The Suffrage Story in Dunedin: An Interview with Dr Dorothy Page

Now retired, Dr Dorothy Page studied and taught History at the University of Otago throughout her teaching life. One of her particular interests has been women’s history in Britain and New Zealand, as well as local history. She is also a former President of the Settlers Association, the friends organisation for Toitū Otago Settlers Museum.

One of her research interests has been the story of suffrage in Dunedin, which in her words, “was much more lively and controversial than anywhere else.”

Pre-Suffrage in Dunedin

Before 1893, there were a number of developments in New Zealand that laid the ground for suffrage to take place. Among these was the New Zealand culture of drinking and domestic violence, which was exacerbated throughout the 1880s due to the Long Depression. This acted as a “motivation for women to want to change society… because a lot of people took refuge in alcohol and alcohol-fuelled violence was a terrible thing at that stage.”

Additionally, Dunedin women benefited from the opening of the first state high school for girls in Dunedin; the admission of women to the University; the right of women ratepayers to vote in local elections; the Married Women’s Property Act 1884 which enabled married women to hold their own property; the 1877 Education Act which made primary schooling compulsory for both genders; women being able to vote and stand for liquor licensing boards in 1881; the ability of women to vote in elections for newly established hospital and charitable boards from 1885 and an increasing number of opportunities available for working women. All of these measures gave women more autonomy and better access to education which led to the establishment of suffrage. In Dr Page’s words:

“The education of the bright and ambitious young women was being catered for and there was also a change among the working class women – they turned their backs on domestic service and took up jobs in factories, particularly clothing factories… Many advances in Dunedin had a spirit of activism. I would say the suffrage movement marks a new stage. Not the beginning of it all but a stage along the continuum.”

The Suffrage Story in Dunedin

Dunedin was a significant locale in the fight for universal suffrage in New Zealand. Given its position as the biggest and most industrialised city in New Zealand, “Dunedin and its locality contributed hugely to the three suffrage petitions, about a third in each case.” In fact, Dunedin received more signatures than anywhere else in New Zealand. A number of reasons are given for the popularity of suffrage in Dunedin. One is the strength of evangelical Protestantism in Dunedin, which is considered more politically/socially active than other denominations and which has a majority female membership base. The strength of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Women’s Franchise League were also contributing factors. However, as Dr Page states:

“My view is that they were ready for it. They’d had the education, they had reasons with [terrible working conditions] in the clothing factories to want to be able to influence legislation... The workman’s families knew about unions and husbands were already unionised and wanted to participate as well. It was a relatively advanced situation. Women graduates – most of them went into teaching and went into it with a sort of missionary fervour. They wanted to pass along education that had worked for them and wanted to pass on its benefits. So there’s this kind of group coming through by the 1890s. I think they were ready.”

The Dunedin suffrage campaign had three main leaders – Marion Hatton, who had been a milliner before she married and believed strongly in temperance; Helen Nichol who was a foundation member of the WCTU in New Zealand and Harriet Morison who championed the Tailoresses’ Union (the first women’s trade union in New Zealand), was a member of the WCTU and was “deeply concerned for the working conditions of women, especially in the clothing industry… [her] distinctive contribution to the suffrage campaign was to ensure that its message reached working-class women.”

Initially, the suffrage movement was linked to the temperance movement and suffrage faced opposition from two main groups – “those who were terrified that the suffrage movement was a temperance plot and the government would outlaw alcohol… and also traditional men who believed that women’s place was in the home.” Both of these perspectives came together in Henry Smith Fish – the most outspoken opponent of suffrage in Parliament and a former Mayor of Dunedin and Member of Parliament who “claimed on one occasion that [the proponents of suffrage] were not women at all because they were not womanly. They were not women, they were bad, bad men.” Fish used paid canvassers to fill anti-suffrage petitions in bars, with many signatures ultimately proving to be fraudulent. And even after being given a mandate to support suffrage in the House of Representatives, Fish continued to oppose it – which led to him being pelted with over-ripe eggs by an angry crowd when he returned from Parliament.

In spite of Fish and his supporters, the suffragists were successful. The fact that the suffrage movement in Dunedin decided to cut temperance from the agenda and make suffrage a single-issue movement contributed to their success – “this was a turning point and also undermined the arguments of the pro-liquor lobby.” However, their main means of action was through the use of petitions: “These were carried out with enormous efficiency. The women divided up the city into districts, streets and houses and wanted to catch every household… The Caversham Project, for example, found that in South Dunedin 60% of eligible women signed up.”

The Otago story finishes with the 1893 petition being presented in Parliament – “all 300 yards of it.”

Suffrage Through an Intersectional Lens

Ultimately, suffrage was a single-issue movement. It was not directly concerned with issues of race, class, disability, sexuality etc – although “in Dunedin at least the movement did have a sturdy class component, one of the points of difference from the other centres.” Although the National Council of Women was founded three years after suffrage in 1896 and advocated strongly for women (for example, with regards to better pay for teachers and better conditions for domestic servants), progress in relation to gender equality after suffrage was also halting in many respects.

Additionally, Dr Page doesn’t know of any non-Pakeha women who were involved in the suffrage petition in Dunedin and there’s little to no information available as to what proportion of Māori or Chinese women petitioned for suffrage or ultimately voted once suffrage was successful (these being the two other main constituencies in Dunedin other than Pakeha during this time) – although this is likely because Māori and Chinese were very much a minority in Dunedin at this time. And although Māori women were included as eligible to vote in 1893, Chinese women and men were excluded from this right. Similarly, questions have been posited by the likes of Barbara Brookes as to the different Māori voting system and the lack of a secret ballot for Māori seats until 1937, and how this affected Māori women’s exercise of the vote. However, these issues are unexplored in all the literature we’ve reviewed on the subject of suffrage.

It’s for us as the descendants of suffrage in New Zealand to tackle these questions and we view intersectional feminism as the most progressive offshoot of suffrage today – as it takes into account perspectives and experiences that early feminism did not consider relevant or important. However, we still consider it important to celebrate these early successes – and to recognise and learn from the passion and collectivism of the suffrage movement, which has led to greater gender equality in New Zealand.