New Zealand was the first self-governing nation to give women the right to vote in national elections.
The change became law on 19 September 1893, when the Electoral Act was signed by Governor Lord Glasgow. Women then voted in the general election held later that year, making New Zealand a landmark in the global suffrage movement.
The campaign was strongly associated with Kate Sheppard and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Suffragists organised petitions, public meetings, and political pressure over several years. A petition supporting women’s voting rights in 1893 contained nearly 32,000 signatures.
New Zealand’s achievement did not immediately provide every political right: women could vote, but they could not stand for Parliament until 1919. Australia followed with federal voting rights for most women in 1902, although discriminatory restrictions remained for many Indigenous Australians.