1907 The Dominion of New Zealand appoints a woman as High Commissioner in London.

[Peg Leg Pom]

In 1896 New Zealand was the first part of the British Empire to grant women the vote. In 1907 it achieved near independence when it became a dominion. Now suppose that at that time the New Zealand government decided to make a point with the Mother Country and appoint a woman to be be High Commissioner in London (Effectively the New Zealand Ambassador to the Court of St James). This is at a time when the very idea of female suffrage is to say the least controversial and the radical Suffragettes are turning to terrorist tactics.

Why they did this is not what I'm asking about, but the consequences.

(Alright I know this is highly unlikely, but it's also in character for Kiwi's to be bloody minded enough to do this with the right provocation)

 

[Typho]

I didn't know Dominions had high commissioners, it is usually a title for Protectorates. Made me think the UK & NZ were mutual protectorates.

 

[Ship]

I didn't know Dominions had high commissioners, it is usually a title for Protectorates. Made me think the UK & NZ were mutual protectorates.

High commissioner is the title Commonwealth countries use with each other instead of ambassador.

Canada was first with a HC in London in the 1880s.

 

[Typho]

High commissioner is the title Commonwealth countries use with each other instead of ambassador.

Canada was first with a HC in London in the 1880s.

Did they have high commissioners from dominion to dominion, like NZ to Canada?

 

[Ship]

Did they have high commissioners from dominion to dominion, like NZ to Canada?

Yes. Even today there are high commissioners. So, for example, Canada has a HC in London, New Delhi and Wellington while having an ambassador in Washington, Beijing and Berlin.

 

[Teiresias]

Why they did this is not what I'm asking about, but the consequences.

Appointing a woman as an ambassador might speed up New Zealand giving women the right to stand for political office (OTL they got it in 1919, and the first one, Elizabeth McCombs, didn't get elected until 1933). It might also help working women generally, if a woman is holding an important ambassadorial position.

If you want really fun consequences, make it a Maori woman like Meri Mangakāhia.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

One thing is certain, the British Government would not be pleased with a Woman High Commissioner being appointed. I doubt that King Edward VII would be happy either, though he'd probably still try to get her dress off.

 

[CaptainCalvert]

Appointing a woman as an ambassador might speed up New Zealand giving women the right to stand for political office (OTL they got it in 1919, and the first one, Elizabeth McCombs, didn't get elected until 1933). It might also help working women generally, if a woman is holding an important ambassadorial position.

If you want really fun consequences, make it a Maori woman like Meri Mangakāhia.

I think the underlying message is that it's unlikely a woman with sufficient political experience would be available until the 1940s. Perhaps in 43 or 44 one could be appointed with the simple explanation that with a shortage of manpower, we have to accept women in traditionally male roles.
A maori representative, and especially a maori woman, would surely be going too far for the New Zealand establishment before about the 1970s.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

I think the underlying message is that it's unlikely a woman with sufficient political experience would be available until the 1940s.

Perhaps the widow of a successful politician. A wife can make or break a mans political career.

 

[CaptainCalvert]

Perhaps the widow of a successful politician. A wife can make or break a mans political career.

Agreed.
Elizabeth McCombs won the seat of her late husband, so the New Zealand public (at least in Lyttleton) clearly thought this was acceptable.

 

[Errolwi]

I think the underlying message is that it's unlikely a woman with sufficient political experience would be available until the 1940s. Perhaps in 43 or 44 one could be appointed with the simple explanation that with a shortage of manpower, we have to accept women in traditionally male roles.
A maori representative, and especially a maori woman, would surely be going too far for the New Zealand establishment before about the 1970s.

If there was a major change in the NZ political landscape, and they wanted to pull the Lion's tail, how about the woman with the most political experience in NZ? It helps that she was born in Liverpool!

Kate Sheppard | NZHistory, New Zealand history online

New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the vote. Kate Sheppard, leading light of the suffrage movement, was vindicated when 65% of New Zealand women took the chance to vote in their first general election.

nzhistory.govt.nz

Despite the opposition of Premier Richard Seddon, the Electoral Act 1893 was passed by both houses of Parliament and became law on 19 September. The news took New Zealand by storm and inspired suffrage movements all over the world.
Kate Sheppard continued to work at home and abroad for women’s rights – from contraception to freedom from the corset. She became inaugural president of the National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCW) in 1896 and editor of the WCTU's newspaper The White Ribbon – the first in New Zealand to be owned, managed and published solely by women. In 1909 she was elected honorary vice-president of the International Council of Women.
Sheppard outlived two husbands, her only son, and her only grandchild. She died on 13 July 1934, a year after the first woman MP, Labour’s Elizabeth McCombs, entered Parliament.

 

[Discernible]

In 1896 New Zealand was the first part of the British Empire to grant women the vote. In 1907 it achieved near independence when it became a dominion. Now suppose that at that time the New Zealand government decided to make a point with the Mother Country and appoint a woman to be be High Commissioner in London (Effectively the New Zealand Ambassador to the Court of St James). This is at a time when the very idea of female suffrage is to say the least controversial and the radical Suffragettes are turning to terrorist tactics.

Why they did this is not what I'm asking about, but the consequences.

(Alright I know this is highly unlikely, but it's also in character for Kiwi's to be bloody minded enough to do this with the right provocation)

Make it Maori woman for maximum Kiwi bloody mindedness.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

Make it Maori woman for maximum Kiwi bloody mindedness.

They'd send her to Australia just to show how much more egalitarian they are.

 

[Errolwi]

They'd send her to Australia just to show how much more egalitarian they are.

Maori MPs had the balance of power mid-WW1, used it in support of the Maori Pioneer Battalion.

 

[Teiresias]

Maori MPs had the balance of power mid-WW1, used it in support of the Maori Pioneer Battalion.

How about making the British High Commissioner a woman, and the prime minister a Maori MP? James Carroll's available, so it's not even that ASB - he was acting Prime Minister a couple of times OTL.