Kate Sheppard - Speech

Should men be allowed to vote?.....(pause)..... Of course, they should…(short pause)…As should women. The person I have
chosen to present my speech on also thought this…………. She is a famous NZ woman by the name of Kate Sheppard. I
admire Kate because she was determined to overcome hardship and for her leadership qualities she showed through the
1880s. She was an ordinary woman with a desire to improve the rights of women and equality for all Kiwis …...and was
instrumental in getting the rights for women to vote.

Kate was born on the 10th of May 1848 in Liverpool, England. During her upbringing, the family moved around a lot
before settling in her parent’s home country, Scotland. Scotland was where Kate received her education and a strong
religious upbringing. As an active member in the church, this helped her to create a strong sense of right and wrong
which contributed greatly to what would be Kate's future direction. Kate immigrated to New Zealand with her mother
and siblings shortly after her father died in 1868.

Kate’s mission started in 1885 when she became a founding member of the New Zealand Women’s Christian Temperance
Union and then later became the leader. The group challenged the accepted idea that women were more suited for
domestic affairs, such as housework and raising kids whereas Men supposedly were fitted for public life and the rough
world of politics……Yeah right. This view was common throughout most European societies at the time…….pretty
one-sided and imbalanced.

Kate worked tirelessly challenging these ideas, churning out pamphlets, delivering speeches, and pushing a series of
petitions before Parliament to secure the right for women to vote. There were a number of leading politicians in New
Zealand who supported the women's suffrage movement including John Hall, Robert Stout, Julius Jogel and John
Ballance. A person who strongly opposed the movement was Henry Smith Fish who was known as a boorish Dunedin
politician who had organized people to circulate anti-suffrage petitions in pubs. It was found that some signatures were
untrue and some people had been misled.

Kate continued her good work and over the years had both defeats and triumphs. Her greatest contribution was
petitioning the government to amend the Electoral Act and on the 19th September 1893 New Zealand was the first
country to give women the right to vote. This petition was the largest ever presented to the Government with 32,000
signatures and measured 270m long. It shocked parliament and they could no longer ignore the request. This affected
New Zealand at the time, as it was the start of women achieving equality in all aspects of their life, not just voting. For
example, there was work to achieve a balance in marriage and the right for women to run for Parliament seats.

Kate's achievement in earning women the right to vote has caused women’s rights to continue to develop over the years.
Bringing us to the present day where 4 out of the 5 current government parties have a Women either as a Leader or
Co-leader. Jacinda Ardern (Leader of the Labour Party), Judith Collins (Leader of the National Party), Marama Davidson
(Co-leader of the Green Party) and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Co-leader of the Maori Party). …………………….Well Boys oh how
times have changed.
Women are also Leaders within the business communities holding top positions within Global Corporations. This is a
stark contrast from Kate's day where opportunities for Women such as jobs were only starting to become available in the
education, medical and religious fields.

Therefore, Kate was an ordinary woman who went on to do extraordinary things. She had the passion and inner drive to
take it upon herself to make a difference in the Women's Suffrage movement. I admire Kate for the powerful message of
perseverance which has opened more positive opportunities for women. This achievement has now contributed to New
Zealand's identity and has shown people that with this similar passion and inner drive they are able to make a difference
in any situation.