Kate Sheppard - A Biography - The Fight for Women's Votes in New Zealand - The Life of the Woman Who Led the Struggle

Penguin, 1992. Spine faded, otherwise good secondhand condition.

In this remarkable biography of Kate Sheppard, Devaliant paints a fascinating picture of the woman who led the campaign to win the vote for New Zealand women in the 1890s. When in 1893 New Zeaalnd became the first country in the world to grant women the vote, Kate Sheppard was the acknowledged leader of the women's franchise campaign, a tireless battler for women's rights. She was a founder member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union in 1885, and led the franchise campaign for several years. Later she helped establish the National Council of Women, and travelled widely overseasa. Here Devaliant traces Kate's life from her British childhood and her time as a young married woman in Christchurch through to her years of maturity as an astute and effective political campaigner. It explores her associations with other leading New Zealand feminists and her work overseas as she joined the international movement for women's rights. At the heart of the book lies the dramatic, relentless, seven-year battle for the vote for women. The book chronicles the historic women's franchise campaign, led by Sheppard, which involved three massive petitions to Parliament and placed New Zealand women at the forefront of international reform...