today is women's suffrage day....the day that women were first given the right to vote....damn i should exercise my right more, New Zealand were of course the first country to actually give women the right to vote, back in 1893, although the movement, as such, started in france the previous century.
kate sheppard was the 'mother' of women's suffrage in our country. she led a movement to create a bill to allow women to vote. this bill was passed a few weeks prior to the general election of 1893. although nz were progressive in giving women the right to vote, they weren't so quick off the mark in allowing women to stand for election.
although many countries quickly followed nz in giving women the right to vote, it didn't become international law until 1948 when the united nations adopted the universal declaration of human rights.
of course there are still some countries that have still taken their time in giving women the right to vote, with saudi arabia still dragging it's heel's, the uae only giving their women suffrage a few years ago and other middle eastern countries only a few years before that.
i made a trip down to the statue of kate sheppard(and others) this evening, it being in christchurch as she was from chc. it was covered in white camilia's which is the symbol of women's suffrage....it was awesome to see!
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