Today I wear purple to remember the proclamation of the Suffrage Act on 21 March 1895 in South Australia which gave South Australian women the right to vote in State elections, the first women in Australia to be able to vote.
Australian women were not able to vote in a Federal election until 12 June 1902 and the first female, Edith Cowan, was not elected to parliament until 1921. Worldwide many women still do not have the vote and many more only received the right to vote in recent years. Click here for a list of countries and the dates on which they granted women's suffrage.
Today I'm sure we take it for granted that women can step up to the polling booth but we should take a moment today to remember those brave people from before our time who took a stand and were active in women's suffrage groups that brought about the changes that enabled us to do so.
March is Women's History Month. Why not wear purple and give some thought to those that thought of our daughters.
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Thank you to Fe from Fe...a life for suggesting this subject as part of our series on ideas and skills from before our time we can't do without. Fe describes her blog like this: This blog is where I get to talk about everything and nothing. I'm agonisingly honest and an eternal optimist. Life has thrown some challenges my way, and I discuss them candidly and grittily.
If you have something you'd like us to cover please email us at beforeourtime@bigpond.com
7 comments:
I'm especially grateful for all the women from before our time who campaigned to ensure that my political opinion counts just as much as the next man's.
(And besides...if I didn't have a right to vote, I wouldn't get to partake of a sausage from the sausage sizzle at the local polling booth.)
Today my daughter voted for the very first time. She took the whole thing very seriously and informed herself of all the issues before making her decision. I do, however, think she wore a pink shirt to do it.
Thank you suffragettes, for giving to my daughter. She carries your memories as we all do.
I took my first opportunity to vote very seriously. I even wrote a letter expressing my concerns to, and got a response from, my representative in the U.S. Senate!
Thank you to all the suffragettes who made it possible for my opinion, and vote, to be counted as important as anyone else's, regardless of gender.
Peppermint Patcher: Congratulations to Ashleigh for her first vote. I remember my first vote and I hope she remembers hers. She can be proud that in her first trip to the polling booth the first ever woman State Premier was elected, which is a momentous occasion no matter your politics (and it only took 114 years to happen).
I'm thrilled to have been the inspiration behind this one, Megan! Thanks!
There are still so many other areas of politics and business where we women are not considered equals, but at least our vote is loud and clear and equal in every way.
And I can't imagine the effort that it took our fore-mothers to achieve that for us.
Purple it is.
It's all part of the great equality fight. I cannot believe how long it is still taking! I still have my "A Woman's Place is in Her Union" sticker up in my kitchen and won't take it down till we're all equal in everything!
I am very pleased to see women's voting rights brought to the fore. It was such a long battle, with so many specious arguments used against women's suffrage. The right to vote in SA was important in women becoming entitled to vote in federal elections at the fist post-federation election in 1903. In my working career I provided information on this subject constantly, and you can find very comprehensive and useful information on the websites of the Federal and State parliaments.
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