<P> The Electoral Bill granting women the franchise was given Royal Assent by Governor Lord Glasgow on 19 September 1893 . Women voted for the first time in the election held on 28 November 1893 ( elections for the Māori electorates were held on 20 December ) . In 1893 , Elizabeth Yates also became Mayor of Onehunga , the first time such a post had been held by a woman anywhere in the British Empire . </P>
in 1893 new zealand became the first country in the world to grant voting rights to
women