The Earliest Half-dozen States To Grant Women The Right To Vote Were A. Mostly In

Did Australia, New Zealand and the Scandinavian countries have suffragettes, or how did women there receive the vote before British women did?

On the 19th of September 1893, New Zealand became the first country in the world to pass into law full voting rights for women.There was no delay in being able to use these newly gained rights — later that very same year on the 28th of November, women got to exercise their right to vote.Kate Sheppard(Photo Credit: NZHistory, New Zealand history online)Kate Sheppard was born in Liverpool, England and migrated to Christchurch, New Zealand in her early twenties. Prior to becoming unofficial leader of the Women’s Suffrage movement she was a founding member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).Kate Sheppard became a founding member of the New Zealand Women's Christian Temperance Union. It was quickly realised by the union that proposed social and legislative reforms concerning temperance and the welfare of women and children would be more effectively carried out if women possessed the right to vote and the right to representation in Parliament. [1]Kate Sheppard is attributed with saying‘We are tired of having a “sphere” doled out to us, and of being told that anything outside that sphere is “unwomanly”.Nearly 32,000 signatures were collected by the Women's Suffrage movement for the petition that was presented to Parliament. The approximate population of New Zealand at this time was 700,000. [2]When you consider the poor travel conditions, the remoteness of parts of New Zealand outside of the main region centres at this time — it shows strength, determination and belief in what they were trying to achieve.Footnotes[1] Sheppard, Katherine Wilson[2] POPULATION OF THE COLONY.