To celebrate 125 years since the Suffragists’ historic victory, The Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust (KEECT) called for young women in Year 13 (in Auckland and Northland region) to share their views on what this movement means to them now and into the future.
This creative competition sought change-makers who exemplify the courage, determination and community spirit shown by the two Kates – Kate Sheppard and Kate Edger – along with all the women and men, Māori and Pākehā, who were involved in the suffrage campaign.
We asked…
“What does the Suffrage Movement mean to you; your family; your whānau; your identity?“
Announcing Our Winning Entry
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.
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.
Suffrage125 Competition - Top Entries
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.
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.
Many thanks to the young women from Auckland and Northland who entered our Suffrage 125 Competition.
All the entries were of impressive quality and spoke from the heart. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the Suffrage Movement with us. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to hear about your lives, your families and your dreams.
Congratulations to our top selected entries. All these entries will receive a minimum prize of $100.
VIEW THE TOP SELECTED WORKS IN OUR ONLINE SHOWCASE
The top 3 winning entries will be announced here on 28 November 2018, to mark the 125th anniversary of the day New Zealand women first voted. All prize winners will be officially announced at this time.
Nina Tomaszyk
General Manager, Kate Edger Educational Charitable Trust
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
The Suffrage movement means that I’m the latest in a long line of women that were unafraid to say no. They yelled so much that they lost their voices, so that today, I don’t have to yell to have my own voice heard.
One hundred and twenty-five years.
What that means is that we’ve come such a long way, but we have such a long way to go.
The Gratitude:
When I turn eighteen, I can vote.
Hell, I can even vote for another female .
I can run a country and be a mother.
I can marry the love of my life without my father’s permission, and I won’t be their property, I’ll be their equal.
The Gripe:
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”
There are women in the world who won’t turn eighteen.
The Handmaid’s Tale is still relevant.
Your body? Not your choice in 134 countries.
I can ‘ask for it’ without opening my mouth.
I’m only worth 90.8% what a man is worth, per hour. In 2018.
Sure, I can leave the house, but I’m still leaving the house to march, god dammit.
Hannah Sieberhagen
Northcote College
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
My family migrated to New Zealand 13 years ago. I wrote this short song based on what I would remind myself of in the future- the opportunities my family have here in New Zealand and how it’s been shaped by powerful people and events like the womens suffrage.
Jesslyn Woo
Epsom Girls Grammar School
Suffrage 125
The Suffrage Movement means love, beauty, and empathy.
It means women coming together and empowering one another.
To me, the Suffrage Movement is more than just something that happened 125 years ago,
To me, it is being a young woman in New Zealand
knowing my voice can be heard
That my gender does not make me inferior
That what may or may not be in between my legs will not interfere with what I believe in.
It is knowing I am loved and worth fighting for.
Jynia Wilde
Manurewa High School
When the Universe Speaks
Before she speaks
She will straighten her spine.
Realign the constellations on her back and dust,
Stardust from her palms
From finally catching all of her shooting stars,
Her dream fingertips away.
They will try to shoot her down,
With soft words of loneliness and disappointment,
With threats of comfort and security,
With the promise of settling,
But she will not settle.
When she raises her fists in protest,
Know that these hands are weapons, not cutlery.
When she raises her fists to the air,
She is holding the world in her hands begging for God to take it back.
She’s got the heavens in her heart and the world in her,
womb all bloodied and bruised,
From the silent wars fought over her body.
Her silence is a worn out gift from birth, while her brothers got toy trucks.
Her silence is both a safe haven and prison,
But the chains are rusted and the walls rotten
The stars in her eyes are may be dead,
But her dream is still burning bright.
For when, she finally speaks
They will listen
As she says
No.
Katriana Taufalele
McAuley High School
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
I was wanting to create notice of the Maaori wahine that fought for the rights of not only our wahine but our nation. Carving a passage for us to follow, creating opportunities for us to strive for, to create the people we are today.
Kyla Sherbanowski
Bay of Islands College
I may stand
In dedication to my great-great-great aunt Ellen Melville ( 13 May 1882 – 27 July 1946) .
The first woman in New Zealand to be elected to a municipal authority (1913 – 1946).
1913
Miss Ellen Melville is elected to the Auckland City Council.
Ellen steps up to the lectern
And she faces
down prejudice.
Our heroine stares fiercely into the face of ignorance and resistance.
She begins to speak.
Ellen is ‘not one whit disconcerted by interjectors.’
She is ready to move mountains.
2018
Miss Lauren Parker speaks at the regional debating competition.
I step up to the lectern
And I stand
in my place.
I stare fiercely into the face of a good argument.
Not at prejudice.
I begin, and no one interrupts me.
I may stand here and speak
because she stood and spoke.
I may stand up for what I believe in
because she stood and believed.
I can be who I want.
I can do what I want.
I can go where I want.
So long as I work and fight as hard as she did.
And I know that I may stand here today
because she took a stand
New Zealand’s women stand together in a field of white camellias.
Now we can see the sunshine, but we still have some growing to do.
Lauren Parker
Northcote 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
The 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
A Flame for the Future
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
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
Important Matters
It is a matter of voice, that had to be claimed,
A matter of culture that had to be changed,
A matter of history that created a fight,
A generation that turned wrong into right.
It is a matter of family and a matter of pride,
For my great-grandmothers on every side,
That left a legacy for my sisters and I to see,
Creating a better world for you and me.
It is a matter of strength; they gave us a voice,
Taking up arms on the issue of choice,
To prove we have the right to be heard,
Battles fought with knowledge and word.
It is a matter of hope; that changed what would be,
Giving a promise to the future of equality,
Changing society through culture and law,
Creating a time where we can be more.
Now it is only fair that we fight too,
To fulfil the legacy of women who fought for me and you,
To give strength to our sisters for generations to come,
We must never forget the battles hard won.
Zoe Vincent
Eden Christian Academy