Chronography of Women�s Rights and Female Equality
Page last modified 14 April 2023
Male-Female
Literacy Differential Map. Compare the relative literacy levels for women and men across the
world. Overall
adult literacy rates here.
First
entry of women to selected roles and careers
Female enfranchisement (dates, by country) � see Appendix 1
Family Legal
Rights � children, divorce, property � see Appendix 2
(For Abortion and Birth Control
see Morals).
What constitutes sexual
harassment � chart by age, sex and country
Women�s Rights and Equality
9 October 2012, The Pakistani schoolgirl Malala
Yousafzai was shot in the head whilst travelling home on a school
bus, for insisting that girls had a right to education. She survived, continued
campaigning, and in 2014 became the youngest person to date to receive the
Nobel prize.
4 February 2006, Betty
Friedan, US campaigner for women�s rights, died.
9 April� 2005, Andrea Dworkin,
feminist, died (born 26 September 1946)
26
February 1986, The European Court ruled that
the retirement age for men and women should be the same. The British
Government did nothing to equalise retirement ages or pension rights.
27 December 1975, In the UK, the Sex Discrimination Act and the Equal
Pay Act came into force.
6 March 1971. Over 4,000 women�s
liberation marchers demonstrated in London. They marched from Hyde Park to 10 Downing
Street.
9 February 1970, The UK
Parliament said men and women would
receive equal pay by 1976.
% of US women
who are in paid employment
|
|
All women |
Unmarried women |
Married women |
|
1990 |
57.6 |
|
|
|
1969 |
43.0 |
|
41.0 |
|
1960 |
41.4 |
|
|
|
1930 |
23.6 |
|
|
|
1900 |
20.0 |
|
|
11 February 1969. In the UK, female workers at the Ford car plant
won equal pay with male workers.
27 September 1960, Death of Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst, suffragette.
1958, In Morocco, women were now allowed to
choose their own husbands and polygamy was restricted.
13 February 1958, The suffragette,
Dame
Christobel Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst,
died (born 1880).
1 January 1958, In
Tunisia, polygamy was abolished.
4 March 1955, The Burnham
Commission recommended equal
salaries for men and women teachers; another step towards equality of pay
between the sexes.
16 June 1953, Margaret Bondfield, British Women�s Rights activist,
died aged 80.
16 May 1952. The British
Parliament voted in favour of equal pay for women.
1949, Death of Sarojini Naidu,
Indian
feminist, politician and poet. Born in 1879, she campaigned for the abolition
of purdah. She was Governor of the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) from
Indian independence in 1947.
26 September 1946, Andrea Dworkin, feminist, was born (died 9
April� 2005)
3/1946, The UK Government now
allowed women to become diplomats � but only if they remained unmarried.
29 January 1939, Germaine Greer, Australian writer, was born in
Melbourne.
6 December 1933. Germany planned to abolish women�s suffrage.
27 August 1933, Joke Smit, Dutch feminist, was born.
5 August 1929, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, British feminist
activist, died aged 82.
14 June 1928. Emmeline Pankhurst, suffragette, born 13 February 1858,
died.
7 May 1928. In Britain, women aged between 21 and 30 won equal suffrage in elections.
This was known as the �flapper�s vote�.
The women�s voting age in Britain had previously been 30.
5/1926,
Women in India were now eligible to stand for election to public office.
1925, In Britain the Guardianship of Infants Act equalised
the righst of access to children of both mother and father when divorced.
Previously men could override access by the mother if they wished.
8 December 1923. In the UK 8 women were now MPs. The British general election resulted in a
hung Parliament.
18 July 1923, In Britain, the Matrimonial Causes Act gave women equality in divorce cases.
1920, Death of Inessa Armand
(born 1875) champion of women�s rights in Soviet Russia. She became a political ally of Lenin
in 1905, and in 1919 set up Zhenotdel,
the women�s section of the Societ Communist Party, shortly before dying of
cholera and overwork. Zhenotdel continued
until 1930.
23 December 1919, In Britain, the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Bill was passed, opening up many
professions to women.
14 December 1918, Women aged over 30 voted in a General Election in Britain for
the first time. Women could
also stand as candidates in UK General Elections for the first time. 17 stood
but only one was elected.
19 September 1918, In Britain a Government commission
investigated equal pay for women.
19 June 1917, Large Commons vote in favour of giving women over
30 the vote.
29 March 1917, In
Britain, Lloyd
George announced plans to give
women over 30 the vote.
1 January 1916, In Britain, women�s employment had risen by two million over the past 12
months.
10 November 1915, A survey showed that women working in UK factories have enabled production to rise by
250%.
11 September 1915. The first Women�s Institute in Britain was formed, in Anglesey, Wales.� The first Women�s Institute was founded in
Canada in 1897.
24 January 1915. 1,000 British suffragettes arrived in France to fill factory jobs vacated by men away on
the Front.
11 June 1914. Bomb outrage
by suffragettes
in Westminster Abbey.
10 June 1914, Sylvia Pankhurst was arrested for the 8th
time.
1 June 1914. Suffragettes burned
down a church near Henley on Thames.
22 May 1914. Suffragettes protested outside Buckingham Palace. Emmeline
Pankhurst was arrested as she tried to present a petition.
6 May 1914. The House of
Lords rejected the Women's Enfranchisement Bill.
17 April� 1914. A suffragette bomb destroyed the pier at Great Yarmouth.
10 March 1914. Suffragettes rioted
in London. Mary
Richardson, militant suffragette, attacked Velasquez�s Rokeby
Venus in London�s National Gallery with a meat cleaver.
3 January 1914. The suffragette Sylvia
Pankhurst was re-arrested. This was under the �Cat and Mouse�
Act which enabled the UK government to release suffragette hunger strikers from
prison so they would not die and become martyrs, only to re-arrest them when
they recovered.
4 December 1913, Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested at Plymouth on
her return from the USA.
20 October 1913, Emmeline Pankhurst was released as US President
Wilson reversed her
deportation order.
8 July 1913, Sylvia Pankhurst sentenced to three months in
prison.
14 June 1913, Funeral of Emily Davidson, suffragette, see 4 June 1913.
4 June 1913, Emily Davidson, a suffragette, born 1872, was trampled when she
fell under King
George V�s horse, Anner, at Tattenham Corner in the Derby Races, Epsom.� She died from her inquiries on 8 June 1913,
and her funeral was on 14 June 1913. She intended only to grab the horse�s
reins as it approached the winning post, but her publicity stunt went
tragically wrong.
15 May 1913, The Home
Secretary banned public meetings by suffragettes.
7 May 1913. A suffragette bomb
was found in St Paul�s Cathedral.
15 April� 1913, The UK Government banned
public meetings by suffragettes, on the grounds of a risk to public
order.
3 April� 1913. The suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was jailed for 3 years for inciting her supporters to place bombs at Lloyd George�s
house.
2 March 1913. A mob attacked suffragettes in London's Hyde Park.
25 February 1913. In
the UK, suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst went on trial accused of
the bomb explosion at Lloyd Georges
house (19 February 1913). Mrs Pankhurst
founded the Women�s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1903 to press
for voting rights for British women; women in Australia
and New Zealand already had the vote.
The WSPU was adopting increasingly militant tactics.
19 February 1913, A bomb exploded at Lloyd George�s house; nobody was
hurt. On 24 February 1913 Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested in connection
with this incident.
5 February 1913, Sylvia Pankhurst began a hunger strike whilst
in prison.
28 January 1913, Suffragette demonstrations in London following the
withdrawal of a Parliamentary Bill on 27 January 1913 to which an amendment for
women�s suffrage might have been added.
16 November 1912. Suffragettes, who had walked from Edinburgh to
London, presented a petition to the Prime Minister.
28 June 1912, The suffragettes
began a window-smashing campaign at Post Offices and Labour Exchanges.
25 June 1912, Asquith was attacked in the Commons over the force-feeding of suffragettes
on hunger strike in prison.
5 March 1912, British police raided the offices of the Women�s Social and Political Union.
4 March 1912, 96 women were arrested after a suffragette raid on the House of Commons.
1 March 1912, Suffragettes
smashed windows in the West End of
London. Co-ordinated attacks by groups of women with stones or hammers
hidden under their muffs saw a trail of destruction emerge within 20 minutes
from Oxford Street to The Strand and Picadilly;�
two women also threw stones at 10 Downing Street. 120 were arrested,
including Emmeline
Pankhurst. Suffragette militancy had increased after they saw the
Government grant concessions to striking railworkers and miners, after strikes
had escalated into civil disorder.
3 January 1912, The UK Cabinet was divided over votes for
women.�
1911, A Japanese Women�s Liberation Movement was started
by Racho
Hiratsuka.
21 November 1911, Suffragette riots in Whitehall, London.
1 November 1911. The first edition of Woman�s Weekly was published. See 2 November 1903, Daily Mirror as
woman�s newspaper.
17 June 1911. In the UK, 60,000 women demonstrated for women�s suffrage,
marching through London to a meeting at the Albert Hall.
18 November 1910, Black Friday, when 119 suffragettes stormed the House of
Commons. Mrs
Mary Clarke, sister of Emmeline Pankhurst, and Cecelia Wolsey Haig both died as
a result of this incident, The next day Winston Churchill ordered that charges against
100 women from this episode be dropped.
14 November 1910. There were more than 100 arrests when suffragettes
tried to storm the House of Commons.
28 September 1909. London confirmed
that suffragettes
were being force-fed.
29 June 1909. 120 suffragettes
arrested outside the Houses of Parliament, London.
9 February 1909. In London a court ruled that a woman could not have a divorce even if
her husband had deserted her.
22 December 1908. In New York, Katie Mulcaney became the first
woman arrested under a new law prohibiting
women from smoking in public.
24 October 1908. The suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel
were jailed.
21 October 1908. Over
London the suffragettes
made the first ever leaflet raid, hiring an airship and throwing out leaflets
demanding �Votes for Women!�.
September 1908, Mr Herbert Elvin of the National
Union of Clerks expressed unease at female clerks who were typically paid �1.00
to �1.50 per week undercutting the wages of male clerks who typically were paid
�1.60 to �3 a week. Much the same argument had been raised by White labourers
in the USA a few decades earlier who opposed the emancipation of slaves, fearing
they would constitute cheaper unskilled labour.
30 June 1908. Suffragettes
attempted to present a petition to the UK Prime Minister. When he refused,
windows at his residence were broken.
21 June 1908, A crowd of
230,000 in Hyde Park demonstrated for votes
for women.
15 June 1908� The World
congress for Women's Rights opens in Amsterdam
13 June 1908, Suffragettes staged a march from The Embankment to
the Albert Hall.
11 February 1908, Suffragettes attempted to force entry to the House
of Commons.
17 January 1908, Suffragettes raided 10 Downing Street, London,
during a Cabinet meeting.
16 November 1907. Suffragettes shouted down Herbert Asquith, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
at a meeting in Warwickshire. An Act was passed in 1907 allowing women to sit
as councillors, but they still lacked the vote. Despite divisions within
the Women�s Social and Political Union, with some members seeing Mrs Pankhurst as too domineering, the
campaign for female suffrage continued unabated.
10 October 1907,
Demonstrations and strikes in Budapest, Hungary, as Parliament opened there,
demanding universal adult suffrage.
22 March 1907. 75 suffragettes jailed in Britain for refusing to pay
fines.
8 March 1907, Keir Hardie�s Women�s Enfranchisement Bill was defeated in the House of Commons.
13 February 1907, A large
crowd of suffragettes
stormed the Houses of Parliament as they attempted to hand a petition to the
Government. It took a battalion of mounted police five hours to subdue the
demonstration; 57 suffragettes were arrested, including Emmeline and Christine Pankhurst,
but 15 of them did manage to enter the Commons.
1906, Attitude to women workers at Triumph bicycle
factory, 1906
25 December 1906, Suffragettes in London�s
Holloway Prison refused Christmas meals
6 November 1906. Sylvia Pankhurst, suffragette, released from prison.
24 October 1906. 11 suffragettes
were jailed for demonstrating in London, after refusing to pay �10 fines, or
even acknowledge the court. Prison
achieved martyrdom for the women.
23 October 1906, Women suffragettes demonstrated in the outer lobby of
the House of Commons. 10 were arrested and charged the following day.
23 June 1906, A deputation demanding votes for women, representing
500,000 women, met the British Prime Minister.
14 June 1906, In the UK, a Parliamentary Bill was proposed to ban women from dangerous sports after a
woman died in a parachuting accident.
17 April� 1906. The British Labour Party called for universal female
suffrage.
13 March 1906, Susan B Anthony, American pioneer of women�s suffrage, died aged 86.
14 February 1906, 54 were arrested as suffragettes fought police outside
the British Parliament.
14 December 1905, UK Trade Unions called for universal suffrage, an eight hour
working day, and old age pensions.
14 October 1905. The suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst and Annie Kenney opted to go to
prison for seven days rather than pay a fine for assaulting a policeman. The
assault was at a political meeting at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, where
a leading Liberal politician, Sir Edward Grey, was making a speech.
8 August 1905, The Magazine Good House Keeping reported that three
out of every four wives had to beg their husbands for more money; the Daily Mail, progressively, asked men to
consider how they would feel in this situation.
12 May 1905. A Bill to
give British women the right to vote failed; it
was talked out of time. Under Parliamentary rules, a Bill is lost if MPs
are still debating it when the House is due to adjourn.
1904, Death of Raden Adjeng
Kartini, Javanese aristocrat who was one of the first agitators for
equal rights for Indonesian women. Born 1879, she died soon after the birth of
her first child.
2 November 1903. The Daily Mirror was first published in
London, Britain, intended as a daily
paper for women. See 1 November 1911, Woman�s Weekly first published.
19 October 1903, At 62 Nelson Street, Chorlton in Medlock, near Manchester,
the home of Emmeline Pankhurst, the WSPU (Women�s Social and Political Union) was
officially founded; its motto �Deeds not Words, to fight for female suffrage.
In 1987 it became the Pankhurst Centre.
10 October 1903, Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst
formed the Women�s Social and Political Union to fight for female emancipation
in Britain.�Deeds not Words� was the
motto of the new group, after efforts to
persuade some MPs to back Parliamentary reform bore no fruit.
5 May 1902, The Prussian Government banned women�s political
groups.
18 February 1902, In Britain, a petition demanding votes for women
was presented to Parliament by over 37,000 female textile workers.
2 January /1902, Women's
foot-binding was outlawed in China.
1901, The UK Census now showed
212 women doctors, 2 women architects, and a few female clerks and assistants
in the legal, banking and insurance sectors.. However many jobs and professions
remained closed to women.
1900, In Britain the 1899 London Government Act, which had
excluded women from being members of Metropolitan borough Councils, was now
amended to admit them.
3/1900, German women petitioned
the Reichstag to be allowed to attend university and sit State examinations.
31 May 1895, Emily Faithfull died (born 1835), In 1863 she
began publishing a monthly periodical, The Victoria Magazine, campaigning for
the right of women to remunerative employment.
11 June 1891, Barbara Bodichon, who promoted education and
other rights for women, died in Robertsbridge Sussex (born in Watlington,
Norfolk 8 April� 1827).
1897, In Britain the National Union of
Women�s Suffrage Societies was set up, an umbrella group of existing
Suffrage Societies with Mrs Millicent Fawcett as President.
20 March 1897, Emily Anne Eliza Shirreff, English pioneer of
higher education for women, died in London (born 3 November 1814)
1894, In Britain, the Local Government Act gave women the
right to vote in
parish council elections.
2 November 1889, Suffragettes Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were
arrested whilst attempting to vote in the national elections.
4 May 1882, Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst was born
2 November 1880, The suffragettes
Susan B
Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton attempted to vote in an
election in New Jersey, USA, but were stopped by a polling booth inspector.
22 September 1880, The suffragette Christobel Pankhurst was born, the daughter of
Emmeline.
1870, The Women�s Suffrage Journal was founded by Lydia Ernestine Becker
(1827-1890).
26 November 1867, Mrs Lily Maxwell of Manchester, who had been
placed on the electoral register by mistake, was escorted buy a police
bodyguard to the voting booth to protect her from opponents to women�s suffrage.
9 January 1859, Carrie Chapman, suffragette, was born.
14 July 1858, The suffragette Emmeline
Pankhurst was born in Manchester, as Emmeline Goulden.
1857, Barbara Bodichon, English
campaigner for womnen�s rights, suffrage and education, wrote Women and Work.
1850, In Britain the Factory Act now limited the times of
day that women
and young persons could be employed. They could only� work between 6am and 6pm, with 1 hour break
for meals. In 1853 a new Factory Act
extended the compulsory meal break for children to 1 � hours.
8 June 1847. Britain passed the Factory Act, limiting the
working day of women and children aged 13 to 18 to ten
hours.
See also Child Welfare.
10 March 1847, Kate Sheppard,
suffragist, was born.
1844, The UK Factories Act
prohibited the employment of all women (aged 18 and over), and youths of
both� sexes aged between 13 and 18, from
working more than 12 hours a day in textiles factories
21 January 1840, Sophia Jex-Blake, champion of women�s rights,
was born.
8 April� 1827, Barbara
Bodichon, who promoted education and other rights for women, was
born in Watlington, Norfolk (died in Robertsbridge Sussex, 11 June 1891).
3 November 1814, Emily Anne Eliza Shirreff,
English pioneer of higher education for women, was born (died 20 March 1897 in
London)
10 September 1797, Mary Wollstonecraft, early feminist and author
of Vindication and the Rights of Woman,
died this day.
1792, Mary
Wollstonecraft published �Vindication
of the Rights of Women�, setting out the need for equality of women in
politics and civil life.
27 April� 1759, Birth of Mary Wollstonecraft,
English
writer, political radical and feminist.
27 June 1693. The
Ladies Mercury, the first magazine for
women, was published.
16 April� 1689, Death of Aphra Benn,
British novelist and early feminist.
Women�s Rights and Equality � France
28 November 1909, In France, a law was passed giving pregnant women 8 weeks maternity
leave.
6 June 1908. France passed a law decreeing that divorce was automatic after three year�s
separation.
9 January 1908, Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer and
philosopher, was born (died 1986).
1900, In France, the maximum
daily work hours of women and children�
legally limited to 11.
10 October 1793, A feminist revolutionary society, set up in
5/1792 in France, was banned. Its leaders, Claire Lacombe and Pauline Leon, were imprisoned.
The society had called for the right of French women to participate in the
military and politics. Revolutionary France had earlier decreed that women,
minors, the insane and criminals could not be full citizens.
1317, The Salic Law in France prohibited women from
succeeding to the throne.
Women�s Rights and Equality - USA
29 January 1993. The US Census Bureau announced that the number of women in managerial jobs had
risen 95% between 1980 and 1990, to 6.2 million.
1972, The first rape crisis
centres were opened in the USA.
1/1970, San Diego College, USA,
put on the world�s first Woman�s Studies
programme. Cornell followed suit in 1970, by 1972 some 78 US HE institutions
offered the subject,� and by 2000 there
were over 700 Women�s Studies departments in the USA alone. The studies raised
the profile of feminism, and of women in academia. Gender Studies, often
incorporating Queer Studies, is the successor to this programme in the 21st
century.
26 August 1970, A National
Women�s Strike caused chaos in New York.
10 June 1963, The USA passed the Equal Pay Act, forcing employers to pay the same rate to men and
women doing the same-skilled job for the same number of hours.
1922, US magazine Vanity Fair coined the term �flapper� for a young woman who abjured
femininity, dressed provocatively, and smoked.
4 February 1921, Betty Friedan was born, as Betty Naomi
Goldstein, in Peoria, Illinois. She was a leading US feminist, and
organised the Women�s Strike for Equality (26 August 1970) to raise awareness
of feminist issues.
8 September 1916, US President Woodrow Wilson promised women the
vote.
7 September 1916, Clara Bewick Colby, US suffragist and founder
of The Woman's Tribune, died.
12 January 1915. The US Congress
defeated a Bill for women's suffrage.
20 October 1914, US birth control promoter Margaret Sanger
was forced to flee to Canada.
3 March 1913, 5,000 US suffragettes marched along Pennsylvania Avenue,
Washington DC. Angrt men jeered and assaulted the women, starting a brawl which
took 40 cavalry troops to suppress.
1906, The Physical Director at Harvard University suggested that
sports such as netball, lacross and hockey might be damaging to women�s health;
others believed the same about cycling. The underlying concern, as with women�s
education and women in work, was that
they might bear fewer children, and so provide less people for populating the
areas where White people were colonising, such as the Western USA and the
British Empire.
6/1906, Results of a US census showed that women could now be found
in trades sich as blacksmiths, architects, undertakers, journalisats, barbers
and house-painters. The UK Daily Mail article describing this was entitled �Queer Trades for Women�.
26 October 1902, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American leader of the
women�s suffrage
movement, died aged 86.
30 December 1894, Amelia Bloomer,
American social reformer, campaigner for temperance and women�s rights,
died.
18 October 1893, Lucy Stone, American campaigner for women�s
rights, died.
24 May 1879, William Lloyd Harrison, American campaigner
for abolition of slavery and for women�s suffrage,
died in New York.
8 May 1874, Massachusetts legislated to limit women�s work
days to 10 hours.
1 January 1868, In New York, Susan B Anthony began
publication of a suffragist journal called The Revolution.
19 July 1848. At the first women�s rights convention, at Seneca Falls,
New York State, female rights campaigner Amelia Bloomer, born on 27 May 1818 in New
York, introduced �bloomers� to the
world. She described these as �the lower part of a rational female dress�. The
wearing of trousers by a woman caused much concern. She was campaigning for
women�s equality in voting, religion, marriage, work, education, and
society. New York, in 1848, passed the Married Women�s Property Act allowing
divorced women to keep some of their possessions.
15 February 1820, Susan Anthony, American social reformer and champion of women�s suffrage, was born in Adams,
Massachusetts.
13 August 1818, Lucy Stone, US feminist and reformer, was born
in West Brookfield, Massachusetts.
27 May 1818, Amelia Bloomer, women�s� rights campaigner,
was born in Homer, New York (died 30 December 1894). She designed the loose
trousers for women now known as bloomers.
12 November 1815, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, US women�s rights
campaigner, was born in Johnstown, New York, as Elizabeth Cady.
Appendix 1
� Female enfranchisement (dates by country)
17 May 2005, Kuwaiti women were granted the right to vote.
2003, Omani
women were allowed to vote.
2 February 1986, Women
voted for the first time in Liechtenstein. They were given the vote in
1984.
1974, Women in Jordan
received the vote.
7 February 1971, Swiss men voted in favour of women being
allowed to vote in federal elections and to stand for Parliament. See 1
February 1959.
9/1969, The males of
the Canton of Schaffhausen rejected votes for women.
1964,
Women in Kenya
received the vote.
1 February 1959. Swiss referendum
turned down votes for women.�
But see 7 February 1971.
5 May 1958, Women in Tunisia were allowed to vote in municipal
elections for the first time,
1 December 1957, Women in Colombia voted for the first
time,
27 February 1956, Women in Egypt received the vote.
1952, Women in Mexico
received the vote.
1950, Women in Costa Rica
received the vote.
1949, Women in China
and India
received the vote
1945, Women in France
and Italy
received the vote.
1945, Women in Japan
received the vote. They voted for the first time on 3 May 1947.
1944, Jamaica gave women the vote.
21 April� 1944, In France, women got equal voting
rights with men.
1937, The Philippines gave women the
vote.
1 September 1935. Mexico announced it would give women workers
the vote.
1934, Brazil
gave women the vote.
6 December 1934, Turkey gave universal suffrage to all men and
women over 21. This was part of a general �Westernisation� of the
country.
1932, Women in Spain
and Ceylon
(Sri Lanka)
received
the vote.
24 March 1931, The Japanese House of
Peers, a second time, blocked legislation granting women the right to vote.
19 May 1930. In South Africa, European women were given the
vote. However Black people of either sex were still disenfranchised.
2 July 1928, In Britain women aged 21 and over got the vote,
equalising the age of suffrage with men. This had not happened on 6 February 1918
as women, after the First World War, outnumbered men and there were fears that
a specifically women�s Partuy wpould emerge and dominate politics. By 1928 it
was clear that this would not happen.
13 November 1923, In Italy, Mussolini introduced a Bill giving women the
vote.
3 June 1923, In Italy, Mussolini approved a Bill giving women the
vote.
1922, Ireland gave women the vote.
1921, Sweden introduced universal
suffrage, with the voting age lowered from 24 to 23.
1920, Canada introduced universal
suffrage, with a voting age of 21.
26 August 1920. Under the 19th Amendment, women received the vote in the USA.
1919, Women got the vote in� Poland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and the Weimar
Republic (Germany)
30 November 1919, Women were allowed to vote for the first
time in French
elections.
19 September 1919, Women got the vote in� The Netherlands. The first woman to be elected
to Parliament there was in 1946.
4 June 1919, US Congress approved the 19th
Amendment, giving women the right toi vote.
1918, Women in Germany
received the vote. Michigan, South Dakota and Oklahoma gave women the vote.
6 February 1918. Married women in Britain aged over 30 got the
vote, as did all men over 21, under the Representation
of the People Act. See 14 December 1918.
10 January 1918, In Britain the House of Lords approved the Representation of the People
Bill, giving women the vote. In Washington the House of Representatives also voted in favour of suffrage for women.
1917, Russia gave women the vote, as
did Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Estonia.
1917, New York State gave women the
vote.
1915, King Christian X of Denmark
(1870-1947, King 1912-47) signed a new constitution giving women the vote.
23 October 1915, Around 30,000 women marched along 5th
Avenue, New York, demanding the right to vote.
1914, Women gotr equal voting
rights in Iceland.
29 June 1913. Women got equal voting rights with men in Norway.
6 May 1913, In the UK, the House of Commons rejected
a Bill to give women the vote.
5 November 1912, Women gained the vote in the US States of Arizona,
Kansas
and Wisconsin.
1911, Women recieved the vote in
California.
30 April� 1911. Women got the vote in Portugal.
4 April� 1911, Massachusetts refused to give
women the right to vote.
18 November 1910, Black Friday, when 119 suffragettes stotmed the House of
Commons. Mrs Mary Clarke, sister of Emmeline Pankhurst, and Cecelia Wolsey Haig
both died as a result of this incident, The enxt day Winston Churchill ordered
that charges against 100 women from this episode be dropped.
14 June 1907, Norway
gave women the vote (General Elections).
1
November 1907, The first women councillors were
elected in England, in local elections.
1906, In
Britain, the term �suffragette� was
coined to describe women campaigning for the vote.
7/1906, Hungary introduced a universal suffrage Bill.
7 March 1906. Finland extended suffrage to all tax paying
men and women aged over 24.
28 November 1905. Austria gained universal suffrage.
2 February 1904, Christabel Pankhurst entered the Free Trade
Hall in Manchester where Liberal MP Winston Churchill was due to speak. She
called for an amendment on women�s suffrage, and was ejected.
10 October 1903. Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst formed the Women�s
Social and Political Union to fight for female emancipation in
Britain.�Deeds not Words� was the motto of the new group, after efforts to
persuade some MPs to back Parliamentary reform bore no fruit.
26 September 1903, Connecticut
gave women the vote in State elections.
1902, Women got the vote in Australia.
25 May 1901, Norway granted the right to vote to women, but
only those who were taxpayers.
1895, Women got the vote in South Australia.
28 November 1893, Women first voted in New Zealand, at the General
Election, see 19 September 1893.
19 September 1893. New Zealand became the first country to allow women the vote.
The Women�s Christian Temperance Union
had been pressing for this for 8 years, and had presented three petitions
to the House of Representatives. Each time the number of signatures rose, until
a record 31,872 names swayed the House. Despite an unscrupulous liquor lobby,
the WCTU won and intended to press for women�s votes in other countries.� See 28 November 1893.
1881, Unmarried women with
property got the vote on the Isle of Man.
18 November 1872, US suffragette Susan B Anthony was arrested for
trying to vote in a US election.
1870, In the UK, the Women�s Suffrage Journal was founded.
1870, Utah granted full suffrage to
women,
10 December 1869. Wyoming
became the first USA State to grant women the vote
(in local elections).
1867, The National Society for
Women�s Suffrage was cofounded in the UK by Lydia Becker.
1856, Women got the vote on Norfolk Island.
1853, A petition to enfranchise
women was presented to the Massachusetts Government.
1838, Women got the vote on Pitcairn Island.
1755, Women got the vote in the Corsican
Republic,
Appendix 2 -
Family Legal Rights � children, divorce, property (For Abortion and Birth Control see Morals).
2004, Divorce was legalised in Chile.
27 February 1997, Divorce
became legal in Ireland.
See 27 June 1986.
27 November 1995, In Ireland, voters narrowly approved a limited
no-fault provision for divorce, for couples who had lived apart for four of the
previous five years, by a majority of 9,114 out of 1.63 million votes. There
had been a constitutional ban on divorce since 1937.
1991, Colombia legalised divorce.
23 October 1991. The
House of Lords ruled that men could be legally convicted of raping their wives.
The group Women Against Rape had been campaigning for this move since 1977.
19 April� 1991. English legal history was
made in Winchester when the first man to
be convicted of raping his wife whilst they were still living together was
jailed for 5 years.
27 June 1986, In a referendum, 63% of Irish voters rejected a
proposal to amend the Constitution so as to permit divorce. See 27 February 1997.
1981. Divorce
became legal again in
Spain. See 16 October 1931.
18 December 1970. Divorce became
legal in Italy.
13 June 1969, In the UK,
the Divorce Law Reform Bill received
its third reading. It provided for a divorce after 2 years separation with
mutual consent, or after five years without this consent. �Irretreivable
breakdown� was now acceptable as grounds for ending a marriage, without either party
having to prove �blame�, e.g. adultery.
1968, In Italy,
grounds for divorce on the basis of infidelity were made equal between the two
sexes. Previously, any female infidelity was grounds for divorce, but male
infidelity had to be �open and notorious�.
1963,
Married women in France were now allowed to open their own bank
account without their hussband�s permission.
1962,
Marital rape became a criminal offence in Sweden.
1958,
In Morocco, women gained the right to choose their own husbands, and polygamy
in the country was restricted.
14 December 1954, Divorce was legalised in Argentina.
9 March 1951. In the UK, separation for seven
years was made grounds for divorce.
28 October 1943. The UK Court of Appeal ruled that money
saved from the housekeeping by a wife belonged to the husband.
1938, The property of married
women in France was no longer administered by their husbands; they no longer
required their husband�s permission to work or go to university. French women
were now allowed to testify in a Court of Law.
23 July 1937, In the UK, the Matrimonial Causes Act added new
grounds for divorce (insanity and desertion) to the existing one of adultery.
1933, In Sweden, women were
allowed to practise law.
16 October 1931. Spain legalised divorce. See 1981.
10 March 1929. Egyptian women were granted
limited rights of divorce.
27 August 1927, Emily Gowan Murphy (maiden name Ferguson,
born 14 March 1868 in Cookstown, Ontario), petitioned the Canadian Government
to have women recognised as full legal �persons�. She had been instrumental in
passing the Dower Act (1911),giving
women a share in their husband�s property, and in 1916 Murphy had been appointed as the
first woman magistrate in the British Empire. However on her first day as
magistrate, a lawyer challenged her appointment as illegal as she was not a
�person� under Canadian law. Murphy began a legal battle to overturn this
law, petitioning the Canadian Government this day. On 14 March 1928 the Supreme
Court of Canada decided against Murphy and four other campaigners, Nellie McClung,
Irene Parlby,
Henrrietta
Muir and� Louise McKinney. The�Famous
Five� took their case to the British Privy Council, where they finally won on
18 October 1929. Murphy died of diabetes in 1933.
1925, In Britain the Married
Women�s Property Act required husband and wife to be treated as separate
persons with regard to property transactions
8 June 1923, In the UK, wives were now allowed to divorce their
husbands for adultery. See 1857.
2 March 1923, In Britain
the Matrimonial Causes Bill, passed by 231 votes to 27, changed the
inequality whereby a man could divorce his wife simply for adultery, but a
woman had to prove cruelty or desertion as well.
1921, Sweden passed the Marriage Act stipulating
that all income and property of a couple had to be pooled equally upon
marriage.
1911, Canada passed the Dower Act, securting women
a share in their husband�s property, see 27 August 1927.
27 November 1910,
Pregnant French women were now legally entitled to 8 weeks leave from work.
1907, Married women in France
were allowed complete control of their wages. Before this date a married woman
coukd not draw a wage but her pay had to go to her husband.
1886,
In Britain the Guardianship of Infants
Act provided for women to be sole guardians of their children if their
husband died.
1884, In Britain, the Married Women�s Property Act
made married women no longer �chattels� of their husband but independent
persons.
1882, In Britain, the Married Women�s Property Act
allowed women to own and administer their own property.
1873, In Britain the
Custody of Infants Act extended
access to children to all divorced or separated women (see 1839).
9 August 1870, In Britain the Married Women�s Property Act was passed. It allowed women to retain
�200 (around �70,000 in 2000 terms) of their own earnings.
1857, In Britain the Matrimonial Causes Act set up divorce
courts, where women could obtain a divorce. A woman who obtained a judicial
separation order or was granted a protection order on grounds of desertion by
the man now had the sdame rights as an unmarried woman respecting property.
However this Act actually made divorce easier for men, as they now did not have
to obtain an expensive Private Act of Parliament. Unlike a man, a woman had to
prove desertion, adultery or �unnatural conduct� to obtain dovorce. Only from
1923 could a woman obtain a dovorce, on grounds of simp,e adultery, as a man
could, see 8 June 1923.
1839, In Britain the
Custody of Infants Act gave mothers
�of unblemished character� access to their children in the event of separation
or divorce. See 1873.
1839,
Mississippi became the first US State to grant married women rights over their
own property. Formerly. Women had forfeited all property rights to their
husband upon marriage.
