Ferrymead Heritage Park
Christchurch

Good afternoon everyone. I would like to acknowledge all distinguished guests, and to say thank you to Bryan Lintott and the team from Ferrymead Heritage Park for inviting me to say a few words today in my role as Minister of Women's Affairs. I bring apologies from the Ferrymead MP, Ruth Dyson, and also her personal congratulations on this project, Ruth having been a Minister of Women's Affairs herself.

Congratulations to Ferrymead Park's volunteer board: Rick Hellings, Martin Hadlee and Jenny May, as well as the Ferrymead trustees, the Ferrymead societies and the Ferrymead staff for your hard work and commitment to this innovative project. I would especially like to acknowledge Carole Fursdon, the 'Miss Camellia White' Project Co-ordinator.

That leads me to extend a special welcome to our guest of honour, Miss Camellia White. Miss Camellia White has made the long journey through time to be here today from the year 1892. Welcome to the 21st Century. You will be delighted to hear that just last month we celebrated 114 years since women won the right to vote in New Zealand.

By the end of 1892 you and your fellow suffragists had fought long and hard, losing three attempts to change the law, despite increasingly large petitions in support. With the benefit of 21st century hindsight I can tell you that in 1893 you succeeded in winning New Zealand women the right to vote, backed by the biggest petition of them all, with 32,000 signatures.
Thanks to you and your fellow suffragists we became the first self governing nation in the world to do so. It is an event that has defined us as a nation and I am sure that the suffragists who fought so hard for women’s voices to be heard would have had little idea that their triumph would now be claimed by all New Zealanders – men as well as women – as an event of such universal pride.

Your name, Miss Camellia White, holds special significance. During the final days of the campaign the suffragists sent the MPs, who supported them, a white camellia and, to those who did not support them, a red camellia. So the flower you are named for is now symbolic of women's suffrage in New Zealand and today there is a row of white camellias planted outside the Parliamentary library in Wellington. They bloom each September on the anniversary of your victory.

The Bill was signed into law on the 19th September and, in recognition of her achievements as a political leader, Kate Sheppard was presented with the very pen the governor used to give the Bill effect.

At a Suffrage Day breakfast in Wellington on the 19th of September this year I asked what Kate Sheppard would say if she was here today. When I posed the question I had little idea that I would actually have the opportunity to put that question to one of her contemporaries. I made the point that since your time we have made many advances but the truth is we could still use your help today.

I’m sure you will be astonished to know that women now make up about one-third of the 120 members of Parliament, which is now a single House of Representatives – no Legislative Council as existed in your day and which twice frustrated the will of the lower House on the suffrage question. And I expect you’ll also be surprised to learn that today women hold three of the four top constitutional positions – Prime Minister, Speaker and Chief Justice – and for a brief moment in time women held all four positions, including the position of Governor-General! I wonder if this is something you, Kate Sheppard and the other suffragists imagined would happen. But I want to assure you that we are not resting on our laurels or white camellias for that matter.

Women make up half the population and it seems to me that we should continue to aim for equal sharing of responsibility – in the home, in the community, in the boardrooms and in the corridors of power. But women are still paid significantly less than men; they are hardly visible in our corporate boardrooms; they are over-represented in the unpaid work that keeps our communities going; and they are over-represented in the damning domestic violence statistics – something we know is a matter that you were concerned about over a century ago. Enabling women to achieve their career ambitions at the same time as having and raising a children remains a real challenge.

Today is Labour Day – the day we celebrate the 8 hour day and the 40 hour working week. But as one newspaper headline said yesterday "40-hour week – Yeah Right"; and that is where you could come in. When you campaigned for women's suffrage, you and your fellow suffragists were motivated around family welfare, which is why the Women's Christian Temperance Union played such an important role. Drunkenness was seen as the root of many of the evils that bedevilled family life and much of the Parliamentary debate was provoked by liquor interests fearing that prohibition would follow the granting of women's suffrage. Today New Zealanders are second only to the Japanese in terms of hours they work. The pressure that this places on families is enormous. And again there are powerful interests that do not want to ease that pressure. A bill on Flexible Working Arrangements has shown a real split between male and female dominated organisations.

So when we remember that you were up against powerful interests and that you had to work with men in order to achieve your goal, then I say you have much to offer us today as we take on the challenges that remain in our quest for equality between men and women in all spheres of our lives. We developed a saying in the 1980s to encourage girls to look at non-traditional career options. It said: “Girls can do anything!” but I always maintain that doesn’t mean we have to do everything. Women in the 21st century are seeking ways to work with men to find a healthy balance between work and family responsibilities. Flexible working arrangements must be for the benefit of the whole family – which means men and women.

Perhaps you Miss Camelia White could bring some of your 19th century ideas to the 21st century problems we now face. Because, as you see, we still have work to do.

I am glad that you have journeyed to the 21st Century and I am particularly pleased that you have chosen Christchurch; the home of Kate Sheppard; Elizabeth McCombs, the first woman MP; and the first woman Cabinet Minister, Mabel Howard. All of them were crusaders for women's rights and a fitting place to tell your story and to guide us into the future.