kateedgertrust

Winners Announcement

November 1, 2018

The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust is thrilled to announce that Maea Shepherd from Kamo High School in Whangarei is the winner of the Suffrage 125 Competition, for her song and video, Strong Women.

View Maea’s entry > As our winner, Maea will receive:

To Give Her A Helping Hand
$500 Cash Prize

To Shine Her Light
Her video showcased online

To Give Her Input Into Our Tomorrow
Opportunity to attend an ideation session for the NZ Global Suffrage Project Maea’s entry grabbed the judges’ attention with its wonderful energy, optimism and its positive portrayal of the diverse faces of women today. “This was a standout – clever and creative.”

The Suffrage 125 competition was held to recognise all the women and men, Māori and Pākehā, who were involved in the suffrage campaign.

The judges were delighted with the energy and creativity of the entries, which responded to the question ‘What does the Suffrage Movement mean to you; your family; your whānau; your identity?’

Through song, video, poetry and prose, these talented young women in Year 13 from secondary schools throughout the Auckland and Northland regions demonstrated how the suffrage movement relates to the issues that are important in their lives. Entries touched on diverse subjects, from female empowerment, to body image, the gender pay gap, and migration and highlighted the challenges and the successes of women.

The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust is grateful to all the entrants for their bravery in expressing some very personal thoughts, and to the schools for encouraging such wonderful talent in these young women.

For further information, please contact:

Nina Tomaszyk | General Manager | Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust

Phone: 09-358-1044 | Email: nina.tomaszyk@kateedgertrust.org.nz

The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust (KEECT) supports the promotion, advancement and encouragement of women within education, whether it be for research and professional activities, or for artistic and creative activities. The KEECT is one of the biggest supporters of women’s tertiary education in New Zealand, providing financial assistance of over $550,000 to 120 women in the last twelve months. Funding comes from private individuals, corporates as well as from proceeds from Academic Dress Hire.

Kudzai Biri – Carey College

September 16, 2018

For generations, it went from a someone’s daughter, sister, wife to inexplicable paths that women before my time so fearlessly fought for is a gift and a blessing I could never possibly return but simply receive and use it to my best advantage. To occupy the areas that they were locked out of to the best of my abilities, to adopt the same determination, grit, and perseverance and not just allow closed doors to stop me, but to open them because that’s how doors work.

The Suffrage Movement means the small exteriors like just simply being the way I am, a woman, do not define who I am, but what I will bring to the world. It does not mean to take over the world, but to take over the places open to others, which are open to me.

I have gained a freedom, and it does not cage me into a box, it sets me free, for this to happen before I even knew I was in a cage it is simply unfathomable, and I can only be grateful, and be inspired. In my heart, giving up is no longer an option, it is totally out of the equation.

Kudzai Biri
Carey College

Sophie Dixon – St Cuthbert’s College

The NZ Suffrage Movement is a cornerstone of New Zealand identity, a flame to be carried from generation to generat犀利士
ion, not a history book page to be flipped through every few years.

Once, the women’s vote divided the nation. Now it unites us.

The Suffrage movement was revolutionary because of its commitment to inclusivity; the campaigners secured the vote for all women, Maori or Pakeha. We continue to praise what they achieved.

Yet we must approach with caution this communal pride. It was not our generation who granted women the vote. One hundred and twenty five years ago, we were at the forefront of women’s rights.

In 2018 to remember is not enough.

We cannot rest on our laurels; we must continue to take action to improve the position of women in New Zealand.

The Suffrage movement serves as a continual motivator to speak up for the voiceless women, for the women who will follow in our footsteps, for the women who lit the flame.

Sophie Dixon
St Cuthbert’s College

Jasmine Bohlin – Baradene College of the Sacred Heart

The progress and development of the women’s suffrage prior to 1893 to 2018 is depicted in these two illustrations. The first image represents time before 1893, were women were oppressed, and the second image illustrates 2018, where women such as Jacinda Ardern are in highly powerful positions.

IMAGE 1:

  • Bubble = represents the capturing of women as their form of “protection” from the wider world
  • Umbrella = sheltering women from freedom to have rights and be equal in society
  • 3 Floating women, with no hands or legs = they couldn’t “stand on their own two feet,” or “weren’t capable of doing anything themselves”
  • Faceless = no identity, devaluing women as an individual but being dressed in identical black dresses, restricting them from self-exploration
  • Chained to umbrella = physically restricting them from changing or making a difference in society, therefore, restricted to their designated role of domestication
  • Red rain drops = represents corrupt/oppressive power upheld by men, illustrating the struggle women had to go through to achieve their goals

IMAGE 2:

  • Jacinda Ardern in red = NZ Prime Minister for Labour, now wearing the power, empowering myself and many other New Zealand women to make a difference for our future daughters of the world
  • Closed umbrella and broken chain = breaking chain of oppression and closing the “protective” power men held over women
  • World = graduation on top, representing the graduation and development of the world as women now hold powerful positions such as Ardern

With Jacinda Ardern as NZ’s Prime Minister, I feel compelled, as a young feminist, to continue gender equality and development of society, so that we can complete our Master’s degree in Equality globally, for our women of the future to sustain.

Jasmine Bohlin
Baradene College of the Sacred Heart

Savannah Sullivan – Kamo High School

he fight for women’s rights, to have my say and to be heard.

I am lucky.

Growing up I never questioned my right to vote. I had options, I could dream, I could change the world. My mother. Hard working, selfless and determined. Never able to access high school or tertiary study. Coming from Ghana, money can often be a barrier for education because of the low economic surroundings.

The right to vote, gives women a choice to their own bodies and their own life.

As a young women growing up, I am thankful. Thankful that I can choose, that I am heard, and that I can make a difference.

At University, I want to study towards a Bachelor of Social Science and International Relations. In New Zealand, the idea that women cannot vote is unfamiliar. Yet there are women around the world who don’t have this same opportunity. With this, I plan to head abroad, helping those in poverty and in particular women across the world, improving educational rights, giving empowerment and allowing human rights to all.

As women have taken a stand for their freedom, I will also do the same for myself and others.

Savannah Sullivan
Kamo High School

Maea Shepherd – Kamo High School

This video is about Strong Women.

It is for the Kate Edgar Educational Charitable Trust competition.

As a year 13 female students I have had the wonderful opportunity to share my views in response to the following question: “What does the Suffrage Movement mean to you: your family; your whānau; your identity?”

For me the suffrage movement has meant I have autonomy over my life and my friends over theirs. This song is called Strong Women. The women in this video all embody strength and their right to choose Lyrics My choice my voice, and my families

Getting over boy/girl disparities

Though not quite there, got some equality

Power of v-o-t-e

My friends and I build our identities

Can fight for the me that I want to be

Without their fight where would I be

Power of v-o-t-e

Strong women

We are strong women

Born of strong women

We are strong

Be 18 in a couple months

Ready to use what you gave us

Follow my dreams to what needs must

Legacy of women here strong I can have my own home

Go to work be in the zone I can follow my dreams

Coz I have the right to vote

Maea Shepherd
Kamo High School

Emily Turnock – Baradene College of the Sacred Heart

125 years.

Spanning more than a lifetime ago, the Suffragette Movement in 1893 has left me with a life of freedom.

A life of choice and opportunity.

Some people like to think these achievements were so graciously granted to us by the testosterone dominated government and that they weren’t the result of years of ‘nasty women’ fighting for gender equality.

But they should know, we are never given societal change. We fight for it.

The line of strong women from which I derive from perfectly reflects these ideals. My grandmother; a child of the First Wave of Feminism, was grateful to be given the right to vote and worked like a nursing trailblazer in one of few acceptable career options for women. My mother has lived through the Second and Third Waves, not being afraid to protest societal expectations of women whilst choosing to be a stay at home mother.

The Fourth Wave is mine, and by channelling the strength of the ‘nasty women’ who fought before me, including those in my family-tree, maybe in my lifetime I’ll be able to see girls grow up in a bias free world once misogyny dies.

Kate Edgar, Kate Sheppard…. Maybe I’m next?

Emily Turnock
Baradene College of the Sacred Heart

Stephanie Werner – Birkenhead College

We are tired

We are a part of a gender defined by satin sashes and bikini dress codes and the number on our scales.

We are tired

We display ourselves on pageant stages like supermarket shelves. Just trying to feel beautiful for once in our lives. We are taught to love the feeling of drinking water on an empty stomach. The feeling of hunger pulling our skin taught.

Most importantly we are taught to handle these pressures with Mona Lisa smiles, playing “I’m fine” like a broken record. That as long as our mouths tilt upwards at the ends and our teeth are perfectly straight, it doesn’t matter if our voices shake.

We need to remember that we are part of a gender that has always fought for our rights. Together we have abolished corsets and gained the right to vote. Kate Sheppard, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, these women started a revolution. It is our job to continue this fight by rejecting the ideals that are thrust upon us, refusing to sit still and look pretty.

These women taught us that we are more than our looks. That we are strong, loud and proud individuals. Most importantly, they taught us about empowerment.

Empowerment is standing in front of the mirror smiling because we know that the circumferences of our waists are not the most interesting things about us. Empowerment is knowledge, wisdom, kindness, and being able to do what we love no matter what size or gender we are.

We are empowered.

Stephanie Werner
Birkenhead College

Naomi Ng – Baradene College

What does the Suffrage Movement mean to you; your family; your whānau; your identity?

 The suffragettes endure as an icon for women everywhere– they were fearless, passionate and dared to imagine a future where women were the equals of men.

Their courage to challenge the expedient serves as a timely reminder of how the advancement of feminism is still radically unfinished. This ongoing fight for equality is made all the more relevant today, and encourages us to celebrate the fact that we have a young female figure not just in New Zealand’s political scene but leading the government.

This reflects how this iconic campaign, which emancipated an entire class of society, continues to resonate with young women– and I am no exception. It forms an undeniably fundamental component of our identity, and this milestone perhaps serves as a timely reminder that it must not be taken for granted.

We must continue to celebrate their victory– and persist in fighting for the values we believe in, like the trailblazing suffragettes who paved the way for us today.

Naomi Ng
Baradene College

Kaushal Prasad – Aorere College

To whom it may concern

I am sure that you have grown tired of reading words so I hope to portray the meaning of women’s right in one picture. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, well I hope this picture says everything. My mother was the oldest child in her family but she never got the love and attention that my younger uncles got. This is my younger brother. In the past, there would have been severe differences and bias being made against us. Thanks to the women who fought for equality, I am able to look at my brother with love instead of resentment. The suffrage movement to me, personally means fighting for something that should be your right. It is fighting for equal chance and opportunity, regardless of gender. Like I have stated, I do not wish to bore you with long words, so let my picture do the talking.

Yours Faithfully

Kaushal Prasad