Votes for the Girls

Television (Full Length) – 1994

This documentary was made to mark the centenary of New Zealand women winning the right to vote, on 19 September 1893. It traces the history of Aotearoa’s world-leading suffrage movement, and interviews contemporary women in politics. They chart how far things have come, and reflect on the enduring double standards that women still face. Interviewees include Helen Clark (then leader of the Labour Party), Jenny Shipley, Dame Cath Tizard, Wellington Mayor Fran Wilde and visiting President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, plus mothers and high school students.

Until the burden of the family, the housework — keeping the society together — is shared more broadly, I think women are still going to find it tough. I say without equivocation that women will never achieve equality in our society without quite specific interventions on their behalf, by government.
– Helen Clark