{{Short description|Legal right of women to vote}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}} {{owidslider |start = 2024 |list = Template:OWID/Universal suffrage women lexical#gallery |location = commons |caption = |title = |language = |file = [[File:universal suffrage women lexical, World, 2024 (cropped).svg|link=|thumb|upright=1.6|right|Universal suffrage for women]] |startingView = World }} {{Women in society sidebar|expanded=Society}} {{Feminism sidebar|expanded=History}} '''Women's suffrage''' is the [[women's rights|right of women]] to [[Suffrage|vote in elections]]. Historically, women rarely had the right to vote, even in ostensibly democratic systems of government.{{Cite journal |last=Teele |first=Dawn Langan |date=2025 |title=Women's Suffrage: Causes and Consequences |journal=Annual Review of Political Science |language=en |volume=28 |pages=477–497 |doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-033123-125642 |issn=1094-2939|doi-access=free }} The 19th century saw many movements advocating "universal [male] suffrage", most notably in Europe and North America; following this, movements for women's suffrage became prominent, and between the late 19th century and the early 20th century, women's suffrage was accomplished in Australasia, then Europe, and then the Americas.{{Cite web |title=Women get the vote |url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/thevote/ |access-date=2026-06-28 |website=www.parliament.uk |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last1=Ramirez |first1=Francisco O. |last2=Soysal |first2=Yasemin |last3=Shanahan |first3=Suzanne |date=1997 |title=The Changing Logic of Political Citizenship: Cross-National Acquisition of Women's Suffrage Rights, 1890 to 1990 |url=http://www.vanneman.umd.edu/socy699F/RamirezSS97.pdf |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=62 |issue=5 |pages=735 |doi=10.2307/2657357 |jstor=2657357 |issn=0003-1224 }}{{Cite web |date=2024-03-18 |title=Women in Canadian History: A Timeline |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/women-gender-equality/commemorations-celebrations/womens-history-month/women-history-canada-timeline.html |access-date=2026-06-28 |website=www.canada.ca}} By the middle of the 20th century, women's suffrage had been established as a [[Social norm|norm]] of democratic governance. Extended political campaigns by women and their male supporters played a central role in changing public attitudes, altering norms, and achieving legislation or constitutional amendments for women's suffrage. The first wave of women's suffrage took place in 1893–1930, covering English-speaking countries, Scandinavian states, and some other parts of Europe. The experience of the [[World War I|First World War]] has been characterized as an important factor in shifting public support for women's suffrage.{{cite book |author=Hume, Leslie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K1TlCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT281 |title=The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies 1897–1914 |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-317-21326-0 |page=281}} The second wave, 1930–1970, covered nearly all Latin-American countries, much of Sub-Saharan Africa and some European laggards (France, Spain, Belgium). Prior to 1893, there were instances where women could vote in some elections and at the subnational level. The first national granting of women's suffrage was in 1893 in the then self-governing{{cite web|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage#:~:text=As%20a%20result%20of%20this,to%20vote%20in%20parliamentary%20elections|title = New Zealand women and the vote – Women and the vote | NZHistory, New Zealand history online}} British [[colony of New Zealand]]. National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts towards women voting, especially the [[International Alliance of Women|International Woman Suffrage Alliance]] (founded in 1904 in [[Berlin]], Germany).{{cite journal |last1=Sneider |first1=Allison |year=2010 |title=The New Suffrage History: Voting Rights in International Perspective |journal=History Compass |volume=8 |issue=7 |pages=692–703 |doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2010.00689.x |issn=1478-0542}} Most major Western powers extended voting rights to women by the interwar period, including Canada (1917), Germany (1918), [[Austria]], the [[Netherlands]] (1919), the United States (1920) and the United Kingdom (1928).{{Cite web |last=Temkin |first=Moshik |date=2024-01-22 |title=Essential Elements for Turning a Cause into a Movement : Lessons from the Suffrage Struggle for Today's Activists |url=https://commonslibrary.org/essential-elements-for-turning-a-cause-into-a-movement-lessons-from-the-suffrage-struggle/ |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}} Notable exceptions in Europe were France, where women could not vote until 1944, [[Greece]] (equal voting rights for women did not exist there until 1952, although, since 1930, literate women were able to vote in local elections), and [[Switzerland]] (where, since 1971, women could vote at the federal level, and between 1959 and 1990, women got the right to vote at the local canton level). In many countries, limited suffrage for women was granted before [[universal suffrage]] for men; for instance, literate women or property owners were granted suffrage before all men received it. The United Nations encouraged women's suffrage in the years following World War II, and the [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women]] (1979) identifies it as a basic right with 189 countries currently being parties to this convention. {{TOC limit|3}} ==History== {{For timeline|Timeline of women's suffrage}} [[File:AnnaIIStolQued.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Anna II, Abbess of Quedlinburg]]. In the pre-modern era in some parts of Europe, [[abbess]]es were permitted to participate and vote in various European national assemblies by virtue of their rank within the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.]] ===Before the 19th century=== In ancient [[Athenian democracy|Athens]], often cited as the birthplace of democracy, only adult male citizens could vote. Women, slaves, and [[metic]]s (resident foreigners) could not.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} Through subsequent centuries, Europe was ruled by monarchs, though various forms of parliament arose at different times. The high rank ascribed to [[abbess]]es within the [[Catholic Church]] permitted some women the right to sit and vote at national assemblies – as with various high-ranking abbesses in Medieval Germany, who were ranked among the independent princes of the empire. Their Protestant successors enjoyed the same privilege almost into modern times.{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Abbess |title=Abbess |encyclopedia=Original Catholic Encyclopedia |date=July 2, 2010|access-date=December 26, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114130058/http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Abbess |archive-date=January 14, 2012 }} [[Marie Guyart]], a French nun who worked with the [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] people of Canada during the 17th century, wrote in 1654 regarding the suffrage practices of [[Iroquois]] women: "These female chieftains... have a deciding vote in the councils. They make decisions there like their male counterparts, and it is they who even delegated as first ambassadors to discuss peace."''Women Mystics Confront the Modern World'' (Marie-Florine Bruneau: State University of New York: 1998: p. 106). The Iroquois, like many First Nations in North America,{{citation needed|date=January 2021|reason=The only other First Nation example I could find was the Haida people}} had a [[matrilineal]] [[kinship system]]. Property and descent were passed through the female line. Women elders voted on hereditary male chiefs and could depose them. [[File:Catherine Helen Spence.jpg|thumb|[[South Australia]]n suffragist [[Catherine Helen Spence]] stood for office in 1897. In a first for the modern world, South Australia granted women the right to stand for Parliament in 1895.{{cite web |url=https://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/education/teachers/Documents/Women's%20Petition%20Photograph.pdf |title=Women's Suffrage Petition 1894 |publisher=parliament.sa.gov.au |access-date=January 8, 2016 |archive-date=March 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110329160732/http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/education/teachers/Documents/Women%27s%20Petition%20Photograph.pdf |url-status=dead }}|330x330px]] [[File:Marie Stritt.jpg|thumb|[[Marie Stritt]] (1855–1928), German suffragist, co-founder of the [[International Alliance of Women]]|330x330px]] The first independent country to introduce women's suffrage was arguably Sweden. In Sweden, conditional women's suffrage was in effect during the [[Age of Liberty]] (1718–1772).Karlsson Sjögren, Åsa, ''Männen, kvinnorna och rösträtten: medborgarskap och representation 1723–1866'' [Men, women, and suffrage: citizenship and representation 1723–1866], Carlsson, Stockholm, 2006 (in Swedish). In 1756, [[Lydia Taft]] became the first legal woman voter in colonial America. This occurred under [[British North America|British rule]] in the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Colony]].{{cite book |last=Chapin |first=Judge Henry |title=Address Delivered at the Unitarian Church in Uxbridge; 1864 |page=[https://archive.org/details/addressdelivere00socigoog/page/n19 172] |year=1881|publisher=Worcester, Press of C. Hamilton |location=Worcester, Mass.|url=https://archive.org/details/addressdelivere00socigoog}} In a [[New England]] [[town meeting]] in [[Uxbridge, Massachusetts|Uxbridge]], Massachusetts, she voted on at least three occasions.{{cite web|title=Uxbridge Breaks Tradition and Makes History: Lydia Taft by Carol Masiello|publisher=The Blackstone Daily|url=http://blackstonedaily.com/Journeys/cm-lt.htm|access-date=January 21, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812130808/http://blackstonedaily.com/Journeys/cm-lt.htm|archive-date=August 12, 2011}} Under the July 2, 1776 declaration of its independence from English rule, unmarried white women who owned property could vote in [[New Jersey]] and that remained unchanged until 1807.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/local/history/new-jersey-women-vote-1776-suffrage/ "More than a century before the 19th Amendment, women were voting in New Jersey"]. ''Washington Post''. In the 1792 elections in [[Sierra Leone]], then a new British colony, all heads of household could vote and one-third were ethnic African women.[[Simon Schama|Schama, Simon]], ''[[Rough Crossings]]'' (2006), p. 431. Before the 19th century, some countries granted women the right to vote partially or temporarily:{{Cite web |title=Women's struggle for the right to vote - The fight for female suffrage - KS3 History - homework help for year 7, 8 and 9. |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6gh6g8 |access-date=2026-06-27 |website=BBC Bitesize |language=en-GB}} * in [[Rome]], in 1591, during the short pontificate of Pope [[Innocent IX]] (November–December 1591), men and women over 14 years old had the right to vote; * in [[Sweden]], between 1718 and 1771, major single or widowed women (married women are excluded), owners, subject to tax and members of guilds were authorized to participate in local and national elections. These rights were annulled in 1758 for local elections and in 1772 for national elections. The right to vote in municipal elections was again granted to major single women, taxable and owners between 1862 and 1919; * the [[Republic of Corsica]] in 1755, and until its fall in 1769, implicitly granted the right to vote to single or widowed women (the electoral majority being set at 25 years); * in [[France]], under the [[Ancien Régime]], women legally declared heads of family (widows, single women, or in cases of the husband's absence) had the right to vote in municipal assemblies until 1789. From 1302 until 1789, noble women who owned fiefs and mother abbesses were summoned to the [[Estates General (France)|Estates General]] to elect their representatives. In the elections to the Estates General of 1789, members of religious communities were admitted to vote, as well as, for the [[Third Estate]], heads of agricultural or business operations, and in the cities, members of trade bodies and communities. Women were then explicitly excluded from the electorate starting from the elections to the [[Legislative Assembly (France)|Legislative Assembly]] of 1791 and until 1945. Territorial entities, subnational, non-state or not recognized, also preceded many countries:{{Cite web |title=Oxford Academic |url=https://academic.oup.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260617003707/https://academic.oup.com/ |archive-date=2026-06-17 |access-date=2026-06-27 |website=OUP Academic |language=en}} * the State of [[New Jersey]] ([[United States]]) from 1776 to 1807 under the condition, as for men, of being themselves owners; * [[Lower Canada]] (British colonial province corresponding partially to current [[Quebec]] and [[Labrador]]), from 1791 and under the condition, as for men, of being themselves owners, restricted in 1834 and finally withdrawn after the [[Rebellions of 1837–1838]], in 1849; * the [[Pitcairn Islands]] ([[United Kingdom]] dependency) in 1838; * the Mormon State of [[State of Deseret|Deseret]] (1847) (became [[Utah]] in 1850); * the province of [[Vélez Province|Vélez]] ([[Colombia]]) from 1853 to its integration into the federal State of Santander in 1857; * the territory of [[Wyoming]] (United States) in 1869 with right to eligibility. A few months later in 1870, a woman was elected justice of the peace in [[Laramie, Wyoming|Laramie]], the same year in the same city another is elected court bailiff (Court Bailiff); * the territory of [[Utah]] (United States) in 1870. A federal Congressional act suppressed it in 1887; * the [[Isle of Man]] (United Kingdom dependency) in 1881; * the territory of [[Washington Territory|Washington]] in 1883, suppressed by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in 1887; * Wyoming as a state in 1890; * [[Colorado]] (United States) in 1893; * the [[Cook Islands]] (British protectorate) in 1893; * [[South Australia]] (autonomous British colony) from 1895; became one of the first territories in the world to allow women to be candidates in legislative elections; * Utah (admission to the Union) and [[Idaho]] (United States) in 1896. Other early instances of women's suffrage included the [[Corsican Republic]] (1755), the Pitcairn Islands (1838), the Isle of Man (1881), and [[Franceville, New Hebrides|Franceville]] (1889–1890); but some of these operated only briefly as independent states, and others were not clearly independent. South Australian suffragist [[Catherine Helen Spence]] stood for office in 1897. In a first for the modern world, South Australia granted women the right to stand for Parliament in 1895.{{cite book |last1=Oldfield |first1=Audrey |title=Woman Suffrage in Australia: A Gift or a Struggle? |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1992 |isbn=0-521-40880-6 |page=46}} ===19th century=== The female descendants of the [[Mutiny on the Bounty|''Bounty'' mutineers]] who lived on [[Pitcairn Islands]] could vote from 1838. This right was transferred after they resettled in 1856 to [[Norfolk Island]] (now an Australian external territory).{{cite web|author=EC |url=http://www.elections.org.nz/votes-women/first-world |title=First in the World |website=Elections.org.nz |publisher=[[New Zealand Electoral Commission]] |date=February 1, 2013|access-date=June 18, 2016}} The emergence of modern democracy generally began with male citizens obtaining the right to vote in advance of female citizens, except in the [[Kingdom of Hawai'i]], where universal suffrage was introduced in 1840 without mention of sex; however, a constitutional amendment in 1852 rescinded female voting and put property qualifications on male voting.{{cite book |last=Kauanui |first=J. Kehaulani |date=2018 |title=Paradoxes of Hawaiian Sovereignty: Land, Sex, and the Colonial Politics of State Nationalism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_yRvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT187 |location=Oxford, North Carolina |publisher=Duke University Press Books |pages=187–189 |isbn=978-0822370499 }} The seed for the first Woman's Rights Convention in the United States in [[Seneca Falls Convention|Seneca Falls]], New York, was planted in 1840, when [[Elizabeth Cady Stanton]] met [[Lucretia Mott]] at the [[World Anti-Slavery Convention]] in London. The conference refused to seat Mott and other women delegates from the U.S. because of their sex. In 1851, Stanton met temperance worker [[Susan B. Anthony]], and shortly the two would be joined in the long struggle to secure the vote for women in the U.S. In 1868 Anthony encouraged working women from the printing and sewing trades in New York, who were excluded from men's trade unions, to form Working Women's Associations. As a delegate to the National Labor Congress in 1868, Anthony persuaded the committee on female labor to call for votes for women and equal pay for equal work. The men at the conference deleted the reference to the vote.{{cite web|author=web-wizardry.com |url=http://susanbanthonyhouse.org/her-story/biography.php |title=Biography of Susan B. Anthony at |publisher=Susanbanthonyhouse.org |date=March 1, 1906|access-date=September 2, 2011}} In the US, women in the [[Wyoming Territory]] were permitted to both vote and stand for office in 1869.see facsimile at {{Cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/displayPhoto.pl?path=/pnp/ppmsca/03000/&topImages=03000r.jpg |title=An Act to Grant to the Women of Wyoming Territory the Right of Suffrage and to Hold Office|date=December 10, 1869|access-date=December 9, 2007|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]}} Subsequent American suffrage groups often disagreed on tactics, with the [[National American Woman Suffrage Association]] arguing for a state-by-state campaign and the [[National Woman's Party]] focusing on an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.{{cite web|url=http://depts.washington.edu/moves/NWP_project.shtml|title= National Woman's Party: a year-by-year history 1913–1922}}{{cite book |title=The School of Voters |date=September 15, 1917 |publisher=Vogue |location=New York |page=52 |url=http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/women-immigrants_and_New-York-State_Suffrage_Amendment_article-pdf}}{{cite web |last1=Adams |first1=Kimberly |title=The campaign finance of women's suffrage |url=https://www.marketplace.org/2019/06/04/the-campaign-finance-of-womens-suffrage/ |website=The Campaign Finance of Women's Suffrage, Marketplace |date=June 4, 2019 |publisher=Marketplace |access-date=10 May 2024}} The [[1840 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom|1840 constitution]] of the Kingdom of Hawaii established a House of Representatives, but did not specify who was eligible to participate in the election of it. Some academics have argued that this omission enabled women to vote in the first elections, in which votes were cast by means of signatures on [[petition]]s; but this interpretation remains controversial.{{cite web |last1=Sai |first1=David Keanu |title=Memorandum—Re: Suffrage of Female Subjects |url=https://www.hawaiiankingdom.org/info-suffrage.shtml |website=HawaiianKingdom.org |publisher=Acting Council of Regency |access-date=14 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171021210546/https://www.hawaiiankingdom.org/info-suffrage.shtml |archive-date=21 October 2017 |location=Honolulu, Hawaii |date=12 March 1998}} The [[1852 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom|second constitution of 1852]] specified that suffrage was restricted to males over twenty years-old. In 1849, the [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]], in Italy, was the first European state to have a law that provided for the vote of women, for administrative elections, taking up a tradition that was already informally sometimes present in Italy. The 1853 Constitution of the province of [[Vélez Province|Vélez]] in the [[Republic of New Granada]], modern day [[Colombia]], allowed for married women, or women older than the age of 21, the right to vote within the province. However, this law was subsequently annulled by the [[Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia|Supreme Court of the Republic]], arguing that the citizens of the province could not have more rights than those already guaranteed to the citizens of the other provinces of the country, thus eliminating female suffrage from this province in 1856.{{cite web|date=2019|title=Santander: el primer intento del voto femenino en Colombia|url=https://www.radionacional.co/cultura/santander-el-primer-intento-del-voto-femenino-en-colombia|website=Radio Nacional de Colombia|language=Spanish}}{{cite web|last=Mira|first=Carlos Andrés|title=Primer paso en la lucha por el sufragio femenino en Colombia: historia de un intento de construcción de escenarios de inclusión política|url=https://www.urosario.edu.co/Revista-Nova-Et-Vetera/Vol-2-Ed-18/Omnia/Primer-paso-en-la-lucha-por-el-sufragio-femenino-e/|website=Revista Nova et Vetera de la Universidad del Rosario|language=Spanish|access-date=August 24, 2021|archive-date=August 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824203845/https://www.urosario.edu.co/Revista-Nova-Et-Vetera/Vol-2-Ed-18/Omnia/Primer-paso-en-la-lucha-por-el-sufragio-femenino-e/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=El voto femenino|url=https://www.rtvc.gov.co/elecciones-colombia-2019/el-voto-femenino|website=RTVC Colombia|date=October 23, 2019|language=Spanish}} In 1881, the [[Isle of Man]], an internally self-governing dependent territory of the British Crown, enfranchised women property owners. With this it provided the first action for women's suffrage within the [[British Isles]]. The [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] commune of [[Franceville, New Hebrides|Franceville]] (now [[Port Vila, Vanuatu]]), maintained independence from 1889 to 1890, becoming the first [[Self-governance|self-governing]] nation to adopt universal suffrage without distinction of sex or color, although only white males were permitted to hold office."Wee, Small Republics: A Few Examples of Popular Government", ''[[Hawaiian Gazette]]'', November 1, 1895, p. 1. For countries that have their origins in self-governing colonies but later became independent nations in the 20th century, the [[Colony of New Zealand]] was the first to acknowledge women's right to vote in 1893, largely due to a movement led by [[Kate Sheppard]]. The British protectorate of [[Cook Islands]] rendered the same right in 1893 as well.{{cite web|author=EC |url=http://www.elections.org.nz/study/education-centre/history/votes-for-women.html#1 |title=Elections.org.nz |publisher=Elections.org.nz |date=April 1, 2005|access-date=January 8, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819080640/http://www.elections.org.nz/study/education-centre/history/votes-for-women.html |archive-date=August 19, 2012 }} Another British colony, [[South Australia]], followed in 1895, [[Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act 1894|enacting laws]] which not only extended voting to women, but also made women eligible to stand for election to its parliament.{{Cite web |title=Constitution (Female Suffrage) Act 1895 (SA) |url=https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-44.html |access-date=26 August 2024 |website=Documenting a Democracy, Museum of Australian Democracy |postscript=. Note: The South Australian Parliament passed the legislation in December 1894 but the Act did not gain royal assent and become law until February 1895.}}{{cite book |last1=Fenna |first1=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDDiBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA312 |title=Government Politics in Australia |last2=Robbins |first2=Jane |last3=Summers |first3=John |year=2013 |publisher=Pearson Higher Education AU |isbn=978-1-4860-0138-5 |pages=312–}}{{Refn|South Australia celebrated the centenary of the female franchise in 1994; that is, 100 years from the date the legislation was passed by parliament rather that from the date it gained royal assent.{{Cite web |title=South Australian women gain the vote: Overview |url=https://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/en/About-Parliament/Women-in-Politics |access-date=5 September 2024 |website=Parliament South Australia}}.}} ===20th century=== [[File:French pro women's suffrage poster 1934.jpg|thumb|French pro-suffrage poster, 1934, whose message begins: "In all the great countries of Europe, women vote or want to vote; French women do not vote! French women want to vote!"]] Following the [[Federation of Australia|federation of the British colonies in Australia]] in 1901, the new federal government enacted the [[Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902]] which allowed female [[British subject]]s to vote and stand for election on the same terms as men. However, many [[indigenous Australians]] remained excluded from voting federally until 1962.{{cite web|url=https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/indigenous-australians-right-to-vote |title=Indigenous Australians' right to vote |publisher=National Museum of Australia |access-date=November 14, 2023}} The first place in Europe to introduce women's suffrage was the [[Grand Duchy of Finland]] in 1906, and it also became the first place in continental Europe to implement racially-equal suffrage for women.[https://web.archive.org/web/20170611161116/https://www.eduskunta.fi/EN/tietoaeduskunnasta/historia/Pages/default.aspx Brief history of the Finnish Parliament]. eduskunta.fi.{{cite web|url=http://www.aanioikeus.fi/en/articles/strike.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720175612/http://www.aanioikeus.fi/en/articles/strike.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 20, 2011|title=Centenary of women's full political rights in Finland|date=July 20, 2011}} As a result of the [[1907 Finnish parliamentary election|1907 parliamentary elections]], Finland's voters elected 19 women as the first female members of a representative parliament. This was one of many self-governing actions in the Russian autonomous province that led to conflict with the Russian governor of Finland, ultimately leading to the [[Independence of Finland|creation of the Finnish nation]] in 1917. In the years before [[World War I]], women in Norway also won the right to vote. During WWI, Denmark, Russia (under the [[Russian Provisional Government|Provisional Government]]), Germany, and Poland also recognized women's right to vote. Canada gave right to vote to some women in 1917; women got the vote on the same basis as men in 1920, that is, men and women of certain races or status being excluded from voting until 1960, when universal adult suffrage was achieved.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/franchise|title = Right to Vote in Canada | the Canadian Encyclopedia}} [[File:1930s Gladys Misick Morrell & Sergt Henderson & table at Cavello Hill, Bermuda.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Bermuda Police Service|Bermuda Police]] [[Police Sergeant|Sergeant]] confiscates women's suffrage activist [[Gladys Morrell]]'s table in the 1930s.]] The [[Representation of the People Act 1918]] saw British women over 30 gain the vote. Dutch women won the passive vote (allowed to run for parliament) after a revision of the Dutch Constitution in 1917 and the active vote (electing representatives) in 1919, and American women on August 26, 1920, with the passage of the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|19th Amendment]] (the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] secured voting rights for racial minorities). Irish women won the same voting rights as men in the [[Irish Free State]] constitution, 1922. In 1928, British women won suffrage on the same terms as men, that is, for ages 21 and older. The suffrage of Turkish women was introduced in 1930 for local elections and in 1934 for national elections. By the time French women were granted the suffrage in July 1944 by [[Charles de Gaulle]]'s government in exile, by a vote of 51 for, 16 against,{{cite web|url=https://information.tv5monde.com/terriennes/21-avril-1944-les-francaises-ont-enfin-le-droit-de-voter-3230|title=21 avril 1944 : les Françaises ont (enfin) le droit de voter|date=December 24, 2014|website=tv5monde.com}} France had been for about a decade the only Western country that did not at least allow women's suffrage at municipal elections.{{cite web|url=http://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/decouvrir-l-assemblee/histoire/le-suffrage-universel/la-conquete-de-la-citoyennete-politique-des-femmes|title=La conquête de la citoyenneté politique des femmes|author=Assemblée Nationale}} Voting rights for women were introduced into [[international law]] by the United Nations' Human Rights Commission, whose elected chair was [[Eleanor Roosevelt]]. In 1948 the United Nations adopted the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]]; Article 21 stated: "(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures." The [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted the [[Convention on the Political Rights of Women]], which went into force in 1954, enshrining the equal rights of women to vote, hold office, and access public services as set out by national laws. ===21st century=== One of the most recent jurisdictions to acknowledge women's full right to vote was [[Bhutan]] in 2008 (its first national elections).{{cite journal|author=Mian Ridge |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2008/0325/p04s01-wosc.html |title=Bhutan makes it official: it's a democracy.|journal=Christian Science Monitor |date=March 25, 2008 |access-date=September 2, 2011}} Most recently, King [[Abdullah of Saudi Arabia]], after both national and international condemnation and activism by feminist groups, granted Saudi women the vote and right to run for office for the first time in the [[2015 Saudi Arabian municipal elections|2015 local elections]].{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151212-saudi-arabia-election-women-vote/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151217135730/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151212-saudi-arabia-election-women-vote/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 17, 2015|title=In a Historic Election, Saudi Women Cast First-Ever Ballots|author=Photograph Tasneem Alsultan, National Geographic}}{{cite web | last=Stewart | first=Ellen | title=Women win seats in the Saudi election for the first time in history | website=i100 | date=13 December 2015 | url=http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/women-win-seats-in-the-saudi-arabia-election-for-the-first-time-in-history--bylIVXK3ql | access-date=14 December 2015 | archive-date=16 December 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151216004819/http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/women-win-seats-in-the-saudi-arabia-election-for-the-first-time-in-history--bylIVXK3ql | url-status=dead }} ==Suffrage movements== {{see also|Women's suffrage by country}} [[File:Emmeline Pankhurst adresses crowd.jpg|thumb|After selling her home, British activist [[Emmeline Pankhurst]] travelled constantly, giving speeches throughout Britain and the United States. One of her most famous speeches, ''[[s:Freedom or death|Freedom or death]]'', was delivered in Connecticut in 1913.|330x330px]] The suffrage movement was a broad one, made up of women and men with a wide range of views. In terms of diversity, the greatest achievement of the 20th-century woman suffrage movement was its extremely broad class base.Dubois, Dumneil 2012, p. 474. One major division, especially in Britain, was between suffragists, who sought to create change constitutionally, and [[suffragette]]s, led by English political activist [[Emmeline Pankhurst]], who in 1903 formed the more militant [[Women's Social and Political Union]].{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2008/07/emmeline-pankhurst-women-cause |title=Newstatesman.com |publisher=Newstatesman.com |date=July 1, 2008|access-date=January 8, 2011}} Pankhurst would not be satisfied with anything but action on the question of women's enfranchisement, with "deeds, not words" the organization's motto.Maroula Joannou, [[June Purvis]] (1998) [https://books.google.com/books?id=8dHBAAAAIAAJ&dq=women%27s+social+and+political+union+emmeline+pankhurst&pg=PA157 The women's suffrage movement: new feminist perspectives] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528200836/https://books.google.com/books?id=8dHBAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA157&dq=women%27s%20social%20and%20political%20union%20emmeline%20pankhurst&hl=en&ei=H9CHTsvJCoPEtAbCyMTgAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAQ |date=May 28, 2016 }}, p. 157. Manchester University Press, 1998.Van Wingerden, Sophia A. (1999) ''The women's suffrage movement in Britain, 1866–1928''. Palgrave. Ch 1. {{ISBN|9780312218539}}. [[Elizabeth Cady Stanton]] and [[Lucretia Mott]] were the first two women in America to organize the women's rights convention in July 1848. [[Susan B. Anthony]] later joined the movement and helped form the [[National Woman Suffrage Association]] (NWSA) in May 1869. Their goal was to change the 15th Amendment because it did not mention nor include women which is why the NWSA protested against it. Around the same time, there was also another group of women who supported the 15th amendment and they called themselves [[American Woman Suffrage Association]] (AWSA). The American Woman Suffrage Association was founded by [[Lucy Stone]], [[Julia Ward Howe]], and [[Thomas Wentworth Higginson]], who were more focused on gaining access at a local level.{{Cite web |date=2016-08-15 |title=Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment |url=https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/woman-suffrage |access-date=2022-03-28 |website=National Archives}} The two groups united became one and called themselves the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Throughout the world, the [[Women's Christian Temperance Union]] (WCTU), which was established in the United States in 1873, campaigned for women's suffrage, in addition to ameliorating the condition of prostitutes.{{cite book |last1=Marion |first1=Nancy E. |last2=Oliver |first2=Willard M. |title=Drugs in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law |date=2014 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-61069-596-1 |page=963}}{{cite book |last1=Blocker |first1=Jack S. |last2=Fahey |first2=David M. |last3=Tyrrell |first3=Ian R. |title=Alcohol and Temperance in Modern History: An International Encyclopedia |date=2003 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-833-4}} Under the leadership of [[Frances Willard]], "the WCTU became the largest women's organization of its day and is now the oldest continuing women's organization in the United States."{{cite book |last1=Burlingame |first1=Dwight |title=Philanthropy in America: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia |date=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-860-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/philanthropyinam00sant/page/511 511]|url=https://archive.org/details/philanthropyinam00sant/page/511 }} There was also a diversity of views on a "woman's place". Suffragist themes often included the notions that women were naturally kinder and more concerned about children and the elderly. As Kraditor shows, it was often assumed that women voters would have a civilizing effect on politics, opposing domestic violence, liquor, and emphasizing cleanliness and community. An opposing theme, Kraditor argues, held that women had the same moral standards. They should be equal in every way and that there was no such thing as a woman's "natural role".Kraditor, Aileen S., ''The Ideas of the Woman Suffrage Movement: 1890–1920'' (1965), ch. 3.Bolt, Christine, ''The Women's Movements in the United States and Britain from the 1790s to the 1920s'' (2014), pp. 133, 235. For Black women in the United States, achieving suffrage was a way to counter the disfranchisement of the men of their race.Dubois, Dumneil 2012, p. 475. Despite this discouragement, black suffragists continued to insist on their equal political rights. Starting in the 1890s, African American women began to assert their political rights aggressively from within their own clubs and suffrage societies.{{Cite book|title=African American women in the struggle for the vote, 1850–1920|last=Terborg-Penn|first=Rosalyn|date=1998|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-33378-0|location=Bloomington|oclc=37693895|url=https://archive.org/details/africanamericanw00terb}} "If white American women, with all their natural and acquired advantages, need the ballot," argued [[Adella Hunt Logan]] of Tuskegee, Alabama, "how much more do black Americans, male and female, need the strong defense of a vote to help secure their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?" ==Explanations for suffrage extensions== Scholars have proposed different theories for variations in the timing of women's suffrage across countries. These explanations include the activism of social movements, cultural diffusion and normative change, the electoral calculations of political parties, and the occurrence of major wars.{{Cite journal |last=Przeworski |first=Adam |date=2009 |title=Conquered or Granted? A History of Suffrage Extensions |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/abs/conquered-or-granted-a-history-of-suffrage-extensions/A4E9E4C21CA70A0603744957F941A78A |journal=British Journal of Political Science|volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=291–321 |doi=10.1017/S0007123408000434 |issn=1469-2112|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Ramirez |first1=Francisco O. |last2=Soysal |first2=Yasemin |last3=Shanahan |first3=Suzanne |date=1997 |title=The Changing Logic of Political Citizenship: Cross-National Acquisition of Women's Suffrage Rights, 1890 to 1990 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2657357 |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=62 |issue=5 |pages=735–745 |doi=10.2307/2657357 |jstor=2657357 |issn=0003-1224|url-access=subscription }} According to Adam Przeworski, women's suffrage tends to be extended in the aftermath of major wars. ==Impact== Scholars have linked women's suffrage to subsequent economic growth,{{Cite journal |last1=Dahlum |first1=Sirianne |last2=Knutsen |first2=Carl Henrik |last3=Mechkova |first3=Valeriya |date=2022 |title=Women's political empowerment and economic growth |journal=World Development|volume=156 |article-number=105822 |doi=10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.105822 |s2cid=248333989 |issn=0305-750X|doi-access=free |hdl=10852/101035 |hdl-access=free }} the rise of the welfare state,{{Cite journal |last1=Bolzendahl |first1=C. |last2=Brooks |first2=C. |date=2007 |title=Women's Political Representation and Welfare State Spending in 12 Capitalist Democracies |url=https://academic.oup.com/sf/article-lookup/doi/10.1353/sof.2007.0061 |journal=Social Forces|volume=85 |issue=4 |pages=1509–1534 |doi=10.1353/sof.2007.0061 |s2cid=154600252 |issn=0037-7732|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Abrams |first1=Burton A. |last2=Settle |first2=Russell F. |date=1999 |title=Women's Suffrage and the Growth of the Welfare State |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30026099 |journal=Public Choice |volume=100 |issue=3/4 |pages=289–300 |doi=10.1023/A:1018312829025 |jstor=30026099 |s2cid=153681090 |issn=0048-5829|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Carruthers |first1=Celeste K. |last2=Wanamaker |first2=Marianne H. |date=2015 |title=Municipal Housekeeping: The Impact of Women's Suffrage on Public Education |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/597479 |journal=Journal of Human Resources |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=837–872 |doi=10.3368/jhr.50.4.837 |s2cid=55592703 |issn=1548-8004|url-access=subscription }} and less international conflict.{{Cite journal |last1=Barnhart |first1=Joslyn N. |last2=Trager |first2=Robert F. |last3=Saunders |first3=Elizabeth N. |last4=Dafoe |first4=Allan |date=2020 |title=The Suffragist Peace |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/suffragist-peace/3FC70A0BE87859F624E42984BEB0322B |journal=International Organization|volume=74 |issue=4 |pages=633–670 |doi=10.1017/S0020818320000508 |s2cid=221130902 |issn=0020-8183|url-access=subscription }} ==Timeline== {{See also|Timeline of women's suffrage|Timeline of women's legal rights (other than voting)|Timeline of first women's suffrage in majority-Muslim countries}} {{Collapse top|Grant of female suffrage at national level}} {{legend|#CCC| National elections suspended or otherwise not taking place.}} {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Country ! Year women first granted suffrage at national level ! Notes |- | {{flagicon|Kingdom of Afghanistan}} [[Kingdom of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] |1919{{Cite web |author1=Amcs-Webmaster |date=7 November 2017 |title=The Fight For Women's Voting Rights |url=https://centralasiainstitute.org/womens-voting-rights/ |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=Central Asia Institute |language=en}} |Elections were abolished in 1929 |- | {{flagicon image|Flag of Albania (1944–1946).svg}} [[Democratic Government of Albania|Albania]]{{cite web|url=http://tesheshi.com/grate-ne-politiken-shqiptare-nga-ahmet-zogu-te-edi-rama-ja-emrat-me-te-spikatur/|title=Gratë në politikën shqiptare: Nga Ahmet Zogu te Edi Rama – ja emrat më të spikatur {{!}} Te Sheshi|date=June 9, 2015|access-date=March 8, 2020}} | 1945 | Albanian women voted for the first time in the [[1945 Albanian parliamentary election|1945 election]]. |- | {{flag|Algeria}} | 1962 | In 1962, on its independence from France, Algeria granted equal voting rights to all men and women. |- | {{flag|Andorra}} | 1970 | |- | {{flagicon|Angola}} [[People's Republic of Angola|Angola]] | 1975 | |- | {{flag|Argentina}} | 1947Hammond, Gregory, ''The Women's Suffrage Movement and Feminism in Argentina From Roca to Peron'' (University of New Mexico Press; 2011). | On September 23, 1947, the Female Enrollment Act (number 13,010) was enacted in the government of [[Juan Perón]] |- | {{flag|Armenia}} | 1917 (by application of the Russian legislation)
1919 March (by adoption of its own legislation)[[Simon Vratsian|Vratsian, Simon]] ''Hayastani Hanrapetutyun'' (The Republic of Armenia, ''Arm.''), Yerevan, 1993, p. 292. |On June 21 and 23, 1919, first direct parliamentary elections were held in Armenia under universal suffrage – every person over the age of 20 had the right to vote regardless of gender, ethnicity or religious beliefs. The 80-seat legislature contained three women deputies: [[Katarine Zalyan-Manukyan]], [[Perchuhi Partizpanyan-Barseghyan]] and [[Varvara Sahakyan]].{{cite web|author=Badalyan, Lena|date=5 December 2018|title=Women's Suffrage: The Armenian Formula|url=https://chai-khana.org/en/womens-suffrage-the-armenian-formula|access-date=30 November 2018|publisher=Chai Khana|archive-date=December 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201005054/https://chai-khana.org/en/womens-suffrage-the-armenian-formula|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|last1=Harutyunyan|first1=Anahit|date=8 March 2018|script-title=hy:Առաջին խորհրդարանի (1919–1920) երեք կին պատգամավորները|url=https://www.aniarc.am/2018/03/08/women-1919-1920-mp/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504044633/https://www.aniarc.am/2018/03/08/women-1919-1920-mp/|archive-date=4 May 2018|access-date=11 January 2019|website=ANI Armenian Research Center|publisher=Armenian Research Center for Anteriology|location=Yerevan|language=hy|quote=Three female deputies of the first parliament (1919–1920)}} |- | {{flag|Australia}} | 1902 (Voting granted at Federal level except for "natives of Australia, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands (other than New Zealand)") 1962 (full) |Female vote won at the colony/state level: [[Colony of South Australia]] 1895, [[Swan River Colony|Colony of Western Australia]] 1899 (with racial restrictions), New South Wales 1902, Tasmania 1903, Queensland 1905 (with racial restrictions) and Victoria 1908. Indigenous Australians were not given the right to vote in all states until 1966.{{cite web|title=Electoral milestones for Indigenous Australians|date=April 8, 2019|url=https://www.aec.gov.au/indigenous/milestones.htm|publisher=[[Australian Electoral Commission]]|access-date=June 11, 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Alyce |title=On this day: SA gives women the vote |url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/on-this-day/2012/12/on-this-day-sa-gives-women-the-vote/ |access-date=June 16, 2018 |work=Australian Geographic |date=December 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616030349/http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/on-this-day/2012/12/on-this-day-sa-gives-women-the-vote/ |archive-date=June 16, 2018 |url-status=dead }} |- | {{flag|Austria}} | 1918 |The Electoral Code was changed in December 1918.{{cite web|url=http://www.demokratiezentrum.org/de/themen/demokratieentwicklung/frauenwahlrecht/frauenwahlrecht.html|title=Frauenwahlrecht – Demokratiezentrum Wien|website=demokratiezentrum.org|access-date=June 14, 2019|archive-date=June 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626221226/http://www.demokratiezentrum.org/de/themen/demokratieentwicklung/frauenwahlrecht/frauenwahlrecht.html|url-status=dead}} First election was in February 1919.{{cite web| title = 85 Jahre allgemeines Frauenwahlrecht in Österreich | url = http://www.onb.ac.at/ariadne/projekte/frauen_waehlet/index.html| publisher = Österreichische Nationalbibliothek| access-date = September 1, 2011| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110306075818/http://www.onb.ac.at/ariadne/projekte/frauen_waehlet/index.html| archive-date = March 6, 2011}} |- | {{flagicon|Azerbaijan}} [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic|Azerbaijan]] | 1918 |Azerbaijan was the first Muslim-majority country to enfranchise women.Swietochowski, Tadeusz. ''Russian Azerbaijan 1905–1920: The Shaping of a National Identity in a Muslim Community''. Cambridge University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0-521-52245-5|978-0-521-52245-8}}, p. 144. |- | {{flag|Bahamas}} | 1960 | |- | {{flag|Bahrain}} | 2002 |No elections were held in Bahrain between 1973 and 2002. |- | {{flag|Bangladesh}} | 1971 (upon [[Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence|its independence]]) | |- | {{flag|Barbados|1885}} | 1950 | |- | {{flagicon image|Missing Blue Ensign.svg}} [[British Leeward Islands]] (Today: [[Antigua and Barbuda]], [[British Virgin Islands]], [[Montserrat]], [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]], [[Anguilla]]) | 1951 | |- | {{flagicon image|Flag of the British Windward Islands (1903–1953).svg}} [[British Windward Islands]] (Today: [[Grenada]], [[Saint Lucia|St Lucia]], [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|St Vincent and the Grenadines]], [[Dominica]]) | 1951 | |- | {{flagicon|Belarus|1991}} [[Belarusian People's Republic]] | 1919 | |- | {{flag|Belgium}} | 1919/1948 | Was granted in the constitution in 1919, for communal voting. Suffrage for the provincial councils and the national parliament only came in 1948. |- | {{flag|British Honduras}} (Today: [[Belize]]) | 1954 | |- | {{flagicon|Benin}} [[Republic of Dahomey|Dahomey]] (Today: [[Benin]]) | 1956 | |- | {{flag|Bermuda}} | 1944 | |- | {{flag|Bhutan}} | 1953 | |- | {{flag|Bolivia}} | 1938/1952 |Limited women's suffrage in 1938 (only for literate women and those with a certain level of income). On equal terms with men since 1952.{{cite web|url=http://womensuffrage.org/?page_id=109|title=Central & South America|work=Women Suffrage and Beyond|access-date=April 12, 2015|archive-date=April 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427202930/http://womensuffrage.org/?page_id=109|url-status=dead}} |- | {{flag|Botswana}} | 1965 | |- | {{flag|Brazil}} | 1932 | |- style="background: #CCC" | {{flag|Brunei}} | 1959 | National [[Politics of Brunei|elections in Brunei]] currently suspended. Both men and women have voting rights only for local elections. |- | {{flag|Kingdom of Bulgaria}} | 1937/1944 |Married women (and by default widowed women) gained the right to vote on January 18, 1937, in local elections, but could not run for office. Single women were excluded from voting. Full voting rights were bestowed by the communist regime in September 1944 and reaffirmed by an electoral law reform on June 15, 1945.{{cite book|last1=Ruiz|first1=Blanca Rodriguez|last2=Rubio-Marín|first2=Ruth|title=The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe: Voting to Become Citizens|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KIMwdbG0EcC&pg=PA330|year=2012|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden, The Netherlands|isbn=978-90-04-22425-4|pages=329–30}} |- | {{flag|Upper Volta}} (Today: [[Burkina Faso]]) | 1958 | |- | {{flagicon image|British Burma 1937 flag.svg}} [[British rule in Burma|Burma]] | 1922 | |- | {{flag|Burundi}} | 1961 | |- | {{flagicon|Cambodia}} [[Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–1970)|Kingdom of Cambodia]] | 1955 | |- | {{flagicon image|British Cameroon Flag.svg}} [[British Cameroons]] (Today: [[Cameroon]]) | 1946 | |- | {{flag|Canada|2020}} | 1917–1919 for most of Canada; Prince Edward Island in 1922; Quebec in 1940; 1960 for Aboriginal People without requiring them to give up their status as before | To help win a [[Conscription Crisis of 1917|mandate for conscription]] during World War I, the federal [[Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942)|Conservative]] government of [[Robert Borden]] granted the vote in 1917 to war widows, women serving overseas, and the female relatives of men serving overseas. However, the same legislation, the [[Wartime Elections Act]], disenfranchised those who became naturalized Canadian citizens after 1902. Women over 21 who were "not alien-born" and who met certain property qualifications were allowed to vote in federal elections in 1918. Women first won the vote provincially in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in 1916; British Columbia and Ontario in 1917; Nova Scotia in 1918; New Brunswick in 1919 (women could not run for New Brunswick provincial office until 1934); Prince Edward Island in 1922; and Quebec in 1940.{{cite encyclopedia|author=Susan Jackel|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/womens-suffrage|title=Women's Suffrage|encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=December 2, 2014|archive-date=October 16, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016084447/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/womens-suffrage/|url-status=dead}} Aboriginal men and women were not given the right to vote until 1960; previously, they could only vote if they gave up their treaty status. It was not until 1948, when Canada signed the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that it was forced to examine the issue of discrimination against Aboriginal people.{{cite web|url=http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/themes/aboriginals/aboriginals12_e.html|title=Canada in the Making – Aboriginals: Treaties & Relations|work=canadiana.ca|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150309131216/http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/themes/aboriginals/aboriginals12_e.html|archive-date=March 9, 2015}} |- | {{flag|Cape Verde}} | 1975 (upon [[Cape Verde#Independence (1975)|its independence]]) | |- | {{flag|Cayman Islands}} | 1957 | |- | {{flag|Central African Republic}} | 1986 | |- | {{flag|Chad}} | 1958 | |- | {{flag|Chile}} | 1949 | From 1934 to 1949, women could vote in local elections at 25, while men could vote in all elections at 21. In both cases, literacy was required. |- | {{flag|China}} | 1949 | In 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) incorporated equal rights for men and women into [[Constitution of China|Constitution of the People's Republic of China]] (PRC), referring to the earlier [[Constitution of the Republic of China]] (ROC) in 1947. [[Elections in China]] (PRC) are not free nor fair, occurring under a [[One-party state|one-party]] [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] political system controlled by the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP). |- | {{flag|Colombia}} | 1954 | |- | {{flag|Comoros}} | 1956 | |- | {{flag|Zaire}} (Today: [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]) | 1967 | |- | {{flag|Congo, Republic of the}} | 1963 | |- | {{flag|Cook Islands}} | 1893 | |- | {{flag|Costa Rica}} | 1949 | |- | {{flag|Cuba}} | 1934 | |- | {{flag|Cyprus}} | 1960 | |- | {{flag|Czechoslovakia}} (Today: [[Czech Republic]], [[Slovakia]]) | 1920 | The Czechoslovak Constitution adopted on 29 February 1920 guaranteed the universal vote for every citizen including women to every electable body.{{cite web |url=https://english.radio.cz/frantiska-plaminkova-feminist-suffragette-who-ensured-czechoslovakias-8106811 |title=Františka Plamínková: the feminist suffragette who ensured Czechoslovakia's Constitution of 1920 lived up to the principle of equality|publisher=[[Czech Radio]] |date=2020-02-29 |access-date=2021-10-07}} |- | {{flag|Kingdom of Denmark}} (Including the [[Faroe Islands]] and, at that time, [[Iceland]]) | 1908 at local elections, 1915 at national parliamentary elections | |- | {{flag|Djibouti}} | 1946 | |- | {{flag|Dominican Republic}} | 1942 | |- | {{flag|East Timor}} | 1976 | |- | {{flag|Ecuador}} | 1929/1967 |Despite that Ecuador granted women suffrage in 1929, which was earlier than most independent countries in Latin America (except for Uruguay, which granted women suffrage in 1917), differences between men's and women's suffrage in Ecuador were only removed in 1967 (before 1967 women's vote was optional, while that of men was compulsory; since 1967 it is compulsory for both sexes).{{cite thesis|author=Villavicencio, VPV|title=Women in Ecuador: Exercise of political power since the return to democracy|url=http://dspace.uazuay.edu.ec/bitstream/datos/4210/2/10771_ing.pdf}} |- | {{flag|Egypt}} | 1956 | |- | {{flag|El Salvador}} | 1939/1950 |Women obtained in 1939 suffrage with restrictions requiring literacy and a higher age. All restrictions were lifted in 1950 allowing women to vote, but women obtained the right to stand for elections only in 1961.{{cite web|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnabu661.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807182402/http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnabu661.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 7, 2016|title=Situacion de la mujer rural en El Salvador|language=es|date=November 1994}} |- | {{flag|Equatorial Guinea}} | 1963 |Effectively a [[one-party state]] under the [[Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea]] since 1987; [[elections in Equatorial Guinea]] are not considered to be free or fair. |- style="background: #CCC" |{{Flag|Eritrea}} | data-sort-value="9999"|No voting |There have not been [[elections in Eritrea]] since its independence in 1993. |- | {{flag|Estonia}} | 1917 |Universal suffrage was declared by the [[Russian Provisional Government]] (in control of the then governorate of Estonia) on 15 March 1917 and applied in the elections of the [[Russian Constituent Assembly|Constituent Assembly]]. After becoming independent in 1918, Estonia continued its universal suffrage. |- | {{flag|Eswatini}} (Formerly: [[Swaziland]]) | 1968 |While there are [[elections in Eswatini]], the country is an [[absolute monarchy]] and the [[2023 Swazi general election|most recent general election]] had a very low turnout, causing some to call democracy in the country into question.{{Cite web|url=https://allafrica.com/stories/201810220621.html|title=Swaziland: Results of Swaziland Election Not Published One Month After Poll Questioning Kingdom's Claim to Democracy}} |- | {{flagcountry|Ethiopian Empire}} (Then including [[Eritrea]]) | 1955 | |- | {{flag|Fiji}} | 1963 | |- | {{flagicon|Finland}} [[Grand Duchy of Finland]] | 1906 |Women retained the right to vote when [[Finland]] gained its independence from Russia in 1917. |- | {{flag|France}} | 1944 |The law was enacted in 1944, but the first elections were in 1945. |- | {{flag|Gabon}} | 1956 | |- | {{flag|Gambia, The}} | 1960 | |- | {{flagicon|Georgia|1990}} [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]] | 1918 | |- | {{flagcountry|Weimar Republic}} | 1918 | |- | {{flag|Ghana}} | 1954 | |- | {{flag|Greece|old}} | 1930 (Local Elections, Literate Only), 1952 (Unconditional) | |- | {{flag|Greenland}} | 1948{{Cite web|url=https://naalakkersuisut.gl//da/Naalakkersuisut/Nyheder/2015/03/060315_kampdag|title=Kvindernes internationale kampdag (Government of Greenland, 2015)|access-date=October 28, 2020|archive-date=December 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208164426/https://naalakkersuisut.gl/da/Naalakkersuisut/Nyheder/2015/03/060315_kampdag|url-status=dead}} | |- | {{flag|Guatemala}} | 1945/1965 |Women could vote from 1945, but only if literate. Restrictions on women's suffrage were lifted in 1965.{{cite web|url=http://www.idea.int/publications/wip/upload/montenegro-CS-Guatemala.pdf|title=Publications – International IDEA|website=www.idea.int|access-date=June 12, 2016|archive-date=August 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806073911/https://www.idea.int/publications/wip/upload/montenegro-CS-Guatemala.pdf|url-status=dead}} |- | {{flag|Guinea}} | 1958 | |- | {{flag|Guinea-Bissau}} | 1977 | |- | {{flag|Guyana}} | 1953 | |- | {{flag|Haiti|1859}} | 1950 | |- | {{flag|Kingdom of Hawaii}} | 1840–1852 | Universal suffrage was established in 1840, which meant that women could vote. Opposition resulted in a specific denial of women's suffrage in the 1852 constitution. |- | {{flag|Honduras}} | 1955 | |- | {{flag|Hong Kong|1910}} | 1949 | |- | {{flagcountry|Hungarian People's Republic (1918–19)}} | 1919 (partial)
1945 (full) | After 1919 men could vote from the age of 24 while women only gained the right to vote from the age of 30. There were also educational and economical criteria set for both genders, but all criteria were higher for women.
After 1945 both men and women gained universal suffrage from the age of 20. |- | {{flagicon|British Raj}} [[British Raj|India]] ''(Then under British colonial rule)'' | 1921 ([[Bombay Presidency|Bombay]] and [[Madras Presidency|Madras]]) 1929 (All provinces, including princely states){{Cite web |title=Testbook.com – India's No.1 Govt Exam Preparation Site {{!}} Online Course {{!}} Mock Test |url=https://testbook.com/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Testbook |language=en}} | |- | {{flag|Indonesia}} | 1937 (for Europeans only)
1945 (for all citizens, granted upon independence) | |- | {{flag|Iran|1925}} | 1963 |In 1945, during the one-year rule of the Azerbaijani Democratic Party, Iranian Azerbaijani women were allowed to vote and be elected. |- | {{flag|Iraq|1924}} | 1980 Al-Tamimi, H. (2019). Women and Democracy in Iraq: Gender, Politics and Nation-Building. Indien: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 65The Crisis of Citizenship in the Arab World. (2017). Nederländerna: Brill. p. 435 | |- | {{flag|Ireland}} | 1918 (partial)
1922 (full) | From 1918, with the rest of the United Kingdom, women could vote at 30 with property qualifications or in university constituencies, while men could vote at 21 with no qualification. From separation in 1922, the [[Irish Free State]] gave equal voting rights to men and women.{{Cite news|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/100-years-centenary-women-vote-3828133-Feb2018/|title=On this day 100 years ago, Irish women got the vote|last=Barry|first=Aoife|work=TheJournal.ie|access-date=October 8, 2018}} |- | {{flagicon|IMN}} [[Isle of Man]] | 1881 | |- | {{flag|Israel}} | 1948 |Women's suffrage was granted with the [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|declaration of independence]]. But prior to that in the Jewish settlement in Palestine, suffrage was granted in 1920. |- | {{flag|Italy}} | 1925 (partial), 1945 (full) | Regarding local elections womens' suffrage was officially granted in 1925, but the local election themselves were abolished immediately after. Full suffrage was granted in 1945, first elections were organized the following year. |- | {{flag|Ivory Coast}} | 1952 | |- | {{flag|Jamaica|1906}} | 1944 | |- | {{flag|Japan}} | 1945 | |- | {{flag|Jersey|old}} | 1919''Loi sur les Droits Electoraux'', 1919 | Restrictions on franchise applied to men and women until after Liberation in 1945. |- | {{flag|Jordan}} | 1974 | Suffrage for educated women in 1955,Pratt, N. (2020). ''Embodying Geopolitics: Generations of Women's Activism in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon''. US: University of California Press. pp. 43–44 extended to all women in 1974. |- | {{flag|Kazakh SSR}} | 1924 | |- | {{flag|Kenya}} | 1963 | |- | {{flag|Kiribati}} | 1967 | |- | {{flag|Korea, North}} | 1946{{cite web|url=http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/suffrage.htm |title=Women's Suffrage |publisher=Ipu.org |date=May 2, 1997|access-date=May 6, 2013}} | |- | {{flag|Korea, South}} | 1948 (for both men & women) |Suffrage for both men and women were given at same date, same year right after the first constitutional law had been announced. Up to 1910, it was Korean Empire with despotic monarchy, so no one had the suffrage, and from 1910 to 1945, Korea was a colony of Japan, so again no one had suffrage for the Japanese Empire. From 1945 to 1948, South part of Korea was ruled by United States Army Military Government in Korea, so still no one had any suffrage for the government. From the first constitutional law of Korea, Korea adopted egalitarianism, giving the suffrage for both men and women at the same time. |- | {{flag|Kuwait}} | 2005{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/world/middleeast/kuwait-grants-political-rights-to-its-women.html|date=May 17, 2005|title=Kuwait Grants Political Rights to Its Women|work=The New York Times}} |All voters must have been citizens of Kuwait for at least 20 years.{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kuwait/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110072824/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kuwait|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 10, 2021|title=Kuwait|date=September 27, 2021|publisher=The World Factbook}} |- | {{flag|Kyrgyz SSR}} | 1918 | |- | {{flagicon|Laos|1952}} [[Kingdom of Laos]] | 1958 | |- | {{flag|Latvia}} | 1917 | |- | {{flag|Lebanon}} | 1952{{cite news |first=Dana |last=Khraiche |url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Feb-24/164431-womens-spring-is-lebanon-ready-for-a-feminist-political-party.ashx#ixzz1rkch52gR |title=Women's spring: Is Lebanon ready for a feminist political party? |newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Lebanon)|The Daily Star]] |date=February 4, 2012 |access-date=August 2, 2015 |archive-date=May 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190519080608/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Feb-24/164431-womens-spring-is-lebanon-ready-for-a-feminist-political-party.ashx#ixzz1rkch52gR |url-status=dead }} | In 1952, after a 30-year long battle for suffrage, the bill allowing Lebanese women to vote passed.{{cite web|url=https://lebanesestudies.news.chass.ncsu.edu/2014/12/03/lebanese-women-and-the-right-to-vote/|title=Lebanese Women and the Right to Vote|last=Muglia|first=Caroline|date=December 3, 2014|website=Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies at NCSU}} In 1957, a requirement for women (but not men) to have elementary education before voting was dropped, as was voting being compulsory for men.{{cite book|title=Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook : Volume I: Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-153041-8|page=174|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BVFBXa69tWMC&q=educationa&pg=PA174}} |- | {{flag|Lesotho}} | 1965 | |- | {{flag|Liberia}} | 1946 | |- | {{flagicon|Libya|1963}} [[Kingdom of Libya]] | 1963 (1951 local) |Bernini, Simone. ''Le elezioni politiche del 1952 in Libia'', "Oriente Moderno" Nuova serie, Anno 17 (78), Nr. 2 (1998), pp. 337–351, Fn. 10, p. 339. |- | {{flag|Liechtenstein}} | 1984 | |- | {{flag|Lithuania}} | 1918 | |- | {{flag|Luxembourg}} | 1919 |Women gained the vote on May 15, 1919, through amendment of Article 52 of Luxembourg's constitution. |- | {{flag|Madagascar}} | 1959 | |- | {{flag|Malawi|1964}} | 1961 | |- | {{flagicon|Malaya}} [[Federation of Malaya]] (Today: [[Malaysia]]) | 1955 |First general election for the Federal Legislative Council, two years before independence in 1957 |- | {{flagicon image|Old State Flag of Maldives.svg}} [[Maldives]] | 1932 | |- | {{flag|Mali}} | 1956 | |- | {{flagicon|Malta|1943}} [[Crown Colony of Malta|Malta]] | 1947 | |- | {{flag|Marshall Islands}} | 1979 | |- | {{flag|Mauritania|1959}} | 1961 | |- | {{flag|Mauritius|1923}} | 1956 | |- | {{flag|Mexico}} | 1953 | |- | {{flag|Micronesia, Federated States of}} | 1979 | |- | {{flag|Moldova}} | 1929/1940 | As part of the [[Kingdom of Romania]], women who met certain qualifications were allowed to vote in local elections, starting in 1929. After the [[1938 Constitution of Romania|Constitution of 1938]], voting rights were extended to women for general elections by the Electoral Law 1939.{{cite web |url=http://www.impowr.org/content/summary-rights-vote-romania |title=Summary: Rights to Vote in Romania |publisher=impowr.org |access-date=September 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009181905/http://www.impowr.org/content/summary-rights-vote-romania |archive-date=October 9, 2014 |url-status=dead }} In 1940, after the formation of the [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic|Moldavian SSR]], equal voting rights were granted to men and women. |- | {{flag|Monaco}} | 1962 | |- | {{flagicon|Mongolia|1924}} [[Mongolian People's Republic]] | 1924 | |- | {{flag|Morocco}} | 1963 | |- | {{flagicon|Mozambique|1975}} [[People's Republic of Mozambique]] | 1975 | |- | {{flag|Namibia}} | 1989 (upon its independence) | At independence from South Africa. |- | {{flag|Nauru}} | 1968 | |- | {{flag|Nepal}} | 1951 (upon gaining Democracy) | |- | {{flag|Netherlands}} | 1917 |Women have been allowed to vote since 1919. Since 1917 women have been allowed to be voted into office. |- | {{flag|Netherlands Antilles}} (Today: [[Aruba]], [[Curaçao]], [[Sint Maarten]], [[Caribbean Netherlands]]) | 1949 | |- | {{flag|Dominion of Newfoundland}} (Joined Canada in [[1948 Newfoundland referendums|1949]]) |1925 | |- | {{flag|New Zealand}} | 1893 | New Zealand was the first country to give women voting rights. |- | {{flag|Nicaragua}} | 1955 | |- | {{flag|Niger}} | 1948 | |- | {{flag|Nigeria}} | 1958 | |- | {{flag|Norway}} | 1913 | |- | {{flag|Oman}} | 2002Pernille Arenfeldt, Nawar Al-Hassan Golley, red (2012). Mapping Arab Women's Movements: A Century of Transformations from Within. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-977-416-498-9}} |While, technically, [[Politics of Oman|elections take place in Oman]], this is only to elect a consultative assembly with no power, as Oman is an [[absolute monarchy]]. Municipal suffrage introduced in Muscat in 1994, municipal suffrage in all Oman in 1996, and national suffrage in 2002. |- | {{flag|Pakistan}} | 1947 (upon its independence) | In 1947, on its creation at the [[partition of India]], Pakistan granted full voting rights to men and women. |- | {{flag|Palau}} | 1979 | |- style="background: #CCC" | {{flag|Palestine}} | 1972 | Women (and men) first voted in local elections in the [[West Bank]] in 1972. Women (and men) first elected a Palestinian parliament in [[1996 Palestinian general election|1996]]. However, the last general election was in [[2006 Palestinian legislative election|2006]]; there was supposed to be another in 2014 but elections have been delayed indefinitely. |- | {{flag|Panama}} | 1941/1946 |Limited women's suffrage from 1941 (conditioned by level of education) equal women's suffrage from 1946. |- | {{flag|Papua New Guinea}} | 1964 | |- | {{flag|Paraguay}} | 1961 | |- | {{flag|Peru}} | 1955 | |- | {{flag|Philippines}} | 1937 |Filipino women voted in [[1937 Philippine women's suffrage plebiscite|a 1937 plebiscite]] for their right to vote; women first voted in [[1937 Philippine local elections|local elections later that year]]. |- | {{flag|Pitcairn Islands}} | 1838 | |- | {{flag|Poland}} | 1918 | Dekret o ordynacji wyborczej do Sejmu Ustawodawczego (Dz.U. 1918 nr 18 poz. 46) |- Upon re-gaining independence after partitions (needed a link to Wiki article – Partitions of Poland) | {{flag|Portugal}} | 1911/1931/1976 |With restrictions in 1911, later made illegal again until 1931 when it was reinstated with restrictions,{{cite web|last1=Seppälä|first1=Nina|title=Women and the Vote in Western Europe|url=http://www.idea.int/publications/voter_turnout_weurope/upload/chapter%204.pdf|website=idea.int|access-date=July 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061101183909/http://www.idea.int/publications/voter_turnout_weurope/upload/chapter%204.pdf|archive-date=November 1, 2006|pages=33–35|url-status=live}} restrictions other than age requirements lifted in 1976.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/timeline/votes_to_women.shtml|title=BBC – Radio 4 Woman's Hour – Timeline: When women got the vote|author=BBC|work=BBC}} |- | {{flag|Puerto Rico}} | 1929/1935 |Limited suffrage was passed for women, restricted to those who were literate. In 1935 the legislature approved suffrage for all women. |- | {{flag|Qatar}} | 1997 | While required by the constitution, [[Next Qatari general election|general elections]] had been repeatedly delayed.{{cite web|url=https://dohanews.co/legislative-elections-in-qatar-postponed-until-at-least-2019/|title=Legislative elections in Qatar postponed until at least 2019|date=June 1, 2016|access-date=October 2, 2017}} Municipal elections have been held often. |- | {{flag|Romania}} | 1929/1939/1946 | Starting in 1929, women who met certain qualifications were allowed to vote in local elections. After the [[1938 Constitution of Romania|Constitution from 1938]], the voting rights were extended to women for general elections by the Electoral Law 1939. Women could vote on equal terms with men, but both men and women had restrictions, and in practice the restrictions affected women more than men. In 1946, full equal voting rights were granted to men and women. |- | {{flagicon|Russia}} [[Russian Republic]] | 1917 | On July 20, 1917, under the [[Russian Provisional Government|Provisional Government]]. |- | {{flag|Rwanda}} | 1961 | |- style="background: #CCC" | {{flag|Saudi Arabia}} | 2015 | In [[2015 Saudi Arabian municipal elections|December 2015]], women were first allowed to vote and run for office. However, there are no national [[elections in Saudi Arabia]]. The country is an [[absolute monarchy]]. |- | {{flag|Samoa}} | 1990 | While [[elections in Samoa]] restrict candidacy to [[Faʻamatai|matai]], there is [[universal suffrage]].{{cite web|title=IPU PARLINE database: SAMOA (Fono ), Electoral system|url=http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2351_B.htm|access-date=2021-06-29|website=archive.ipu.org}} |- | {{flag|San Marino}} | 1959 | |- | {{flag|São Tomé and Príncipe}} | 1975 | |- | {{flag|Senegal}} | 1945 | |- | {{flag|Seychelles|1976}} | 1948 | |- | {{flag|Sierra Leone}} | 1961 | In the 1790s, while Sierra Leone was still a colony, women voted in the elections.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2008/12/11/life-on-70-cents-a-day |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029031534/https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2008/12/11/life-on-70-cents-a-day |archive-date=2020-10-29 |access-date=2025-08-30 |magazine=The Economist |title=Life on 70 cents a day | date=December 1, 2008}}{{cbignore}} |- | {{flag|Singapore|colonial-1946}} | 1947 | |- | {{flag|Solomon Islands}} | 1974 | |- | {{flag|Somalia}} | 1956 | |- | {{flag|South Africa}} | 1930 (European and Asian women)
1994 (all women) | Women of other races were enfranchised in 1994, at the same time as men of all races. |- | {{flag|Spain|1931}} | 1924{{cite web|url=http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Hist_Normas/PapHist/PrimoRiv/legis_1927_1929/docs12091927|title=Documentos Elecciones 12 de septiembre de 1927|last=Congress|website=Congreso de los Diputados|access-date=February 24, 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://www.eldiario.es/norte/cantabria/amberes/mujer-voto-Espana_6_596400372.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915054002/https://www.eldiario.es/norte/cantabria/amberes/mujer-voto-Espana_6_596400372.html |archive-date=2017-09-15 |title=La mujer y el voto en España |trans-title=Women and the vote in Spain |last=Martínez |first=Keruin P. |date=December 30, 2016 |website=[[elDiario.es]] |language=es |access-date=August 31, 2025}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=Los orígenes del sufragismo en España |trans-title=The origins of suffragism in Spain |url=https://www.ucm.es/data/cont/docs/995-2015-01-09-sufragismo.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085340/https://www.ucm.es/data/cont/docs/995-2015-01-09-sufragismo.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |journal=Espacio, Tiempo y Forma |language=es |location=Madrid |publisher=[[UNED]] |publication-date=2004 |volume=16 |pages=455–482 |access-date=September 6, 2025}}{{cbignore}}{{void|Fabrickator|comment|The following live url is less convenient to use compared to the archive url: https://www.ucm.es/picuvimu/file/los-origenes-del-sufragismo-en-espana}} /October 1, 1931{{cite web|url=https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/157744/0/aniversario/sufragio/femenino/|title=75 años del sufragio femenino en España|date=October 1, 2006|website=20minutos.es|language=es|access-date=February 25, 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.elespanol.com/cultura/historia/20181119/voto-femenino-espana-triunfo-clara-campoamor-acabo/354464821_0.html|title=85 años del voto femenino en España: el triunfo de Clara Campoamor que acabó con ella|date=November 19, 2018|website=[[El Español]]|language=es-ES|access-date=February 25, 2019}} 1977 |Women briefly held the right to vote from 1924 to 1926, but an absence of elections meant they never had the opportunity to go to the polls until 1933, after earning the right to vote in the 1931 Constitution passed after the elections. The government fell after only two elections in which women could vote, and no one would vote again until after the death of [[Francisco Franco]]. |- | {{flag|Sri Lanka}} (Formerly: [[Ceylon]]) | 1931 | |- | {{flag|Sudan}} | 1964 | |- | [[File:Flag of the Netherlands.svg|22px]] [[Surinam (Dutch colony)|Suriname]] | 1948 | |- | {{flag|Sweden}} | 1919 | |- | {{flag|Switzerland}} | 1971 at federal level, between 1959 and 1990 at local canton level | Women obtained the right to vote in national elections in 1971.{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/7/newsid_2738000/2738475.stm|title=BBC On This Day – 7 – 1971: Swiss women get the vote|work=BBC}} Women obtained the right to vote at local [[Cantons of Switzerland|canton]] level between 1959 ([[Canton of Vaud|Vaud]] and [[Canton of Neuchâtel|Neuchâtel]] in that year) and 1972, except for 1989 in [[Appenzell Ausserrhoden]] and 1990 in [[Appenzell Innerrhoden]].{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11387996|title=Women dominate new Swiss cabinet|newspaper=BBC News|date=September 2, 2010}} See also [[Women's suffrage in Switzerland]]. |- | {{flag|Syria|1932}} | 1949 | |- | [[File:Flag of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1840).svg|23px|border]] [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]] | 1848 | |- | {{flag|Taiwan}} | 1947 | In 1945, the island of Taiwan was returned from Japan to China. In 1947, women won the suffrage under the [[Constitution of the Republic of China]]. In 1949, the Government of the Republic of China (ROC) lost mainland China and moved to Taiwan. |- | {{flag|Tajik SSR}} | 1924 | |- | {{flag|Tanzania}} | 1959 | |- | {{flag|Thailand}} | 1932 | |- | {{flag|Togo}} | 1945 | |- | {{flag|Tonga}} | 1960 | |- | {{flagicon|Trinidad and Tobago|colonial}} [[Trinidad and Tobago]] | 1925 |Suffrage was granted for the first time in 1925 to either sex, to men over the age of 21 and women over the age of 30, as in the United Kingdom (the "Mother Country", since Trinidad and Tobago was still a colony at the time){{cite book| author = Meighoo, Kirk | title = Politics in a 'Half-Made Society': Trinidad and Tobago, 1925–2001| publisher = James Curry, Oxford| isbn = 978-0-85255-873-7| year = 2003| page = 11}} In 1945, full suffrage was granted to women.{{cite web|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage/world-suffrage-timeline|title=World suffrage timeline – Women and the vote |work=nzhistory.net.nz}} |- | {{flag|Tunisia}} | 1957 | |- | {{flag|Turkey}} | 1930 (for local elections), 1934 (for national elections) | |- | {{flag|Turkmen SSR}} | 1924 | |- | {{flag|Tuvalu}} | 1967 | |- | {{flag|Uganda}} | 1962 | |- | {{Flag|Ukraine}} | 1917 [[Ukrainian People's Republic]],{{cite web|title=Constituent Assembly of Ukraine|url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CC%5CO%5CConstituentAssemblyofUkraine.htm|access-date=2021-09-02|website=www.encyclopediaofukraine.com}} 1918 ([[West Ukrainian People's Republic]]), 1919 ([[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]]) |The Ukrainian People's Republic held аn [[1918 Ukrainian Constituent Assembly election|election]] on {{OldStyleDate|January 9|1918|December 27|1917}}. |- | {{flag|United Arab Emirates}} | 2006 | Elections in the United Arab Emirates occur on a national level. However, their democratic usefulness is disputed.[[2011 United Arab Emirates parliamentary election]]{{cite web |url=http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2011/Sep/24/uae_s_second_election_has_low_turnout.html |title=UAE's second election has low turnout |work=Real Clear World |date=September 2, 2011|access-date=September 27, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407131133/http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2011/Sep/24/uae_s_second_election_has_low_turnout.html |archive-date=April 7, 2012 }} |- | {{flag|United Kingdom}} | 1918 (partial)
1928 (full) | From 1918 to 1928, women could vote at 30 with property qualifications or as graduates of UK universities, while men could vote at 21 with no qualification. From 1928 women had equal suffrage with men. |- | {{flag|United States|1912}} | 1920 (nearly all)
1965 (legal protections) | Before the ratification of the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth Amendment]] in 1920, individual states had passed legislation that allowed women to vote in different types of elections; some only allowed women to vote in school or municipal elections, some required women to own property if they wanted to vote, and some territories extended full suffrage to women, only to take it away once they became states.{{cite web |url=http://depts.washington.edu/moves/WomanSuffrage_map.shtml |title= Timeline and Map of Woman Suffrage Legislation State by State 1838–1919|publisher=depts.washington.edu}} Many states allowed women to hold a few office positions before gaining the right to vote.{{Cite web|last=Katz|first=Elizabeth D.|date=2021-07-30|title=Sex, Suffrage, and State Constitutional Law: Women's Legal Right to Hold Public Office|url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3896499|location=Rochester, NY|ssrn=3896499}} Although legally entitled to vote, black people (including black women) were effectively [[Segregation in the United States|denied voting rights]] in numerous Southern states until 1965. |- | {{flag|United States Virgin Islands}} | 1936 | Beginning in 1936 women could vote; however, this vote, as with men, was limited to those who could prove they had an income of $300 per year or more. |- | {{flag|Uruguay}} | 1917/1927/1932 | Uruguay was the first country in all of the Americas – and one of the first in the world – to grant women fully equal civil rights and universal suffrage (in its Constitution of 1917), though this suffrage was first exercised in 1927, in the [[1927 Cerro Chato referendum]],{{cite web|url=http://www.lr21.com.uy/comunidad/263868-el-voto-femenino-cumple-ochenta-anos-en-uruguay |title=El voto femenino cumple ochenta años en Uruguay – Noticias Uruguay LARED21 |publisher=Lr21.com.uy |date=July 3, 2007 |access-date=October 25, 2015|language=es}} and was put into national law through a decree in 1932.{{cite web | url=https://www.impo.com.uy/bases/leyes/8927-1932 | title=Ley N° 8927 }} The first national election in which women voted was the [[1938 Uruguayan general election]].{{cite book|author=Francesca Miller|title=Latin American Women and the Search for Social Justice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXiTQpR3crwC&pg=PA98|year=1991|publisher=UPNE|isbn=978-0-87451-558-9|page=98}} |- | {{flag|Uzbek SSR}} | 1938 | |- | {{flag|Vanuatu}} | 1975 | |- style="background: #CCC" | {{flag|Vatican City}} | data-sort-value="9999"|No voting | The [[Pope]], elected by the all-male [[College of Cardinals]] through a secret ballot, is the leader of the Catholic Church, and exercises ex officio supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power over the State of the Vatican City.{{Cite web|url=https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/text.jsp?file_id=220612|title=WIPO Lex|website=wipolex.wipo.int}} |- | {{flag|Venezuela}} | 1946 (partial) |Though there are [[Venezuelan presidential crisis|disputes as to the legitimacy]] of [[elections in Venezuela]], they are ongoing at a national level. |- | {{flag|Vietnam}} | 1946 |[[1946 North Vietnamese legislative election]] |- | {{flag|North Yemen}} (Today: [[Yemen]]) | 1970 | |- | {{flag|South Yemen}} (Today: [[Yemen]]) | 1967 | |- | {{flag|Zambia}} | 1962 (then [[Northern Rhodesia]]) |Women's suffrage granted in [[Northern Rhodesia]] in 1962.{{cite web|title=Country Profil: Zambia|work=Action for Southern Africa|url=http://www.actsa.org/Pictures/UpImages/pdfs/ACTSA_Country_Profile_Zambia_Aug10.pdf|access-date=November 8, 2015|archive-date=December 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222115626/http://www.actsa.org/Pictures/UpImages/pdfs/ACTSA_Country_Profile_Zambia_Aug10.pdf|url-status=dead}} |- | {{flag|Southern Rhodesia}} (Today: [[Zimbabwe]]) | 1919 (whites only) | 1978 (full) |- | {{flag|Yugoslavia}} (Today: [[Serbia]], [[Montenegro]], [[Croatia]], [[Slovenia]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Kosovo]], [[North Macedonia]]) | 1945
| |} {{Collapse bottom}} == In religion == === Catholicism === The [[Pope]] is elected by [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinals]].{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic-pages.com/pope/election.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991012011733/http://www.catholic-pages.com/pope/election.asp |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 12, 1999 |title=How is the Pope elected? |publisher=Catholic-Pages.com |date=April 6, 2005 |access-date=September 2, 2011}} Women are not appointed as cardinals, and therefore, women cannot vote for the Pope.{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic.com/library/Women_and_the_Priesthood.asp |title=Women and the Priesthood |publisher=Catholic.com |access-date=September 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904055106/http://www.catholic.com/library/Women_and_the_Priesthood.asp |archive-date=September 4, 2011 }} The female Catholic office of [[Abbess]] is elective, the choice being made by the secret votes of nuns belonging to the community.{{cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01007e.htm|title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Abbess|website=www.newadvent.org}} The high rank ascribed to abbesses within the Catholic Church formerly permitted some abbesses the right to sit and vote at national assemblies – as with various high-ranking abbesses in Medieval Germany, who were ranked among the independent princes of the empire. Their Protestant successors enjoyed the same privilege almost into modern times. On 6 February 2021, [[Pope Francis]] appointed [[Nathalie Becquart]] an undersecretary of the [[Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church|Synod of Bishops]],{{cite press release | publisher = Holy See Press Office | access-date = 6 February 2021 | date = 6 February 2021 | url = https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/02/06/210206b.html | title = Resignations and Appointments, 06.02.2021 }} making her the first woman to have the right to vote in the Synod of Bishops.{{cite news | access-date = 7 February 2021 | url = https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2021/02/06/nathalie-becquart-premiere-femme-a-avoir-le-droit-de-vote-au-synode-des-eveques_6069030_3224.html | language = fr | work = Le Monde | title = Nathalie Becquart, première femme à avoir le droit de vote au synode des évêques | date= 6 February 2021 }} On 26 April 2023, Pope Francis announced that women would be allowed to vote at the [[Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops]],{{cite news | access-date = 26 April 2023 | work = New York Times | date = 26 April 2023 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/world/europe/pope-women-vote-bishops-meeting.html | title = Pope Will Allow Women to Vote at Meeting of Bishops | first = Elisabetta | last = Povoledo }} marking the first time women were allowed to vote at any Synod of Bishops.{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-allows-women-vote-bishops-meeting-first-time-2023-04-26/|title=Pope allows women to vote at bishops meeting for first time|first=Philip|last=Pullella|work=Reuters |date=April 26, 2023|via=www.reuters.com}} Approximately 54 women voted.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/guest-voices/excuse-me-your-eminence-she-has-not-finished-speaking|title='Excuse me, Your Eminence, she has not finished speaking'|first=Phyllis|last=Zagano|website=National Catholic Reporter}} === Islam === {{see also|Women in Islam}} In some countries, some mosques have constitutions prohibiting women from voting in board elections.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/us/muslim-women-seeking-a-place-in-the-mosque.html|title=Muslim Women Seeking a Place in the Mosque|date=July 22, 2004|newspaper=The New York Times|last1=Goodstein|first1=Laurie}} === Judaism === {{see also|Women in Judaism}} In Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism, and most Orthodox Jewish movements, women have the right to vote. Since the 1970s, more and more Modern Orthodox synagogues and religious organizations have been granting women the right to vote and to be elected to their governing bodies. In a few Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, women are denied the vote or the ability to be elected to positions of authority.{{cite web|url=http://www.vosizneias.com/63964/2010/09/12/manhattan-ny-rabbi-holds-on-to-keep-women-off-from-board-of-orthodox-synagogue/ |title=Manhattan, NY – Rabbi Keeps Off Women from Board of LES Orthodox Synagogue |date=September 12, 2010 |publisher=VosIzNeias.com |access-date=September 2, 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.nysun.com/new-york/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-synagogue/14/ |title=Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Synagogue |work=[[The New York Sun]] |date=June 2, 2004 |access-date=September 2, 2011 |archive-date=October 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011054328/http://www.nysun.com/new-york/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-synagogue/14/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.crownheights.info/index.php?itemid=33955 |title=The Key to Marital Harmony: One Vote Per Couple? |publisher=CrownHeights.info |access-date=September 2, 2011}} In the United States, Jewish women were hugely participatory in the suffrage movement. American Jewish support started in the mid-1800s but grew significantly at the turn of the twentieth century due to Jewish immigration from Europe. Jewish suffragists faced [[antisemitism]] and [[xenophobia]] from [[Anti-suffragism|anti-suffragists]] and suffragists alike. By the time of the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth Amendment]], a majority of American Jews supported suffrage.{{Cite web |title=Suffrage in the United States |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/suffrage-in-the-united-states |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=Jewish Women's Archive |date=June 23, 2021 |language=en}} [[Ernestine Rose]] was a Polish American suffragist who worked closely with [[Elizabeth Cady Stanton]] and [[Susan B. Anthony]]. She is sometimes referred to as "the first Jewish feminist" though she had renounced Judaism at an early age and was an active atheist. == See also == {{Portal|Feminism|Politics}} * [[Anti-suffragism]] * [[Art in the women's suffrage movement in the United States]] * [[Gender Inequalities in France]] * [[List of monuments and memorials to women's suffrage]] * [[List of anti-suffragists]] * [[List of suffragists and suffragettes]] * [[List of the first female holders of political offices in Europe]] * [[List of the first female members of parliament by country]] * [[List of women's rights activists]] * [[Open Christmas Letter]] * [[Suffrage Hikes]] * [[Woman Suffrage Procession|Woman Suffrage Procession of 1913]] * [[Women's suffrage in the United States]] * [[Women's suffrage movement in Washington]] * [[List of suffragists and suffragettes#Women's suffrage organizations|Women's suffrage organizations]] * [[Women's work]] == References == {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}} == External links == {{commons category}} {{wikisource|Portal:Women's suffrage}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080917143112/http://www.imow.org/wpp/stories/viewStory?storyId=1619 Photo Essay on Women's Suffrage by the International Museum of Women] * [http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/suffrage.htm Women's Suffrage], "A World Chronology of the Recognition of Women's Rights to Vote and to Stand for Election". * [http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/QuebecHistory/encyclopedia/Canada-WomensVote-WomenSuffrage.htm Suffrage in Canada] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060910025755/http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/QuebecHistory/encyclopedia/Canada-WomensVote-WomenSuffrage.htm |date=September 10, 2006 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20031214131201/http://www.usembassy.ye/press/p30apr03b.htm Press release with respect to Qatar and Yemen] * [https://www.flickr.com/photos/iminerva/sets/72157604177179029/ UNCG Special Collections and University Archives selections of American Suffragette manuscripts] * [http://www.old-picture.com/womens-suffrage-index-001.htm Photographs of U.S. suffragettes, marches, and demonstrations] * [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.AJames Ada James papers and correspondence (1915–1918)] – a digital collection presented by the [http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/ University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center]. [[Ada James|Ada James (1876–1952)]] was a leading a social reformer, humanitarian, and pacifist from [[Richland Center, Wisconsin|Richland Center]], Wisconsin and daughter of [[State Senator]] David G. James. The Ada James papers document the grass roots organizing and politics required to promote and guarantee the passage of women's suffrage in Wisconsin and beyond. * [http://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/ku.php?tab=web&ID=600 Women's suffrage in Germany] – January 19, 1919 – first suffrage (active and passive) for women in Germany * [http://coolbeanscool.blogspot.com/2003/09/suffragists-vs-suffragettes.html Suffragists vs. Suffragettes] – brief article outlining origins of term "suffragette", usage of term and links to other sources. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100924004311/http://womenincongress.house.gov/ Women in Congress] – Information about women who have served in the U.S. Congress including historical essays that cover suffrage. * {{cite web |url=http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/victorian-women-vote-1908-2008/ |title=Culture Victoria – historical images and videos for the Centenary of Women's Suffrage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720000027/https://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/victorian-women-vote-1908-2008/ |archive-date=2011-07-20 |url-status=dead}} * Woman suffragist, Mary Ellen Ewing vs the Houston School Board – [http://digital.lib.uh.edu/cdm4/about_collection.php?CISOROOT=/p15195coll30 Collection at the University of Houston Digital Library. ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518070132/http://digital.lib.uh.edu/cdm4/about_collection.php?CISOROOT=%2Fp15195coll30 |date=May 18, 2013 }} * [http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15831coll5 Women's Suffrage and Equal Rights] in the Claremont Colleges Digital Library * [https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/browse-subject Select "Suffrage" subject, at the Persuasive Cartography, The PJ Mode Collection], [[Cornell University Library]] * [https://www.loc.gov/collection/women-of-protest/about-this-collection/ Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party] * [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/detchron.pdf Detailed Chronology of National Woman's] *Digitized items from the [https://www.loc.gov/collections/national-american-woman-suffrage-association/about-this-collection/ National American Women's Suffrage Collection] in the [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/ Rare Book and Special Collections Division] of the [[Library of Congress]] * [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWg7tX9a8xu18LKuNla3FalDpesOdKfYx UP & DOING!], a video re-enactment of the 1894 passage of women's suffrage in South Australia produced by the [[Parliament of South Australia]] *[https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_83-16c2g1b0 “Let the Women Vote!,”] PBS Utah, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the [[University of Georgia]], [[American Archive of Public Broadcasting]] {{Suffrage|state=expanded}} {{Emmeline Pankhurst}} {{Susan B. Anthony}} {{Elizabeth Cady Stanton}} {{Lucy Stone}} {{Alice Paul}} {{Lucy Burns}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Women's Suffrage}} [[Category:Women's suffrage| ]] [[Category:Suffrage]]