Women's Right To Vote

Women's Suffrage Overview

The Right To Vote

Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote.

Women's right to vote has been achieved at various times in countries worldwide. In many nations, women's suffrage was granted before universal suffrage, in which case, women, and men from certain socioeconomic classes or races were still unable to vote.

Some countries granted suffrage to both sexes at the same time. This timeline lists the 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.
Some women (based on property ownership) in the Isle of Man gained the right to vote in 1881.

New Zealand was the first self-governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections in 1893. However, women could not stand for election to parliament until 1919, when three women stood (unsuccessfully).

The colony of South Australia allowed women to vote and stand for election in 1895.

In Sweden, conditional women's suffrage was granted during the Age of Liberty between 1718 and 1772. However, it was not until 1919 that equality was achieved, where women's votes were valued the same as men's.

The Australian Commonwealth Franchise Act of 1902 enabled female British subjects resident in Australia to vote at federal elections and permitted them to stand for election to the Australian Parliament, making the newly federated country of Australia the first in the modern world to do so. However, the act excluded "natives of Australia, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands (other than New Zealand)". Two states either effectively or explicitly excluded Indigenous Australians.

In 1906, the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, which later became the Republic of Finland, was the first country in the world to give all women and all men the right to vote and to run for office. Finland was also the first country in Europe to give women the right to vote. The world's first female members of parliament were elected in Finland the following year.

In Europe, the last jurisdiction to grant women the right to vote was the Swiss canton of Appenzell, in 1991. Appenzell is the smallest Swiss canton with around 14,100 inhabitants in 1990.

Women in Switzerland obtained the right to vote at the federal level in 1971, and at the local cantonal level between 1959 and 1972, except for Appenzell in 1989/1990.

In Saudi Arabia, women were first allowed to vote in December 2015 in the municipal elections.

When did various nations give all women the right to vote? Many granted suffrage in steps: Some locales gave the vote in local elections first, while some racial or ethnic groups were excluded until later. The right to stand for election and the right to vote were often given at separate times. "Full suffrage" means that all groups of women were included and could vote and run for any office.

1850–1879

• 1851: Prussian law forbids women from joining political parties or attending meetings where politics is discussed.
• 1869: Britain grants unmarried women who are householders the right to vote in local elections.
• 1862: 1863: Some Swedish women gain voting rights in local elections.

1880–1899

• 1881: Some Scottish women get the right to vote in local elections.
• 1893: New Zealand grants equal voting rights to women.
• 1894: The United Kingdom expands women's voting rights to married women in local, but not national, elections.
• 1895: South Australian women gain voting rights.
• 1899: Western Australian women are granted voting rights.

1900–1909

• 1901: Women in Australia gained the right to vote, with some restrictions.
• 1902: Women in New South Wales, Australia, get the right to vote.
• 1902: Australia grants more voting rights to women.
• 1906: Finland adopts women's suffrage.
• 1907: Women in Norway are permitted to stand for election.
• 1908: Some women in Denmark are granted local voting rights.
• 1908: Victoria, Australia, grants women voting rights.
• 1909: Sweden grants the vote in municipal elections to all women.

1910–1919

• 1913: Norway adopts full women's suffrage.
• 1915: Women get the vote in Denmark and Iceland.
• 1916: Canadian women in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan get the vote.
• 1917: When the Russian czar was toppled, the provisional government granted universal suffrage with equality for women; later, the new Soviet Russian constitution included full suffrage for women.
• 1917: Women in the Netherlands are granted the right to stand for election.
• 1918: The United Kingdom gives a full vote to some women over 30 with property qualifications, or a UK university degree, and to all men age 21 and older.
• 1918: Canada gives women the vote in most provinces by federal law excluding Quebec and native women.
• 1918: Germany grants women the vote.
• 1918: Austria adopts women's suffrage.
• 1918: Women are given full suffrage in Latvia, Poland, and Estonia.
• 1918: The Russian Federation gives women the right to vote.
• 1918: The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918–1920) grants civil and political rights (including suffrage) to all citizens regardless of ethnic origin, religion, class, profession, or sex.
• 1918: Women were granted limited voting rights in Ireland.
• 1919: The Netherlands gives women the right to vote.
• 1919: Women's suffrage is granted in Belarus, Luxembourg, and Ukraine.
• 1919: Women in Belgium are granted the right to vote.
• 1919: New Zealand allows women to stand for election.
• 1919: Sweden grants women's suffrage, with some restrictions.

1920–1929

• 1920: On August 26, a constitutional amendment was adopted after Tennessee ratified it, granting women full suffrage in all U.S. states.
• 1920: Women's suffrage is granted in Albania, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
• 1920: Canadian women get the right to stand for election (but not for all offices).
• 1921: Sweden gives women voting rights with some restrictions.
• 1921: Armenia grants women's suffrage.
• 1921: Lithuania grants women's suffrage.
• 1921: Belgium grants women the right to stand for election.
• 1922: The Irish Free State, separating from the UK, gives equal voting rights to women.
• 1922: Burma grants women voting rights.
• 1924: Mongolia, Saint Lucia, and Tajikistan give suffrage to women.
• 1924: Kazakstan gives limited voting rights to women.
• 1925: Italy grants limited voting rights to women.
• 1927: Turkmenistan grants women's suffrage.
• 1928: The United Kingdom grants full equal voting rights to women.
• 1928: Guyana grants women's suffrage.
• 1928: Ireland (as part of the UK) expands women's suffrage rights.
• 1929: Ecuador grants suffrage, Romania grants limited suffrage.
• 1929: Women are found to be "persons" in Canada and are, therefore, able to become members of the Senate.

1930–1939

• 1930: White women are granted suffrage in South Africa.
• 1930: Turkey grants women the right to vote.
• 1931: Women get full suffrage in Spain and Sri Lanka.
• 1931: Chile and Portugal grant women's suffrage, with some restrictions.
• 1932: Uruguay, Thailand, and Maldives jump on the women's suffrage bandwagon.
• 1934: Cuba and Brazil adopt women's suffrage.
• 1934: Turkish women can stand for election.
• 1934: Portugal grants women's suffrage, with some restrictions.
• 1935: Women win the right to vote in Myanmar (Burma).
• 1937: The Philippines grants women full suffrage.
• 1938: Women get the right to vote in Bolivia.
• 1938: Uzbekistan grants full suffrage to women.
• 1939: El Salvador grants voting rights to women.

1940–1949

• 1940: Women of Quebec are granted voting rights.
• 1941: Panama grants limited voting rights to women.
• 1942: Women gain full suffrage in the Dominican Republic.
• 1944: Bulgaria, France, and Jamaica grant suffrage to women.
• 1945: Croatia, Indonesia, Italy, Hungary, Japan (with restrictions), Yugoslavia, Senegal, and Ireland enact women's suffrage.
• 1945: Guyana allows women to stand for election.
• 1946: Women's suffrage is adopted in Palestine, Kenya, Liberia, Cameroon, Korea, Guatemala, Panama (with restrictions), Romania (with restrictions), Venezuela, Yugoslavia, and Vietnam.
• 1946: Women are allowed to stand for election in Myanmar (Burma).
• 1947: Bulgaria, Malta, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, and Argentina extend suffrage to women.
• 1947: Japan extends suffrage but retains some restrictions.
• 1947: Mexico grants the vote to women at the municipal level.
• 1948: Israel, Iraq, Korea, Niger, and Surinam adopt women's suffrage.
• 1948: Belgium, which had previously granted the vote to women, established suffrage with a few restrictions for women.
• 1949: Bosnia and Herzegovina grant women's suffrage.
• 1949: China and Costa Rica give women the vote.
• 1949: Women gain full suffrage in Chile but most vote separately from men.
• 1949: The Syrian Arab Republic gives the vote to women.
• 1949: As a Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldova adopts full suffrage with a few restrictions.
• 1949/1950: India grants women's suffrage.

1950–1959

• 1950: Haiti and Barbados adopted women's suffrage.
• 1950: Canada grants full suffrage, extending the right to vote to some women (and men) previously not included, although still excluding Native women.
• 1951: Antigua, Nepal, and Grenada give women the right to vote.
• 1952: The Convention on the Political Rights of Women was enacted by the United Nations calling for the women's right to vote and to stand for elections.
• 1952: Greece, Lebanon, and Bolivia (with restrictions) extend suffrage to women.
• 1953: Mexico grants women the right to stand for election and to vote in national elections.
• 1953: Hungary and Guyana give voting rights to women.
• 1953: Bhutan and the Syrian Arab Republic established full women's suffrage.
• 1954: Ghana, Colombia, and Belize grant women's suffrage.
• 1955: Cambodia, Ethiopia, Peru, Honduras, and Nicaragua adopted women's suffrage.
• 1956: Women are given suffrage in Egypt, Somalia, Comoros, Mauritius, Mali, and Benin.
• 1956: Pakistani women gain the right to vote in national elections.
• 1957: Malaysia extends suffrage to women.
• 1957: Zimbabwe grants women the right to vote.
• 1959: Madagascar and Tanzania give suffrage to women.
• 1959: San Marino permits women to vote.

1960–1969

• 1960: Women of Cyprus, Gambia, and Tonga get suffrage.
• 1960: Canadian women gained full rights to stand for election which included Native women.
• 1961: Burundi, Malawy, Paraguay, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone adopt women's suffrage.
• 1961: Women in the Bahamas gain suffrage, with limits.
• 1961: Women in El Salvador are permitted to stand for election.
• 1962: Algeria, Monaco, Uganda, and Zambia adopt women's suffrage.
• 1962: Australia adopts full women's suffrage (a few restrictions remain).
• 1962: In the Bahamas women over 21 vote for the first time.
• 1963: Women in Morocco, Congo, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Kenya gain suffrage.
• 1964: Sudan adopts women's suffrage.
• 1965: Women gain full suffrage in Afghanistan, Botswana, and Lesotho.
• 1967: Ecuador adopts full suffrage with a few restrictions.
• 1968: Full women's suffrage is adopted in Swaziland.

1970–1979

• 1970: Yemen adopts full women's suffrage.
• 1970: Andorra permits women to vote.
• 1971: Switzerland adopted women's suffrage, and the United States lowered the voting age for both men and women to 18 via a constitutional amendment.
• 1972: Bangladesh grants women's suffrage.
• 1973: Full suffrage granted to women in Bahrain.
• 1973: Women were permitted to stand for election in Andorra and San Marino.
• 1974: Jordan and the Solomon Islands extend suffrage to women.
• 1975: Angola, Cape Verde, and Mozambique give suffrage to women.
• 1976: Portugal adopts full women's suffrage with a few restrictions.
• 1978: Women in Zimbabwe can stand for election.
• 1979: Women in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia gain full suffrage.

1980–1989

• 1980: Iran gives women the right to vote.
• 1984: Full suffrage is granted to women of Liechtenstein.
• 1984: In South Africa, voting rights are extended to women of mixed ethnicity and Indians.
• 1986: The Central African Republic adopts women's suffrage.

1990–1999

• 1990: Samoan women gain full suffrage.
• 1994: Kazakhstan grants women full suffrage.
• 1994: Black women gain full suffrage in South Africa.

2000–

• 2005: The Kuwaiti Parliament grants women of Kuwait full suffrage.