- Meri Te Tai Mangakahia
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Meri Te Tai Mangakahia (22 May 1868 – 10 October 1920) was a campaigner for women's suffrage in New Zealand.
Biography
Mangakahia was born in Lower Waihou near Panguru in the Hokianga valley. A member of the Te Rarawa iwi, she was the daughter of Re Te Tai, an influential chief, and was educated at St Mary's Convent in Auckland.
Mangakahia was the wife of Hamiora Mangakahia, who, in 1892, was elected Premier of the Kotahitanga Parliament in Hawke's Bay. 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 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
References
- Biography on the website of the New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage
- Biography at the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
Categories:- New Zealand feminists
- 1868 births
- 1920 deaths
- New Zealand suffragists
- New Zealand women in politics
- Māori activists
- Deaths from influenza
- Infectious disease deaths in New Zealand
- People from the Northland Region
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