Auspicious milestone

Suffrage 125 (NZ women got the vote first in 1893) is an auspicious milestone. It’s also why NZ was called the trail-blazing social laboratory of the world.

Suffragists like Kate Sheppard were formidable lobbyists and exemplary role models.

It is salutary to remember that these suffragists strove not only for political-gender equality, but for moral (they were part of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union) reform as well. They were unabashed in their intentions to ban alcohol.

This explains why the then Prime Minister, Richard Seddon (a former publican) stridently opposed women getting the vote. Interestingly, NZ came very close to banning booze between 1911-19.

Ironically NZ still has a major problems with alcohol, especially binge drinking. Tragically—and Kate Sheppard would turn in her grave—more people die each year in NZ from an alcohol-related death than the combined suicide and road toll.

I’m not advocating prohibition, but in my opinion, the lowering of the drinking age to 18 in 1999 will go down in history as one of the dumbest decisions ever made by our politicians.

Let’s honour Kate Sheppard and emulate her feminist, aspirational example, but let’s also acknowledge the ‘‘real elephant in the room,’’ binge drinking and why it’s still a negative part of our populist culture.