situation of women but was still well short of equality.
· Divorce Act Reform (1898) gave equal access to divorce for men and women.
· Factory Act (1896).
Topic Two: Essay Six 2007 as 3.4 DECISION
Explain the factors that contributed to the decision made by Central Government to grant women the vote in 1893.
Evaluate the extent to which winning the vote changed the lives of women in New Zealand between 1893 and 1900.
The candidate’s response to the first part of essay question could include:
· The newness of New Zealand meant an absence of the conservative inertia that held back the campaign for women’s franchise in Great Britain.
· The newness of parliamentary democracy in New Zealand meant that tight party structures were not in place. Even the Liberal Government, which was in power when women won the vote, operated a far less rigid party discipline than modern New Zealand political parties.
· The highly developed nature of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Women’s Franchise League, and the drive and ability of Kate Sheppard and other campaigners was crucial. The WCTU provided a platform that enabled the campaign to take shape. William Pember-Reeves (himself a Liberal MP) claimed that women’s suffrage was a fortuitous by-product of the temperance movement, but Patricia Grimshaw has argued that the franchise movement used the WCTU as an organisational springboard but that the franchise movement did have its own framework outside of the WCTU
· The relative smallness of New Zealand also helped the campaign. Access to politicians was easier than it was in other societies, and in a small society it was a simpler task to gain a high proportion of the nation’s signatures than it was in more populous places.
· Late nineteenth-century feminist thought focused on the improvement of the lot of women within the family context. These ideas gained rapid support and a unifying idea for the suffrage campaigners to rally behind. J. S. Mill’s On the Subjection of Women was very influential from the 1860s onwards.
· The support of key male politicians was crucial. Men like Sir John Hall hoped that women would support conservative governments that were family-focused and that the need for male politicians to attract women voters would lead to an improvement in the behaviour of the politicians. Electioneering often took place in the pubs and was seen by some as quite unsavoury.
· The petition was a brilliant campaign method. The huge number of names on it made it very difficult for men like Henry Fish to claim that women didn’t want the franchise. It also enabled women to show their support for women’s suffrage without having to leave the home. Most of the prominent campaigners were middle class.
· By 1893, many politicians had become sick of Richard Seddon’s continued meddling in previous franchise Bills and decided to stop voting against the franchise for him.
.As Raewyl Dalziel mentions, women were granted the vote for several reasons- they weren't a threat to the status quo, as a recognition of their worth as mothers and economic contribution as an elevation of their own perception of their role
The candidate’s response to the second part of essay question could include:
· In the 1893 election, 65% of all women over 21 voted.
· Women did largely vote conservatively but there was no clear evidence of a major political shift brought about by female voting patterns. Women generally voted in similar ways to men.
· Women were not granted the right to stand for parliament (this right wasn’t granted until 1919), and most of the suffrage campaigners had not been interested in pursuing this idea in the nineteenth century. Some, such as Annie Schnackenberg, specifically opposed women’s becoming MPs because she felt the parliamentary process would be too corrupting. (The first woman MP was Elizabeth McCombs in 1933 – she was elected after the sudden death of her husband.)
· After the first meeting of the Parliament of Women in 1896, the National Council of the Women of New Zealand was established to continue the fight for women’s rights in New Zealand. Many of the key suffrage campaigners joined this organisation, and the WCTU was the first women’s group to affiliate.
· Some of the Liberal party’s legislation passed after 1893 was probably attributable to the influence of women as voters. Such legislation included changes to divorce laws and the age of consent.
· The Married Women’s Property Act gave women greater equality, but they still had fewer rights than men.
· The Contagious Diseases Act stayed on the statute books. (The Repeal Act wasn’t passed until 1910, and it is arguable that this may not have happened at this time had women not won the vote.)
· Nineteenth-century feminism differed greatly from modern feminism in that its primary focus concerned the family and a woman’s role as a mother. The suffrage campaign aimed to secure this role rather than challenge it. Suffragists also campaigned for the moral reform of society. The evaluation of the impact of the vote on women’s lives should be made within this context.