Timeline of women's suffrage
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Women's suffrage - the right of women to vote - has been achieved at various times in countries throughout the world. In many nations women's suffrage was granted before universal suffrage, so women and men from certain classes or races were still unable to vote. Some countries granted it to both sexes at the same time.
This timeline lists years when women's suffrage was enacted. Some countries are listed more than once as the right was extended to more women according to age, land ownership, etc. In many cases the first voting took place in a subsequent year.
New Zealand in 1893 is often said to be the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. A contestant for being the first nation to grant women the right to vote would be Sweden, where conditional woman suffrage was granted during the age of liberty between 1718 and 1771 to taxpaying women listed in their guilds as professionals.[1]
For other women's rights, see Timeline of women's rights (other than voting).
18th century
- 1718
- 1755
- Corsica (rescinded upon annexation by France in 1769)[citation needed]
- 1756–1778
- One woman, Lydia Taft, is allowed to vote in Uxbridge, Massachusetts town meeting [2]
- 1776
- New Jersey propertied widows (rescinded in 1807)
- 1795
- Poland prior to the Partition of Poland in 1795, tax-paying females were allowed to take part in political life
19th century
- 1838
- Pitcairn Islands
- 1861
- South Australia (Only property-owning women for local elections universal franchise in 1894)
- 1862
- Sweden (only in local elections, votes graded after taxation, universal franchise in 1919, which went into effect at the 1921 elections)[3]
- 1863
- The Grand Principality of Finland was part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917 and enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. In 1863, taxpaying women were granted municipal suffrage in the country side, and in 1872, the same reform was given to the cities[3]
- 1864
- Women in Victoria, Australia were unintentionally enfranchised by the Electoral Act (1863), and proceeded to vote in the following year's elections. The Act was amended in 1865 to correct the error.[4]
- In the former Kingdom of Bohemia, taxpaying women and women in "learned professions" were allowed to vote by proxy and made eligible to the legislative body in 1864.[3]
- 1869
- United Kingdom (only in local elections, universal franchise in 1928)
- 1869–1920
- States and territories of the USA, progressively, starting with the Wyoming Territory in 1869 and the Utah Territory in 1870, though the latter was repealed by the Edmunds-Tucker Act in 1887. Wyoming acquired statehood in 1890 (Utah in 1896), allowing women to cast votes in federal elections. The United States as a whole acquired women's suffrage in 1920 (see below) through the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; voting qualifications in the U.S., even in federal elections, are set by the states, and this amendment prohibited states from discriminating on the basis of sex.
- 1870
- 1872
- Grand Principality of Finland was part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917 and enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. In 1872, taxpaying women were granted municipal suffrage in the cities[3]
- 1881
- Isle of Man (only property-owners until 1913, universal franchise in 1919.)
- 1884
- 1889
- Franceville grants universal suffrage.[6] Loses self-rule within months.
- 1893
- 1894
- South Australia grants universal suffrage, extending the franchise to all women (property-owners could vote in local elections from 1861), the first in Australia to do so. Women are also granted the right to stand for parliament, making South Australia the first in the world to do so.
- United Kingdom extends right to vote in local elections to married women.
- 1896
- Idaho
- 1899
- Western Australia
20th century
1900s
- 1902
- Commonwealth of Australia (The Australian Constitution gave the federal franchise to all persons allowed to vote for the lower house in each state unless the Commonwealth Parliament stipulated otherwise. Thus, South Australian and Western Australian women could vote in the first federal election in 1901. During the first Parliament, the Commonwealth passed legislation extending federal franchise to non-Aboriginal women in all states.)
- New South Wales
- 1903
- Tasmania
- 1905
- Queensland
- 1906
- The Grand Principality of Finland was the first country to have universal suffrage. First country to give the right to vote and right to stand for elections to everyone of age regardless of wealth, race or social class.[8]
- New Hebrides Perhaps inspired by the Franceville experiment, the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides granted women the right to vote in municipal elections and to serve on elected municipal councils. (These rights applied only to British, French, and other colonists, not to indigenous islanders.)[9]
- 1908
- Denmark (only in local elections, with Iceland and the Faroe Islands)
- Victoria
1910s
- 1910
- Washington
- 1911
- California
- Argentina (A doctor, Julieta Lanteri, sued and won the right to vote)
- 1912
- Oregon
- Kansas
- Arizona
- 1913
- Alaska
- Norway
- 1914
- Montana
- Nevada
- 1915
- Denmark (full voting rights, with Iceland)
- 1916
- Manitoba
- Saskatchewan
- Alberta
- 1917
- New York
- Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
- Armenia
- Belarusian People's Republic
- Estonia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- British Columbia
- Ontario
- Canada (limited to war widows, women serving overseas, and women with family serving overseas)
- Poland
- Russian Republic
- Ukrainian People's Republic
- Uruguay (per Constitution)
- 1918
- Michigan
- South Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Austria
- Canada (for women over 21, and "not alien-born", and meeting provincially-determined property qualifications)
- Nova Scotia
- Germany
- Moldavian SSR
- United Kingdom (see Representation of the People Act 1918: women above the age of 30, compared to 21 for men and 19 for those who had fought in World War One. Various property qualifications remained.)
- 1919
- Belgium (only at municipal level)
- Georgia
- Hungary (full suffrage granted in 1945)
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands (right to stand in election granted in 1917)
- New Zealand (along with voting rights, women now allowed to stand for election into parliament)
- New Brunswick (women could not stand for office in New Brunswick until 1934)
- Minnesota
- Southern Rhodesia (women now allowed to vote and stand for election into parliament)
1920s
- 1920
- Albania
- Czechoslovakia
- United States (all remaining states by amendment to federal Constitution)
- 1921
- Sweden
- 1922
- Irish Free State—now known as the Republic of Ireland—(equal suffrage granted upon independence from UK. Partial suffrage granted as part of UK in 1869 and 1918)
- Prince Edward Island
- Burma
- Yucatán, Mexico (regional and congress elections only)
- 1924
- Ecuador (A doctor, Matilde Hidalgo de Prócel, sued and won the right to vote)
- Spain (Vote for single women and widows in local elections. First women mayors)
- Mongolia (No electoral system in place prior to this year)
- Saint Lucia
- Kazakh SSR
- Tajik SSR
- 1925
- Italy (local elections only)
- Dominion of Newfoundland—franchise only at age 25, men could vote at age 21
- 1927
- Turkmen SSR
- Uruguay (Women's suffrage was broadcast for the first time in 1927, in the plebiscite of Cerro Chato)
- 1928
- United Kingdom (franchise equal to that for men)
- 1929
- Romania (local elections only, with restrictions)[10]
- Puerto Rico (to vote)
- Ecuador (The right of women to vote was written into the Constitution)
1930s
- 1930
- South Africa (Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930; only granted to white women on the same basis as white men)
- Turkey In Turkey women won the right to vote in municipal elections on March 20, 1930. Turkey holds first election that allows women to vote.[11] Turkish women who participated for the parliament elections as a first time on February 8, 1935 obtained 18 seats.
- 1931
- Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
- Chile (only at municipal level for female owners of real estate; Legislative Decree No. 320)
- Portugal (with restrictions following level of education)
- Spain (universal suffrage)
- 1932
- Brazil - Berta Lutz
- Maldives
- Thailand (Siam)
- 1934
- Chile (only at municipal level; Law No. 5,357)
- Cuba
- Portugal expands suffrage
- Tabasco, Mexico (regional and congress elections only)
- 1935
- British Raj (same year as men) (Retained by India and Pakistan after independence in 1947).
- Burma [7]
- 1937
- Netherlands Dutch East Indies (passive suffrage for European women)
- Philippines [7]
- 1938
- Bolivia
- Bulgaria (mothers only)
- Uzbek SSR
- 1939
1940s
- 1940
- Quebec
- 1941
- Netherlands Dutch East Indies (for European women only)
- Panama (with restrictions)
- 1942
- Dominican Republic
- 1944
- Bermuda (property-holding women only)[14]
- Bulgaria(full rights)
- Jamaica
- 1945
- France (October 21)
- Indonesia (Dutch East Indies)
- Italy[15]
- Japan
- Senegal
- Togo (French Togoland)
- Yugoslavia
- 1946
- Cameroon
- Djibouti (French Somaliland)
- Guatemala
- Kenya
- North Korea[16]
- Liberia (Americo women only; indigenous men and women were not enfranchised until 1951)
- British Mandate for Palestine
- Portugal expands suffrage
- Romania [17]
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- 1947
- 1948
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN includes Article 21: 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. [19]
- Belgium
- Israel (Upon its establishment)
- South Korea
- Niger
- Surinam
- 1949
- Chile (right expanded to all elections on January 8 by Law No. 9,292)
- People's Republic of China
- Costa Rica
- Syria
1950s
- 1950
- Barbados
- Haiti
- India (Same year as men)
- 1951
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Dominica
- Grenada
- Nepal
- Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- 1952
- United Nations enacts Convention on the Political Rights of Women
- Bolivia
- Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
- Greece
- Lebanon
- 1953
- Bhutan
- British Guiana (now Guyana)
- Mexico (extended to all women and for national elections)
- 1954
- 1955
- Cambodia
- Ethiopia (and Eritrea, as then a part of Ethiopia)
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- Peru
- 1956
- Dahomey (now Benin)
- Comoros
- Egypt
- Gabon
- Mali (French Sudan)
- Mauritius
- Pakistan (right extended to national level, previously only literate women could vote)[20]
- Somalia (British Somaliland)
- 1957
- Colombia (by Constitution)[21]
- Malaya (now Malaysia)
- Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
- 1958
- Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso)
- Chad
- Guinea
- Laos
- Nigeria -South-
- 1959
- Brunei
- Vaud
- Neuchâtel
- Madagascar (Malagasy Republic)
- San Marino
- Tanganyika (now Tanzania)
- Tunisia
1960s
- 1960
- Cyprus (upon its establishment)
- Gambia
- Geneva
- Tonga
- 1961
- Burundi
- Mauritania
- Malawi
- Paraguay
- Rwanda
- Sierra Leone
- 1962
- Algeria
- Australia: franchise extended to Aboriginal men and women.
- Brunei Revoked (including men)
- Monaco
- Uganda
- Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)
- 1963
- Congo
- Equatorial Guinea
- Fiji
- Iran (See Iranian constitutional referendum, 1963)
- Kenya
- Morocco
- 1964
- Bahamas
- Libya
- Papua New Guinea (Territory of Papua & Territory of New Guinea)
- Sudan
- 1965
- Afghanistan (revoked under Taliban rule 1996–2001)[22]
- Botswana (Bechuanaland)
- Lesotho (Basutoland)
- 1966
- 1967
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Ecuador (Women's vote made obligatory, like that of men)[23]
- Kiribati (Gilbert Islands)
- Tuvalu (Ellice Islands)
- South Yemen
- 1968
- Basel-Landschaft
- Bermuda (universal)
- Nauru
- Portugal claims to have established "equality of political rights for men and women", although a few electoral rights were reserved for men
- Swaziland
1970s
- 1970
- Andorra
- Yemen (North Yemen)
- 1971
- Switzerland (on the federal level; introduced on the Cantonal level from 1958–1990)
- 1972
- Bangladesh (upon its establishment)
- 1973
- 1974
- Jordan
- Portugal (all restrictions were lifted by Carnation Revolution)
- Solomon Islands
- 1975
- Angola
- Cape Verde
- Mozambique
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Vanuatu (New Hebrides)
- 1976
- Province of East Timor of Indonesia
- 1977
- Guinea-Bissau
- 1978
- Marshall Islands
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Nigeria-North-
- Palau
1980s
- 1980
- Iraq[24]
- 1984
- Liechtenstein
- Mississippi ratifies the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, but women in Mississippi had the right to vote since 1920
- 1986
- Central African Republic
- 1989
- Namibia (independence established - former South-West Africa)
1990s
- 1990
- Samoa (Western Samoa)
- Switzerland (the Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden is forced by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland to accept women's suffrage)
- 1994
- Kazakhstan[clarification needed]
- 1997
- Qatar (allowed for municipal elections in 2007)
21st century
- 2003
- Oman
- 2005
- Kuwait[26]
- 2006
- United Arab Emirates (initially very limited; but slightly expanded by 2011)
- 2015
See also
- Timeline of first women's suffrage in majority-Muslim countries
- Timeline of women's suffrage in the United States
- Timeline of women's rights (other than voting)
- List of the first female holders of political office in Europe
- List of suffragists and suffragettes
- List of women's rights activists
- Women's suffrage organizations
References
- ^ a b Karlsson-Sjögren, Åsa. Männen, kvinnorna och rösträtten : medborgarskap och representation 1723–1866 (in Swedish).
{{cite book}}
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ignored (|trans-title=
suggested) (help) - ^ Lydia Chapin Taft Biography Womens Suffrage by Frances Stanford | Humanities 360
- ^ a b c d P. Orman Ray: Woman Suffrage in Foreign Countries. The American Political Science Review. Vol. 12, No. 3 (Aug., 1918), pp. 469-474
- ^ "Women in Parliament - Parliament of Victoria". Parliament.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
- ^ "Canada-WomensVote-WomenSuffrage". Faculty.marianopolis.edu. 1916-01-27. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
- ^ "Wee, Small Republics: A Few Examples of Popular Government," Hawaiian Gazette, Nov 1, 1895, p 1
- ^ a b c d Women's Suffrage
- ^ http://www.aanioikeus.fi/en/articles/strike.htm
- ^ Bourdiol, Julien (1908), Condition internationale des Nouvelles-Hebrides, p 106
- ^ Popescu, Camelia. "Lupta pentru dreptul de vot feminin în România interbelică". Historia.ro. Adevărul Holding. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ^ "This Day in World History: February 6, 1935 - Turkey Holds First Election That Allows Women to Vote". OUP Blog.
- ^ "Summary: Rights to Vote in Romania". Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ^ [http://www.cdep.ro/pls/legis/legis_pck.htp_act_text?idt=9206 "CONSTITU�IA României din 1938"]. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
{{cite web}}
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at position 9 (help) - ^ "The Evolution of Bermuda's Franchise". Parliamentary Registry Bermuda.
- ^ Template:It Extension to the women of the right to vote
- ^ "Women's Suffrage". Ipu.org. 1997-05-23. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
- ^ "Summary: Rights to Vote in Romania". Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ^ Gregory Hammond, The Women's Suffrage Movement and Feminism in Argentina From Roca to Peron (U of New Mexico Press; 2011)
- ^ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- ^ "Pakistan Ministers". Guide2womenleaders.com. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
- ^ http://www.banrepcultural.org/blaavirtual/linea-de-tiempo/voto-mujer-frente-nacional
- ^ "Woman Suffrage Timeline International - Winning the Vote Around the World". Womenshistory.about.com. 1908-04-25. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
- ^ "El Voto Feminino en Ecuador, published 6 April 1991, accessed 1 November 2010". Hoy.com.ec. 2011-10-14. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
- ^ a b Women's Suffrage
- ^ Darwish, Adel (October 25, 2002). "Bahrain's women vote for first time". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
- ^ "Kuwait grants women right to vote". CNN. May 16, 2005. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
- ^ "Women in Saudi Arabia 'to vote and run in elections'". BBC News. London. September 25, 2011. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
External links
- Google Spreadsheet with map—above timeline data has been tabulated and can be viewed on a world map for any given year.