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Kate Sheppard
Historical figureNew Zealand1847-1934

Kate Sheppard

Leader of the New Zealand women's suffrage movement · National Superintendent for the Franchise, New Zealand WCTU

New Zealand suffragist who led the temperance-linked campaign that won the vote for women in 1893, making New Zealand the first self-governing country to grant it.

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Profile on 12 axes8 of 12 documented
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stood

Kate Sheppard, axis by axis

  1. 01OwnershipNo clear record
    PublicPrivate
  2. 02Markets-20
    PlannedFree
  3. 03Welfare-35
    SharedSelf-reliant
  4. 04Authority-65
    DemocraticStrong leader
  5. 05Security+25
    LibertyOrder

    The WCTU sought to ban alcohol, a curb on personal choice.

  6. 06StructureNo clear record
    LocalCentral
  7. 07Morality-30
    ProgressiveTraditional

    She pushed equal divorce rights, equal wages and contraception through the National Council of Women, but her base was a Christian temperance movement.

  8. 08Religion+20
    SecularReligious

    Her uncle and church work shaped a Christian socialist outlook, but she did not seek an established church.

  9. 09TechnologyNo clear record
    EmbraceCaution
  10. 10Culture-55
    MulticulturalNational identity

    She wrote that all that separates, whether of race, class, creed or sex, is inhuman.

  11. 11TradeNo clear record
    GlobalProtected
  12. 12Foreign policy-30
    CooperationStrength

4 axes have no clear record, so matching leaves them out.

Who was Kate Sheppard?

Kate Sheppard was born Catherine Wilson Malcolm in Liverpool in March 1847 and moved to Christchurch in the late 1860s. She married Walter Sheppard in 1871. Her church work led her to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, where she became National Superintendent for the Franchise and Legislation in 1887. She wrote the pamphlet Ten Reasons Why the Women of New Zealand Should Vote and organized three petitions to Parliament. The third, in 1893, carried 31,872 signatures. She became the first president of the National Council of Women in 1896, spent time in England, and died in Christchurch in 1934.

Political views

  • The WCTU came to see that votes for women would help it ban alcohol and improve the welfare of women and children.Source: canterburymuseum.com
  • Her late-1880s petitions to stop women working as barmaids were rejected, which convinced her that women needed the vote to be heard.Source: humanprogress.org
  • Her 1888 pamphlet Ten Reasons Why the Women of New Zealand Should Vote was sent to every member of the House of Representatives.Source: canterburymuseum.com
  • The suffrage petitions grew from 10,085 signatures in 1891 to 20,274 in 1892 and 31,872 in 1893, the largest the New Zealand parliament had received.Source: humanprogress.org
  • The Electoral Bill of 1893 was signed into law on 19 September 1893, and women over 21 could vote.Source: canterburymuseum.com
  • As president of the National Council of Women she backed equal wages, equal divorce rights, better health care and contraception.Source: peelingbackhistory.co.nz
  • Her Christian socialist values were shaped by her uncle, a Free Church of Scotland minister in Nairn.Source: humanprogress.org
  • She edited the WCTU monthly The White Ribbon and spoke in Canada, the United States and England to spread the case for votes for women.Source: humanprogress.org

Legacy

Admirers credit Sheppard with leading the campaign that made New Zealand the first self-governing country to give women the vote, and with inspiring later movements in Australia, Finland, Norway, Denmark and elsewhere. About 65 percent of women voted in the first election, and she appears on the ten-dollar note. Opponents argued that they feared families would be abandoned and the economy harmed, and the upper house twice rejected a suffrage amendment. Her campaign was also tied to temperance and its aim of banning alcohol, a goal critics saw as a limit on personal choice.

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Kate Sheppard: questions

What did Kate Sheppard achieve?

She led the campaign behind the 1893 Electoral Act, which gave New Zealand women the vote after a petition of 31,872 signatures.

Was Kate Sheppard a temperance campaigner?

Yes. She helped found the Christchurch branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in 1885, and the group backed the vote as a way to curb alcohol and improve welfare for women and children.

What else did Kate Sheppard campaign for?

As National Council of Women president she backed equal wages, equal divorce rights, better health care and contraception.

Sources