'Use your vote' Women's Minister urges

"Use your vote" is the message from Women's Affairs Minister Lianne Dalziel to New Zealand women to mark the 114th anniversary of women's suffrage tomorrow (Suffrage Day is on Wednesday 19 September).

Lianne Dalziel said the suffragists fought long and hard for the chance to influence society, and to ensure that future generations of women could have their say about the issues affecting both the nation and their lives. Their success in leading the world in women's rights has become a part of our identity as a nation, Lianne Dalziel said.

"New Zealand women gained the right to vote on 19 September 1893. In November 1893, at the general election, over 90,000 – 65 percent of women over 21 – exercised their right to vote, without the world falling in as some people had predicted.

"It is important that women today honour the efforts of our forebears by exercising their right to vote in the local government elections.

Lianne Dalziel said women had made progress since 1893, but there was still work to do to bring about change to the attitudes and behaviour that represent the greatest remaining barriers to women realising their full potential.

"We have women in the roles of Prime Minister, Parliamentary Speaker, and Chief Justice. We have equal pay legislation and paid parental leave, and women make up 42 percent of members on state sector boards. Women and men in New Zealand have full and equal legal rights.

"Equality in law, however, does not always mean equality in reality. We still have issues to deal with such as pay and employment disparities, including occupational segregation and the gender pay gap, and the high rates of domestic violence," Lianne Dalziel said.

"Kate Sheppard and the suffragists never gave up the fight, despite repeated defeats, because they believed that women should have equal rights with men in terms of voting. We owe it to their memory to participate.

"So when your election papers arrive, don't leave it for another day; vote, and post it right away!"