Some countries in this list will make you proud, and some, very very angry. Switzerland did not allow women to vote in national elections until 1971! But in a very wonderful way, look at Massachusetts! 1756. How disappointing that our nation’s revolution took that right away. And sadly, there are still countries where women cannot vote today. See the list below. [And one very big disclaimer: this list did come from Wiki. I looked all over for a comprehensive list and came up empty handed. I have verified as much as possible and listed references below. And do feel free to look further into this topic on your own.]
18th century
- 1718
- 1755
Corsica (rescinded upon annexation by France in 1769)
- 1756-1778
- 1776
New Jersey (rescinded in 1807)
19th century
- 1838
- 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 1918, which went into effect at the 1921 elections)
- 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.[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USA, progressively, starting with the Wyoming Territory in 1869 and the Utah Territory in 1870, though the latter was repealed by the Edmunds-Tucker Act in 1887.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.
Statue of Esther Hobart Morris in front of the Wyoming State Capitol
- 1881
Isle of Man (only property-owners until 1913, universal franchise in 1919.)
- 1884
- 1886
Republic of Tavolara grants universal suffrage.[5][6] Monarchy restored 1899.
- 1889
Franceville grants universal suffrage.[7] Loses self-rule within months.
- 1893
New Zealand September 19 (including Maori women, although barred from standing for election.)
Cook Islands
- 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.
- 1899
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
- 1905
- 1906
Finland First country to give both the right to vote and stand for elections. First country to give both rights to all women regardless of wealth, race or social class.[citation needed]
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.)[8]
The argument over women’s rights in Victoria was lampooned in this Melbourne Punch cartoon of 1887
1910s
- 1913
- 1915
- 1916
Canada (Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan only, others later on)
- 1918
Azerbaijan
Austria- Canada on federal level (last province to enact women’s suffrage was Quebec in 1940)
Estonia
Germany
Latvia
Poland
Russian SFSR- 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
Belarus[citation needed]
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)
Ukraine
1920s
- 1920
Albania
Czechoslovakia
United States (all remaining states)
- 1921
- 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)
Burma
Yucatán, Mexico (regional and congress elections only)
- 1924
Ecuador
Mongolia (No electoral system in place prior to this year)
Saint Lucia
Tajik SSR
- 1925
Italy (local elections only)- Dominion of Newfoundland – franchise only at age 25, men could vote at age 21
- 1927
- 1928
- United Kingdom (franchise equal to that for men)
- 1929
Puerto Rico (to vote)
1930s
- 1930
South Africa (only granted to white women on the same basis as white men; black women did not qualify for the vote even though some black men did)
Turkey
- 1931
- 1932
- 1934
- 1935
British Raj (same year as men) (Retained by India and Pakistan after independence in 1947).- Myanmar (Burma)
- 1937
- 1938
- 1939
1940s
- 1940
Quebec becomes the final Canadian province to give female suffrage.
- 1941
Panama (with restrictions)
- 1942
- 1944
- 1945
- France (October 21)
Indonesia (Dutch East Indies)- Italy [9]
Japan (with restrictions)
Senegal
Togo (French Togoland)
Yugoslavia
- 1946
Cameroon
Djibouti (French Somaliland)
Guatemala
Kenya
North Korea[1]
Liberia (Americo women only; indigenous men and women were not enfranchised until 1951)
The British Mandate of Palestine
Portugal expands suffrage
Romania (with restrictions)
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.- Belgium
Israel (Upon its establishment)
Iraq
South Korea
Niger
Dutch Guiana (now Suriname)
- 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
- 1951
- 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)- Hungary
Mexico (extended to all women and for national elections)
- 1954
British Honduras (now Belize)
Colombia
Gold Coast (now Ghana)
- 1955
- 1956
- 1957
Malaya (now Malaysia)
Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
- 1958
Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso)
Chad
Guinea
Laos
Nigeria-South-
- 1959
1960s
- 1960
- 1961
- 1962
Algeria- Australia: franchise extended to Aboriginal men and women.
Brunei Revoked (including men)
Monaco
Uganda
Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)
- 1963
- 1964
- 1965
Afghanistan (revoked under Taliban rule 1996-2001) [10]
Botswana (Bechuanaland)
Lesotho (Basutoland)
- 1967
- 1968
1970s
- 1970
- 1971
Switzerland (on the federal level; introduced on the Cantonal level from 1958-1990)
- 1972
- 1974
Jordan- Portugal (all restrictions were lifted)
Solomon Islands
- 1975
- 1977
- 1978
1980s
- 1984
- 1986
- 1989
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]
South Africa: franchise extended to black men and women.
- 1997
Qatar (municipal elections in 1999)
21st century
- 2002
- 2003
- 2005
- 2006
United Arab Emirates (limited; to be expanded by 2010)
Countries where women have limited or no voting rights today:
* Bhutan – One vote per house. Although this applies to both men and women, in practice it currently prevents many more women from voting than men. If the new proposed constitution is voted and ratified, then no restrictions will apply by 2008.
* Lebanon – Partial suffrage. Proof of elementary education is required for women but not for men. Voting is compulsory for men but optional for women.
* Brunei – No suffrage for women. Neither men nor women have had the right to vote or to stand for election since 1962 because the country is governed by an absolute monarchy.
* Saudi Arabia – No suffrage for women. The first local elections ever held in the country occurred in 2005. Women were not given the right to vote or to stand for election.
* United Arab Emirates – Limited, but will be fully expanded by 2010.
* Vatican City – No suffrage for women; while most men in the Vatican also lack the vote, all persons with suffrage in Papal conclaves (the Cardinals) are male.
References
- ^ * Åsa Karlsson-Sjögren: “Männen, kvinnorna och rösträtten : medborgarskap och representation 1723-1866″ (Men, women and the vote: citizenship and representation 1723-1866) (in Swedish)
- ^ * Åsa Karlsson-Sjögren: “Männen, kvinnorna och rösträtten : medborgarskap och representation 1723-1866″ (Men, women and the vote: citizenship and representation 1723-1866) (in Swedish)
- ^ Women in Parliament – Parliament of Victoria
- ^ Canada-WomensVote-WomenSuffrage
- ^ “Smallest State in the World,” New York Times, June 19, 1896, p 6
- ^ “Tiny Nation to Vote: Smallest Republic in the World to Hold a Presidential Election,” Lowell Daily Sun, Sep 17, 1896
- ^ “Wee, Small Republics: A Few Examples of Popular Government,” Hawaiian Gazette, Nov 1, 1895, p 1
- ^ Bourdiol, Julien (1908), Condition internationale des Nouvelles-Hebrides, p 106
- ^ (Italian) Extension to the women of the right to vote
- ^ Woman Suffrage Timeline International – Winning the Vote Around the World
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/bahrain/1411264/Bahrains-women-vote-for-first-time.html
- http://www.hist.uu.se/historikermote05/program/Politik/52_Karlsson_Sjogren.pdf
- Åsa Karlsson-Sjögren: “Männen, kvinnorna och rösträtten : medborgarskap och representation 1723-1866″ (Men, women and the vote: citizenship and representation 1723-1866) (in Swedish)
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