Chronography of Women�s Voting Rights
Page last modified 28 August 2023
See also Women�s Rights
See also Women First in selected roles
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
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.
September 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.
19 July 1921, Lily Atkinson, New Zealand suffragist, died
aged 55.
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.
2 June 1920, Delaware rejected the 19th Amendment giving women the vote.
The Delaware Senate voted 24 to 10 against�
the amendment. Delaware finally ratified on 6 March 1923,
more than two years after the amendment had become part of the constitution.
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.
8 May 1919, The constitution of Luxembourg was amended to extend
universal suffrage to all citizens over age 21, regardless of sex. This
amendment came into force on May 15.
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.
27 October 1917, 20,000 women marched in new York demanding
the vote. On 6 November 1917 New York State gave women the vote.
25 October 1917, US President Wilson effectively endorsed the
female suffrage campaign by turning up to address a group of women demanding
this right in New York State.
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,
