INTRODUCTION introduction: $10 note. Everyone knows what this is, right? It is a $10 note. But not everyone knows who is on it or why she is on it. My speech is about a woman and why she is on our $10 note. Her name is Kate Sheppard. Kate was recognised as the woman who led the suffrage movement in NZ. ‘Suffrage’ means the right to vote. Women's suffrage day was celebrated here in Gisborne on the 19th of September 2020. Flowers were laid for her by the suffrage monument next to the council.
PARAGRAPH : Kate got women to vote on the 19th of Sept 1893, 127 years ago, NZ became the first country to allow women the right to vote. What an amazing achievement for NZ. Kate also fought for the right so that women could run for parliament seats. Today we have a female prime minister because of her. Previous female prime ministers were Helen Clark, who entered parliament in 1981 as the Labour MP and Dame Jenny Shipley entered parliament in 1987 as the National MP. Now Jacinda Ardern.
The mayor of Gisborne is also a woman - Rehette Stoltz.
PARAGRAPH 2: Secondly, Kate Sheppard believed that women should be able to participate in ALL areas of society including politics. This included sport and physical exercise. For example she fought for the right of women to exercise like men could. Like bike riding. Back then women couldn't bike ride but men could. How unfair is that? And that is why she is on the ten dollar note.
PARAGRAPH 3: My third point is that she thought women should choose what they wanted to wear. An Example of this was that Kate fought against the use of corsets. What is a corset you ask ? Well that’s a good question. A corset was a tight fitting under clothing to shape your body. Form the chest down to your hips. Did you know koka Ngaire wore a corset sewn in her wedding dress - I bet she looked flash though!
CONCLUSION: America only let women vote in 1920 which is over 20 years after NZ. There's still countries that don’t let women vote like the Vatican city in Italy. And Saudi Arabia doesn't want women to vote so they make it very hard for them to. But Kate has fought for women's rights and helped nz, and that is why she is on the ten dollar note. Thank you