Meri Te Tai Mangakahia was a campaigner for women's suffrage

Women's suffrage

Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...

 in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

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Biography

Mangakahia was born in Lower Waihou near Panguru

Panguru

Panguru is a community in the northern Hokianga harbour, in Northland, New Zealand. The Whakarapa Stream flows from the Panguru Range in the Warawara Forest to the west, through Panguru and into the Hokianga...

 in the Hokianga valley

Hokianga

Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as The Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand....

. A member of the Te Rarawa

Te Rarawa

Te Rarawa is a Māori iwi of Northland, New Zealand.-Prominent Te Rarawa:*Hector Busby, navigator and waka builder.*Whina Cooper, woman of mana, teacher, storekeeper and community leader....

 iwi

Iwi

In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...

, she was the daughter of Re Te Tai, an influential chief, and was educated at St Mary's Convent in Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

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Mangakahia was the wife of Hamiora Mangakahia, who, in 1892, was elected Premier of the Kotahitanga Parliament in Hawke's Bay

Hawke's Bay

Hawke's Bay is a region of New Zealand. Hawke's Bay is recognised on the world stage for its award-winning wines. The regional council sits in both the cities of Napier and Hastings.-Geography:...

. The following year, Meri Mangakahia addressed the assembly (the first woman to do so), submitting a motion in favour of women being allowed to vote for, and stand as, members of the Parliament. She noted that Māori women were landowners, and should not be barred from political representation.

She later joined the women’s committee of the Kotahitanga movement, remaining involved in Māori politics and welfare movements.

She died of influenza

Influenza

Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...

at Panguru on 10 October 1920 according to family members. She had 4 children.

External links

• "So that women may receive the vote", text of Meri Te Tai Mangakahia's address to the Kotahitanga Parliament in 1893, website of the New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage