One hundred and twenty-two years ago on 19 September 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to grant all women the right to vote, after years of campaigning and petitioning.
New Zealand was ahead of its game. It wasn’t until after WWI that most other democracies gave women the right to vote. We were trailblazers.
Soon after New Zealand women got the vote, our champion of the cause Kate Sheppard went to Britain on a speaking tour, addressing women who were campaigning for their own suffrage in the UK on how she achieved it.
It wasn’t until the 1928 that women in the UK achieved the full vote.
The journey of these British women has been brought to light in Suffragette, a film directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan that tells the story of women’s fight for the vote in Britain – in that gritty, 1920s London setting.
The film centres around the humble working-class British women who were inspired by fugitive Emma Pankhurst to take a militant approach in their fight for the vote, after seeing that years of peaceful protest hadn’t made a difference. They trashed 10 Downing Street and were forced to go underground. It follows Carey Mulligan’s character Maud, who as a working wife and mother became an activist and had her life turned upside down.
Suffragette is the only film in history to shoot at the Houses of Parliament, and has an all-star cast includes Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie Duff, Meryl Streep and Brendan Gleeson.
Global Women is hosting a complimentary screening of Suffragette Monday 19 October 6.30pm at Rialto Newmarket in Auckland, open to Global Women members, partner organisations and BTL alumni. For queries and to RSVP, email Leah.