More Info →Back Issues: The fight for women's votes

Local historians weekly "Back Issues" article in the Manawatū Standard. The Manawatū/Horowhenua campaign for women's voting rights in the 1890s was led by a group of passionate advocates. These included Learmonth White Dalrymple, Margaret Giesen, her daughter Edith Giesen, Mary Alice Sorley, Clara Lethbridge, Minnie Leary, Mary Butters and Elizabeth Esther Dillon. When the local branches of the women's run Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) were formed, a number of husbands offered support. The WCTU main objective was temperance, which was addressed through the lens of other women's issues, including obtaining the vote.