Even Maori Women Vote, But Only Men Hold Office—Lack of Servants Keeps
Fair Sex Home.
What about woman in New Zealand? We are arguing for and against woman
suffrage in the United States with almost as much theory and as little
practical knowledge of the proposed conditions as was the case thirty
years ago. Some of us are positive in the conviction that the right to
vote would unsex the sex—would harden motherhood and sisterhood into a
sedulous mannishness.
Others believe that womanly intuitions would soften the sheer
practicality of politics and induce gentleness where roughness has
ruled. And for a dozen years we need only have looked to the Antipodes
to learn how woman suffrage might work out in practise.
Lady Ward, wife of the premier of New Zealand, during a recent visit to
the United States, said to a representative of the New York _Tribune_
that the women of New Zealand, despite their participation in colonial
politics, are very feminine. She added:
Sometimes women do speak at political meetings, but it generally turns
out afterward that they are visiting Americans, or perhaps English
women. No, we don’t sit on juries, and we don’t run for Parliament.
The law would have to be changed before we could do so, but I don’t
believe we want to. Perhaps some time in the future it will come to
that, but I think it will be a long time.
We did have a mayoress once in a town in the northern part of the
colony, but no one seems inclined to repeat the experiment. In fact,
we are very busy with our domestic affairs, and are quite content for
the present to leave the management of public affairs to the men.
The women of New Zealand place their homes before every other
consideration, and their domestic problems are just as serious as
those of any other country. Our young women would rather be
stenographers than domestic servants, and we have not found any way of
getting on without servants.
But don’t imagine that we are not interested in politics and that we
don’t vote. There isn’t a woman in New Zealand who doesn’t know every
member of Parliament either by sight or by reputation, and there isn’t
one who can’t talk intelligently about political questions. Out on the
farms and in the villages it is just the same as in the cities, and it
makes life very much more interesting.
No matter whom you meet, you will always find one subject of common
interest. People here don’t seem to be much interested in politics,
and even your men don’t vote, I am told. Isn’t it strange? Perhaps it
is because our country is smaller that we take so much more interest
in its affairs.
Our elections are most interesting events, and the women do a great
deal of electioneering, just as they do in England. But they don’t do
much speechmaking, except among themselves. Political afternoon teas
are a favorite method of winning over doubtful women voters.
What becomes of the babies when the mothers are out electioneering?
Why, I really don’t know. I suppose there is always some kind-hearted
woman to take care of them. Perhaps the women take care of one
another’s babies. I never heard of any difficulties of that kind.
Do the native women vote? Yes, certainly. Every woman over twenty-one
votes. The only qualification is a residence of twelve months in the
colony and three months in the electorate where the vote is cast. The
native women take just as much interest in politics as the white
women, and are thoroughly well posted in everything concerning native
affairs. We have an aboriginal population of forty thousand, and they
have their own representatives in Parliament.
Women in New Zealand have the more time for politics because they do not
carry the burden of charitable work. The charities there are subsidized
by the State.