Women's Right to Vote

The 19th century had seen the debate for and the extension of the political franchise, resulting in UNIVERSAL MANHOOD SUFFRAGE which was achieved in France in 1848, in Germany, on national level, in 1871, in Britain as late as 1918.
The case of women's emancipation had been argued since the 1790es, In the later half of the 19th century women's organizations emerged, demanding equal rights in front of the law, including the right to vote; they became known as the SUFFRAGETTES. In a few Nordic countries (Finland, Iceland, Norway) women were granted the right to vote before World War I broke out.
During World War I, women have been ordered to replace men as workforce in administrations, in the service sector, in factories etc. Although most women, after the war, gave up their jobs to concentrate on their function as housewives, many felt that the right to vote could no longer be withheld from them.

Women's Voting Rights Granted For general elections. In certain regional elections (Switzerland, the USA) the suffrage might have been granted to women at an earlier respectively later date. Minimum voting age here not specified.

YEAR 1893 1902 1906 1911 1913 1915 1917 1918 1919 1920 1928 1932 1934 1937 not before 1944/45

COUNTRIES New Zealand Australia Finland Iceland Norway Denmark USSR, Canada Austria, United Kingdom (restricted) Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia Belgium (local), USA United Kingdom Spain Brazil, Turkey Bulgaria Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Switzerland, Argentina, Japan

EXTERNAL FILES

Article Women Suffrage, from Infoplease Tabel : Parlamentarisme en algemeen mnnen- en vrouwenkiesrecht in 24 industrielanden, from Maatschappijleerstuk.nl, in Dutch

REFERENCE

Martin Pugh, The Rise of European Feminism, in : Martin Pugh, A Companion to Modern European History 1871-1945, Malden : Blackwell 1997, pp.111-132 Melanie Phillips, The Ascent of Woman. A History of the Suffragette Movement and the Ideas behind it, London : Abacus 2003, KMLA Lib. Call Sign 324.623 P558a

This page is part of World History at KMLA First posted in 2000, last revised on April 20th 2008 Click here to go Home Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster Click here to go to Statistics