In 1893 New Zealand became the first nation in the world to grant universal, male and female adult suffrage. South Australia first granted women suffrage and allowed them to stand for parliament in 1894. The autonomous Grand Principality of Finland, a decade before becoming the republic of Finland, was the first European country to introduce female suffrage in 1906. It was also the second country to allow female candidates and the first to actually elect female MP's in 1907.