During our shared Year 9 STEAM English and Social Studies lesson this week our teachers dressed up as Suffragettes. We were transported back to the late 1800s in Colonial New Zealand where Pakeha and Māori women fought for women’s franchise.
Finally, on 19 September 1893, Lord Glasgow signed a new Electoral Act into law and Aotearoa became the first self-governing country in the world where women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
During this lesson we worked collaboratively to create Suffrage sashes using symbols to represent issues faced by females in the 1800s, but also issues concerning gender equality today. Finally, we presented our sashes along with our gender equality chants to the whole group. Kate Sheppard would be proud of our efforts 127 years after she led the fight for women’s suffrage.