# Canonical recap data for First Women's Suffrage Election (1893)
# Source: https://recap.at/1893/new-zealand-womens-suffrage
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: new-zealand-womens-suffrage
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1893/new-zealand-womens-suffrage"
title: First Women's Suffrage Election
aliases:
- Women's suffrage in New Zealand
- Electoral Act 1893
- New Zealand first women's vote
subtitle: New Zealand became the first nation to grant women the vote, a watershed moment in democratic participation and a catalyst for suffrage movements worldwide.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1893-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1893
decade: 1890
country:
name: New Zealand
slug: new-zealand
summaryShort: "The First Women's League of Republika Srpska in basketball (Serbian: Прва женска лига Републике Српске у кошарци, Prva ženska liga Republike Srpske u košarci), known as the Meridianbet Prva ženska liga RS for sponsorship reasons, is a professional women's basketball competition held in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bo"
summaryLong: "The First Women's League of Republika Srpska in basketball (Serbian: Прва женска лига Републике Српске у кошарци, Prva ženska liga Republike Srpske u košarci), known as the Meridianbet Prva ženska liga RS for sponsorship reasons, is a professional women's basketball competition held in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina."
lede: On September 19, 1893, New Zealand became the first nation to grant women the right to vote in a general election. The Electoral Act of that year extended suffrage to all women over 21, making the country a global outlier and setting a precedent that would influence women's movements worldwide for decades.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Flag_of_the_Republika_Srpska.svg/1280px-Flag_of_the_Republika_Srpska.svg.png"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "First Women's League of Republika Srpska in basketball"
importance: 88
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Date of Electoral Act passage
  value: September 19, 1893
- label: Voting age requirement
  value: 21 years old
- label: First general election with women voters
  value: "1896"
- label: Key political leader
  value: Premier Richard Seddon
- label: Years ahead of Australia
  value: 9 years (New Zealand 1893, Australia 1902)
- label: Years ahead of Britain
  value: 35 years (New Zealand 1893, Britain 1928)
- label: Primary advocate organization
  value: Women's Christian Temperance Union
timeline:
- date: 1889-01-01
  title: Women's suffrage petition campaign begins
  description: Kate Sheppard and other activists launch a major petition drive demanding voting rights for women.
- date: 1893-08-28
  title: Electoral Act passes House
  description: The Electoral Act clearing the final parliamentary hurdle, with support from Premier Richard Seddon and the Liberal government.
- date: 1893-09-19
  title: Electoral Act receives Royal Assent
  description: Governor General Glasgow formally signs the Electoral Act, making women's suffrage law. New Zealand becomes the first nation to grant women full voting rights.
- date: 1896-11-28
  title: First general election with women voters
  description: Women vote in New Zealand's general election for the first time, with over 150,000 eligible female voters participating.
- date: 1902-12-03
  title: Australia adopts women's suffrage
  description: Australia follows New Zealand's lead, becoming the second nation to grant women voting rights, nine years later.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Women's_League_of_Republika_Srpska_in_basketball"
  title: First Women's League of Republika Srpska in basketball
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: New Zealand's decision predated women's suffrage in Australia (1902), Finland (1906), and Britain (1928) by years or decades, establishing the country as an unexpected pioneer in democratic inclusion. The victory relied on tactical political maneuvering—Premier Richard Seddon backed the measure partly to boost the Liberal Party's electoral prospects—but the outcome was irreversible and emboldened suffragists globally.
categories:
- election
- protest
taxonomy:
domain: political
eventTypes:
- election
- constitutional_reform
canonicalClasses:
- transformation
- governance
impactRadius: global
velocity: gradual
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: New Zealand became the first nation to grant women full voting rights in 1893, reshaping global democracy.
wikidataQid: Q133816030
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20250909054955/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Women%27s_League_of_Republika_Srpska_in_basketball"
  capturedAt: 2025-09-09
  label: First Women's League of Republika Srpska in basketball
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Women's_League_of_Republika_Srpska_in_basketball"
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Flag_of_the_Republika_Srpska.svg/1280px-Flag_of_the_Republika_Srpska.svg.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Flag_of_the_Republika_Srpska.svg/800px-Flag_of_the_Republika_Srpska.svg.png"
  caption: First Women's League of Republika Srpska in basketball
  credit: Wikipedia · "First Women's League of Republika Srpska in basketball"
  width: 330
  height: 165
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Pre-election_parade_for_suffrage_in_NYC.png/1280px-Pre-election_parade_for_suffrage_in_NYC.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Pre-election_parade_for_suffrage_in_NYC.png/800px-Pre-election_parade_for_suffrage_in_NYC.png"
  caption: Pre-election parade for suffrage in NYC
  credit: Wikimedia Commons
  width: 1536
  height: 1038
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Pre-election_suffrage_parade_NYC.jpg/1280px-Pre-election_suffrage_parade_NYC.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Pre-election_suffrage_parade_NYC.jpg/800px-Pre-election_suffrage_parade_NYC.jpg"
  caption: Pre-election suffrage parade NYC
  credit: Bain Collection
  width: 640
  height: 433
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Memory_of_the_World_Register_-_Nomination_Form_New_Zealand_-_The_1893_Women%27s_Suffrage_Petition.pdf/page1-960px-Memory_of_the_World_Register_-_Nomination_Form_New_Zealand_-_The_1893_Women%27s_Suffrage_Petition.pdf.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Memory_of_the_World_Register_-_Nomination_Form_New_Zealand_-_The_1893_Women%27s_Suffrage_Petition.pdf/page1-960px-Memory_of_the_World_Register_-_Nomination_Form_New_Zealand_-_The_1893_Women%27s_Suffrage_Petition.pdf.jpg"
  caption: Memory of the World Register - Nomination Form New Zealand - The 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition
  credit: Unknown authorUnknown author
  width: 1239
  height: 1754
