New Zealand became the world’s first self-governing country to grant women the right to vote in national elections, in 1893.
The Electoral Act 1893 received royal assent on 19 September 1893. It followed a sustained campaign led by suffragists including Kate Sheppard, whose organizing helped deliver petitions and public pressure to Parliament. Women voted in New Zealand’s general election later that year, held on 28 November for European voters and 20 December for Māori voters.
The achievement was significant but not fully equal by modern standards. Women gained the right to vote, yet they could not stand for Parliament until 1919. Māori women participated within the separate Māori electorates, while the wider history of voting rights also reflects colonial restrictions and racial inequalities.
Australia followed with broader federal voting rights in 1902, although Indigenous Australians faced exclusions. Finland became the first European country to grant women both the vote and the right to stand for election in 1906. New Zealand’s 1893 milestone therefore refers specifically to national voting rights in a self-governing country.