Suffrage and Silences - Wāhine Māori and the Vote

Authors

  • Katrina Tamaira

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/arch.10590

Keywords:

Wāhine Māori, New Zealand History, Women's Suffrage, Archival silences

Abstract

Article discusses how, while New Zealand was the first nation to extend voting rights to women in 1893, very few wāhine Māori appear on the suffrage petition. It discusses the social conditions of many Māori communities at the time, following the erosion of the rangitiratanga and mana motuhake, or autonomy, authority and self-determination. It also provides an analysis of petitioning and the inherent contradictions of petitions as tools of liberation. Further discusses inequities connected with the suffrage petition, including archival silences.

Metadata reused from the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Katrina Tamaira

Katrina Tamaira (she/her/ia) belongs to Ngāti Tūwharetoa and works as Research Librarian Māori in the Arrangement and Description Team, Alexander Turnbull Library. She is interested in how (in)equity and power are embedded in archival and library practices. In her spare time she likes to get muddy in the garden and watch dogs run along Lyall Bay beach.

Downloads

Published

2022-01-01

Issue

2022

Section

Articles