Title: Fight to Vote
Anticipatory Guide
Statement | True | False |
New Zealand was the first country in the world for allowing women to vote Evidence: “Why were New Zealand women the first in the world to have suffrage?” Some historians think that New Zealand women had the right to vote first due to their settler experience of being independent and capable. | * | |
Families were happy and were in safe environments during the 1800’s. Evidence: In early colonial New Zealand, women mostly worked at home, looking after their families, and left politics to men. However, women started to speak out that they should have equal rights due to them having such few rights. Men would spend their money on alcohol which meant that families would have no money for food. This affects their families. | * | |
Mary Clement Leavitt was born in New Zealand Evidence: There was an important and huge development for women’s suffrage in New Zealand. Meet Mary Clement Leavitt from the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. (WCTU) Mary Clement Leavitt came from the United States to campaign against alcohol. | * | |
Kate Sheppard was a well informed educated woman Evidence: Kate Sheppard was married in the late 1800’s. She only had one child. Her small family got her time to work for the suffrage movement. She was well educated and had many skills, including the ability to influence politicians and the public. | * | |
Women campaigners were visible with their presence Evidence: Women’s suffrage campaigners in the early 1890’s were very active all over the country. So by being active all over the country they are visible with their presence. | * | |
Richard Seddon was fully supportive of women having the right to vote Evidence: Men said that women voting was unnatural. What they really meant was that women voting could potentially harm their businesses. The Former Prime Minister of New Zealand had a concern that if wealthy women voted, their husbands could convince them to vote for the opposition. Richard Seddon was sympathetic to this concern. | * | |
Women were arrested campaigning for the right to vote Evidence: They weren’t arrested because of that reason. Women were only arrested if they disobeyed the law they were supposed to follow. This was when many went on hunger strike. | * | |
Switzerland was one of the second countries that allowed women the right to vote Evidence: Swiss women had gained the right to vote in 1971 for the parliament. Before all that, some countries came before Switzerland. | * | |
All women in Australia were allowed to vote at the same time Evidence: South Australian women had gained the right to vote in 1891 for the parliament. This concludes that not all women in Australia were allowed to vote at the same time. In 1962 aboriginal women from Australia gained the suffrage to vote. | * |
