Women’s suffrage a right won in fight that should not have been needed
Columba College pupil Beth Doelman won this year’s National Council of Women Dawn Ibbotson Essay Competition. The topic was 125 Years since Women Won the Vote: Did it Change Women’s Role in Society? This is an abridged version of her winning essay.
‘‘DO not think that your single vote doesn’t matter much. The rain that refreshes the parched ground is made of single drops,’’ said Kate Sheppard, leader of the women’s suffrage movement. Winning the vote in 1893 was an enormous leap towards women’s empowerment. It made our political voices equal, and sparked many other justices for women to come to fruition.
Voting is not a privilege, but a right. Women winning the vote is not a kindness granted, but justice. Brave suffragettes fought tooth and nail for women to gain the vote, but it should never have been necessary. Women deserved to be given voting rights the moment that democracy began. Instead, they were treated as children, less than people, unworthy of a voice.
Today, regulations about who can and cannot vote in New Zealand ensure that each vote is meaningful. For example, children cannot vote, since they are mentally immature, incapable of understanding politics and their importance for the whole country. They might vote for the ‘‘Free Lollipop Party’’, for instance. But before 1893, women were placed in the same category as children: mentally incapable, unintelligent.
Voting is vital because the government impacts every aspect of our lives: economics, healthcare, education, and security. By not voting, we have no say about the control of these essential aspects of life. If women choose not to vote, the best candidate for our welfare is not elected. In New Zealand, after the vote was won, so was justice in the home, the workplace, and reproductive rights. But only if we use our right to vote for the best candidate can such advances continue.
In 2016, 45% of Americans did not vote. As a sexist man, Donald Trump believes that degrading women is socially acceptable, but if everyone had used their vote, he and Mike Pence might not have been elected. Then voters could have prevented the defunding of organisations such as Planned Parenthood.
In Trump’s view, ‘‘Planned Parenthood should absolutely be defunded. I mean if you look at what’s going on with that, it’s terrible. And many of the things should be defunded and many things should be cut.’’ Given that Planned Parenthood provides essential healthcare and access to reproductive choice, such hatred can only be seen as a hatred for women. If every single woman in the US had used her vote, they might have elected a candidate who supported Planned Parenthood.
In New Zealand, women enjoy universal healthcare, education, and adequate funding for health organisations such as Family Planning. We have healthcare not because of luck, but because it is a basic right. If we had not won the vote, Family Planning might not be so readily available.
The vote changed women’s healthcare: in 1936, family planning services were founded, and in 1961, the contraceptive pill became available, affecting the way we women control our bodies and our fertility. This democratic freedom is a right, not a privilege, resulting from women winning the vote.
If women choose not to vote, male politicians may try to take this right away. In America, politicians can make choices about reproductive rights, not just abortions but also contraception and other medications. Making abortion illegal will force more women to have dangerous illegal abortions. If women in New Zealand choose not to vote, this could also happen to them.
Too often, men believe that they deserve power over women. Before women won the vote, they were regarded as children. But New Zealand women have often proved their power.
In 1933, Labour’s Elizabeth McCombs became our first woman MP; in 1947, Labour’s Mabel Howard became our first woman cabinet minister; in 1997, National’s Jenny Shipley became our first woman prime minister; and in 1999, Labour’s Helen Clark became our first elected woman prime minister. Progress didn’t happen right away, but it did so eventually. In 2018, we are witnessing a revolution, for Jacinda Ardern is serving as prime minister while pregnant, an accomplishment that no male politician will ever match.
Voting, though essential to equality, symbolised freedom, the power to choose politicians, and a voice in healthcare and education. It told women that they were valuable. If women had known earlier that their views mattered, who knows where New Zealand would be today.
Women’s right to vote was hardfought. As proved by the progress since then, it has been used wisely. In honour of Kate Sheppard, other suffragettes, and women such as Elizabeth McComb and Mabel Howard, it is our duty to vote at every single election. We thank the women who fought for the right to vote, even though they shouldn’t have had to in the first place.