Born in Liverpool and educated in Scotland, Kate Sheppard migrated to New Zealand with her family in 1869. A member of the Congregational Church, she was an independent thinker with a keen sense of social responsibility, and was committed to the full participation of women in political and social life. She was an early member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and led its campaign for votes for women.

Kate Sheppard was a remarkable organiser, able to pursue long-term solutions to problems by steadily building public understanding and not being diverted by short-term remedies. She wrote vigorously and clearly, but always reasonably, and was responsible for writing pamphlets and developing petitions which brought the rights and desires of women to the attention of decision-makers, placing these aspirations in an international context.

When the arduous battle for universal suffrage was finally won in 1893, Kate Sheppard continued to work for women’s progress, helping to establish the National Council of Women and becoming its first president. Widely admired for her equable temperament and good-humoured style of debate, she was able to disarm prejudice by her calm logic and charm. To her belongs much of the credit for advancing the rights of New Zealand women.