This year, we had the privilege of seeing International Women’s Day and state voting fall on the same day. While waiting in line at the polling station, and hearing complaints about the long lines and not enough ballot papers, I reminded myself that the right to vote didn’t come easily for so many people before us.

New Zealand was the first independent country to pass suffrage laws. A year earlier, the Corsican Republic, Pitcairn Island, the Isle of Man, and the Cook Islands had granted women the right to vote, but as colonies, they later lost these rights. Nine years after New Zealand, Australia passed suffrage laws, enacting them in 1902. Whether we reflect on the Suffragettes worldwide or the Russian women who sparked the first International Women’s Day, we must acknowledge that our freedoms didn’t happen by chance—they came through intentional action.

At Multicultural Futures, we know that values and belief systems shape how we live and, ultimately, how society functions. They determine whether we flourish as a people. To ensure we stay true to our values, we continue discussing what matters, staying informed about the marketplace, listening to our clients, and focusing on our strategic goals. In this newsletter you’ll see how pleased we are to have completed our strategic plan for the next three years, how grateful we are for funding, partnerships, dedicated staff, and programs that go from strength to strength. Above all, in this edition of our newsletter, we hope the values that guide Multicultural Futures shine through in every word you read.

Erika von Kaschke

Image: Womanhood Suffrage League of New South Wales, 1902, from Further Freeman Studio, Sydney, photographic portraits, State Library of New South Wales.