WELLINGTON: New Zealand became the first nation in the world to allow women to vote 125 years ago, and hundreds of people celebrated the anniversary on Wednesday by turning out to gatherings and speeches. Some wore period costumes or white camellia flowers, a symbol of the historic movement.

New Zealand’s female lawmakers also marked the occasion by re-enacting an all-male photograph of lawmakers taken more than a century ago. This time, the photograph featured New Zealand’s third female Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the centre, holding her three-month-old baby Neve.

Ardern was also the guest editor for the “suffrage edition” of the country’s largest daily newspaper, The New Zealand Herald, although some questioned whether that move could taint the political neutrality the paper seeks in its journalism.

Liberal lawmakers introduced a new bill on Wednesday that they say is aimed at addressing historic lower pay for women by making it easier for workers to make claims for pay equity.

“It reminds us that that is what we are here for,” said Acting Minister for Women Eugenie Sage, referring to the photo session, proposed law change and other advancements for women. “That is why we got the vote.”

In her edition of the newspaper, Ardern wrote that she felt an “enormous sense of responsibility” to capture women’s voices and highlight the extraordinary within the ordinary. She pointed out that she left the content and placement of political stories to the news editor.

The paper featured a photograph of Ardern, who is liberal, with New Zealand’s two previous female prime ministers, Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2018