Kate Sheppard was not a suffragette

Kate Sheppard would be delighted to know that women are able to lead political parties and hold the highest offices in the country. She would not be pleased, however, with the use of the word ‘‘suffragette’’ to describe her (Perspective, Sep 18).

The word suffragette was coined in 1906 by The Daily Mail in Britain to describe women who, frustrated by their Government’s inaction, began a campaign of civil disobedience to achieve their goal. Their actions, which arose out of long years of frustration and disappointment, included arson, breaking windows and going on hunger strike when they were imprisoned for breaking the law.

In New Zealand, by contrast, the women campaigning for the vote had no need to resort to such desperate measures. Kate Sheppard was a softly spoken woman who achieved her goals by quiet persuasion, education and organisation, mainly from her writing desk. Many New Zealand politicians were sympathetic to the cause and it was on the suggestion of her main political adviser, Sir John Hall, that Sheppard organised petitions to Parliament. With the help of hundreds of members of the WCTU and women’s franchise leagues around the country the women’s vote was won in 1893.

In 1993 when New Zealand celebrated the centenary of women’s vote, historians took care to use the word suffragist when writing about the women in this country who worked for the vote. Let’s hope this respect for history will continue in 2018 as we celebrate the 125th anniversary of women voting in this country. Margaret Lovell-Smith Bryndwr

Ardern is nothing like her

The assertion that Jacinda Ardern is emulating the renowned feminist and homemaker Kate Sheppard is challenged. Sheppard was an articulate defender of the natural family of exclusively one woman and one man, the foundation of a healthy society. Mothers were the guardians of the home and the nurturers of children. Sheppard was a fierce defender of the right to life of unborn children. Ken Orr Shirley