Petition to fly the Women’s Suffrage flag at New Zealand’s Parliament.
NZ was the first self-governing country in the world where women won the right to vote. My petition requests a visible acknowledgement of that hard-won achievement.
For those who are thinking right now “wait – hasn’t NZ First submitted a member’s bill to ban all flags except the official flag of New Zealand from being displayed on government buildings?” you’d be right. But I’m cracking on with this petition to fly the Women’s Suffrage flag at Parliament. Let me explain why, and then if you agree, please do sign it in the link at the bottom. Anyone, anywhere – either in NZ or overseas – can sign.
First of all, who knows when the member’s bill to ban non-NZ flags on government buildings will be drawn from Parliament’s lucky dip biscuit tin, or if it will pass when the House votes on it. Even if the bill is drawn in the not-too-distant future, and passes the vote in the House, a petition to fly the Women’s Suffrage flag will show there’s an appetite for it to be displayed somewhere in some way on the 19th September each year.
Because that’s the day in 1893 when New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to legislate women’s right to vote. A flag fluttering in acknowledgement of that somewhere doesn’t seem like too big an ask. Winning that right was hard fought for, and took three strenuous attempts amongst a lot of opposition from both men and women before the bill passed by a mere “two hurrahs”, as the congratulatory telegram to Kate Sheppard said.
Technically, New Zealand’s Suffragists - we didn’t have the more combative Suffragettes here - didn’t have a flag. The white camellia, which the Suffragists gave to their supporters in Parliament to wear during the passing of the Electoral Act 1893, has become symbolic of the victory. However, the purple/violet, white, and green striped women’s suffrage flag from the UK has since been adopted and widely recognised here, and elsewhere, as symbolic of both the struggle and the victory.
In the event that the bill to ban all non-NZ flags from government buildings doesn’t get passed in the House, then we remain subjected to seeing the Trans, Rainbow, Pride/Progress, Bisexual, and Intersex flags being flown at Parliament at various intervals on multiple days each year. These flags are not being flown in recognition of anything notable, but just because the powers-that-be have been persuaded by highly influential TQ+ lobby groups that we the public need to have them in our faces, compliments of our Parliament building.
On the other hand, women’s suffrage (suffrage = the right to vote) was a landmark achievement which greatly helped women in all walks of life. This is something worth commemorating, and we’re only asking for one day a year to do it by displaying the Women’s Suffrage flag at Parliament.
Just as there were those who disagreed in the 19th century that women should have the right to vote, there are still those today who seem to object to it -
I’m not going to pretend that women have a perfect track record in anything. However, we don’t call for the removal of men as a group from having a say in politics because they’re imperfect, do we?
In its current form, the proposal to ban all non-NZ flags from government buildings has had some reasonable arguments against it. The bill may need some refining to accommodate worthy causes, of which NZ being the first self-governing country in the world to legalise the right for women to vote is surely one.
132 years ago, NZ European women, Māori women, and supportive men fought together for women to have the right to vote, and now I ask on that this is given some visible acknowledgement at the very place that right was won.
Petition of Katrina Biggs: Fly a Women’s Suffrage flag at Parliament on 19th September each year
Remember, anyone from anywhere in New Zealand or overseas can sign this petition. Thank you so much :-)
Signed thank you…I’ve not voted left so whoever said all
Women do is wrong…so much wrong these days! And one big wrong is women being so very dismissed!! Especially in the midwifery area!!
Signed and about to be restacked.
As a Canadian (settler) male, I give thanks to the brave women of your nation for their sacrifices, as our proud and enviable Nation of Nations & Commonwealth sister to yours is immeasurably better for the contributions of our female voters past and ongoing.
You note, quite reasonably imho, “I’m not going to pretend that women have a perfect track record in anything. However, we don’t call for the removal of men as a group from having a say in politics because they’re imperfect, do we?”
I’m a firm believer that our continued freedoms depend on implementing a reasonable trio of gates for suffrage, borrowing from the eternal wisdom of carnivals:
1. “You must be this rational to vote,”
2. “You must be this informed to vote,” and
3. “You must be this empathetic to vote.”
None of these three should be onerous, and our societies should work tirelessly to promote those three civic virtues, but the truly insane, ignorant, and sociopathic have no business being part of the process of determining governance for our pluralistic, secular, and democratic societies.
It’s a pipe dream, I acknowledge, as it’s surely impossible for those gates to remain unbiased by political pressures & venal interests, but what I truly yearn for is a society in which none of these 3 filters would exclude a single citizen: quality mental health care, reason-based education, and interpersonal relationship instruction should be ubiquitous so that no potential voter is ever left behind, and to allow every individual to maximize their potential to the extent they desire.