Timeline Of Women's Suffrage

In many nations, women's suffrage was granted before universal suffrage, in which cases 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 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 in the Isle of Man (geographically part of the British Isles but not part of the United Kingdom) 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; from 1893. However women could not stand for election to parliament until 1919, when three women stood (unsuccessfully); see 1919 in New Zealand.

The colony of South Australia allowed women to both vote and stand for election in 1894. In Sweden, conditional women's suffrage was granted during the age of liberty between 1718 and 1772. But it was not until the year 1919 that equality was achieved, where women's votes were valued the same as men's.

The Australian Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 enabled women to vote at federal elections and also permitted women to stand for election to the Australian Parliament, making the newly-federated country of Australia the first in the modern world to do so, although some states 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 both the right to vote and the right 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 Innerrhoden (AI), in 1991. Appenzell Innerrhoden is the smallest Swiss canton with around 14,100 inhabitants in 1990. Women in Switzerland obtained the right to vote at federal level in 1971, and at local cantonal level between 1959 and 1972, except for Appenzell in 1989/1990, see Women's suffrage in Switzerland.

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

For other women's rights, see timeline of women's legal rights (other than voting).

17th century

1689

Friesland: Female landowners are allowed to vote in elections to the States of Friesland in rural districts.

18th century

1718

Sweden: Female taxpaying members of city guilds are allowed to vote in local city elections (rescinded in 1758) and national elections (rescinded in 1772).

1734

Sweden: Female taxpaying property owners of legal majority are allowed to vote in local countryside elections (never rescinded).

1755

Corsica: Female suffrage in the independent republic's Diet (assembly; rescinded upon annexation by France in 1769).

1776

New Jersey (US state): later rescinded in 1807

19th century

1830s

1832

United Kingdom the Reform Act 1832 limits voting to men only.

1838

Pitcairn Islands

1840s

1840

Hawaiian Kingdom: later rescinded in 1852

1848

Grand Duchy of Tuscany

1850s

1853

Republic of New Granada: The Province of Vélez, in what was then the Republic of New Granada (modern day Colombia), grants universal suffrage to men and women. The Supreme Court annulled the provision for women a few years later.

1856

Norfolk Island following population transfer from Pitcairn.

1860s

1861

South Australia – Australian colony of South Australia: property-owning women were given the right to vote.

1862

Sweden: limited to local elections with votes graded after taxation; universal franchise achieved in 1919, which went into effect at the 1921 elections.
Argentina: limited to local elections, only for literate women in San Juan Province.

1863

The Grand Duchy of Finland (An autonomous state ruled by the Russian Empire) limited to taxpaying women in the countryside for municipal elections; and in 1872, extended to the cities.

1864

Victoria – Australian colony of Victoria: women 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.
Kingdom of Bohemia (now Czechia) – Austrian Empire: limited to taxpaying women and women in "learned professions" who were allowed to vote by proxy and made eligible for election to the legislative body in 1864.

1869

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: single women ratepayers gain the right to vote in local elections under the Municipal Franchise Act 1869.
United States – incorporated Territory of Wyoming: full suffrage for women.

1870s

1870

United States – Utah Territory passed a law granting women's suffrage. Utah women citizens voted in municipal elections that spring and a general election on August 1, beating Wyoming women to the polls. The women's suffrage law was later repealed as part of the Edmunds–Tucker Act in 1887.
May 10, 1872, New York City: Equal Rights Party nominates Victoria C. Woodhull as their candidate for US President.

1880s

1881

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia: Female taxpayers allowed to vote in local elections (rescinded in 1895).
Isle of Man (self-governing British Crown dependency, with its own parliament and legal system) (limited at first to women "freeholders" and then, a few years later, extended to include women "householders"). Universal suffrage / the franchise for all resident men and women was introduced in 1919. All men and women (with a very few exceptions such as clergy) could also stand for election from 1919.

1884

Ontario—Canadian province: limited to widows and spinsters to vote in municipal elections; later extended to other provinces.

1887

United States—Kansas: Women can vote in city elections and hold certain offices.

1888

United States: Proposed Constitutional Amendment to extend suffrage and the right to hold office to women (limited to spinsters and widows who owned property).

1889

The municipality of Franceville in the New Hebrides (universal suffrage within its short existence. Loses self-rule within months)

1890s

1893

New Zealand: first self-governing colony in the world in which all women are given the right to vote in parliamentary elections. However, women were barred from standing for election until 1919.
Cook Islands (British protectorate) universal suffrage.
Colorado (US state) (first state in the union to enfranchise women by popular vote)

1894

South Australia: universal suffrage, extending the franchise from property-owning women (granted in 1861) to all women, the first colony in Australia to do so.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: Local Government Act 1894 confirms single women's right to vote in local elections and extends this franchise to some married women. By 1900, over 1 million women were registered for local government elections in England.

1895

South Australia: South Australian women became the first in the world to stand for election. This right had been granted the previous year in an act of the South Australian Parliament.

1896

Utah (US state): reestablishes women's suffrage upon gaining statehood.
Idaho (US state)

1898

Denmark: Danske Kvindeforeningers Valgretsforbund (Danish Women's Society's Suffrage Union) founded in Copenhagen

1899

Western Australia: the Australian colony of Western Australia

20th century

1900s

1901

South Australia (Australian state): were allowed to vote in Australia's first federal election
Western Australia (Australian state): were allowed to vote in Australia's first federal election

1902

Australia: The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 gave women the right to vote at federal elections on the same terms as men. Women in South Australia and Western Australia had equal voting rights prior to Federation on 1 January 1901, and were guaranteed the right to vote at the first federal election by section 41 of the Constitution of Australia. Women in the other four states acquired equal voting rights with the passage of the Commonwealth Franchise Act. However this excluded indigenous Australians (both men and women) in the states of Queensland and Western Australia. The 1903 Australian federal election was the first under the new legislation.
New South Wales (Australian state)

1903

Tasmania (Australian state)

1905

Latvia, Russian Empire
Queensland (Australian state) (limited to non-indigenous women)

1906

Grand Duchy of Finland (An autonomous state ruled by the Russian Empire) (first in Europe to give women the right to vote and stand for parliament as a result of 1905 Russian Revolution). The world's first female members of parliament were elected in Finland the following year.
New Hebrides: Perhaps inspired by the Franceville experiment, the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides grants women the right to vote in municipal elections and to serve on elected municipal councils. (Limited to British, French, and other colonists, and excluding indigenous women.)

1908

Denmark (limited to local elections)
Victoria (Australian state): last Australian state to enact equal voting rights for women in state elections.

1910s

1910

Washington (US state)

1911

California (US state)
Argentina: Julieta Lanteri, doctor and leading feminist activist, votes in the election for the Buenos Aires City Legislature. She had realized that the government did not make specifications regarding gender, and appealed to justice successfully, becoming the first South American woman to vote.
Portugal: Carolina Beatriz Ângelo becomes the first Portuguese woman to vote due to a legal technicality; the law is shortly thereafter altered to specify only literate male citizens over the age of 21 had the right to vote.

1912

1913

Alaska (US territory)
Norway

1914

Montana (US state)
Nevada (US state)

1915

Denmark (including Iceland) (full voting rights)

1916

Manitoba (Canadian province)
Saskatchewan (Canadian province)
Alberta (Canadian province) (elected first female lawmakers in British Empire, in 1917)

1917

New York (US State)
Belarusian People's Republic
Estonia
Latvia (as an independent country)
Lithuania
British Columbia (Canadian province)
Ontario (Canadian province)
Canada (limited to war widows, women serving overseas, and women with family serving overseas)
Russian Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic
Uruguay (per Constitution)
Crimean People's Republic
Netherlands (ability to stand for elections occurred in 1919)

1918

Banat, Bačka and Baranja Women over 20 were allowed to vote on the elections for the Great National Assembly. Seven female delegates were elected. Rescindend after incorporation into Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1922.
Democratic Republic of Georgia (Full voting rights, The world's first democratically elected Muslim woman was from Georgia)
Michigan (US state)
South Dakota (US state)
Oklahoma (US state)
Austria
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (The first predominantly Muslim country in the world to give equal rights to men and women.)
Canada (limited to women over 21, "not alien-born", and meeting provincially determined property qualifications)
Denmark: First four women elected to the Folketing.
Nova Scotia (Canadian province)
Germany
Hungarian Republic Limited to women over the age of 24 who were literate. (full suffrage granted in 1945)
Poland (just after regaining independence)
Russian SFSR (Soviet Union)
Kyrgyz SSR (Soviet Union)
Trinidad and Tobago (limited to women over 30; conditional on ownership of property and qualifications of their husbands. Women over 21 given the franchise in 1928)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (limited to women over 30, compared to 21 for men and 19 for those who had fought in World War One; various property qualifications remained; see Representation of the People Act 1918.)
Sweden The Riksdag introduces equal voting rights in city council and municipal elections.

1919

First Republic of Armenia
Belgium (limited to voting at municipal level)
Georgia
Hungarian Soviet Republic: universal suffrage to trade union members only.
Isle of Man: all adults could vote or be elected, widows and single women who owned property could vote from 1881.
Jamaica (British Crown Colony) Limited suffrage granted to women of twenty-five years or more, who earned £50 or more per year, or paid taxes of £2. (Universal adult suffrage not granted until 1944.)
Czechoslovakia (voting at local/municipal level)
Luxembourg
Netherlands (women gain the right to vote in an election, having been given the right to stand in elections in 1917)
New Zealand (women gain the right to stand for election into parliament; right to vote for Members of Parliament since 1893)
New Brunswick (Canadian province) (limited to voting. Women's right to stand for office protected in 1934)
Minnesota (US state)
Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe, British Crown Colony, women now allowed to vote and stand for election into parliament)
South West Caucasian Republic
Sweden The Riksdag takes the first out of two constitutional decisions for equal voting rights in elections to the Riksdag

1920s

1920

Albania
Czechoslovakia (the newly adopted constitution guarantees universal suffrage incl. women and the first vote to the National Assembly is held; politically, the women's suffrage is guaranteed already in the Declaration of Independence from 1918, and women vote in local elections in 1919)
Travancore Kingdom, Princely Indian State in the British Empire. It was the first place in India to grant women's suffrage, but did not grant the right to stand in elections.
Jhalawar State 2nd of the princely states in India to grant women enfranchisement.
United States (all remaining states by amendment to federal Constitution). While sex was no longer the basis for disenfranchisement, there were other grounds, most notably race, by which women's ability to vote was restricted. As part of Jim Crow, Black persons in the South — both women and men — were largely disenfranchised by unequal literacy tests and poll taxes until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

1921

Azerbaijan SSR (Soviet Union)
British Raj, Madras Presidency was the first of the provinces in the British Raj to grant women's suffrage, though there were income and property restrictions and women were not allowed to stand for office.
British Raj, Bombay Presidency became the second of the provinces in British India to grant the right for women to vote with income and property restrictions and an inability to stand in elections.
Federal Republic of Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) established in the 9 September 1921 federal constitution that married or widowed literate women of 21 or more, or single literate women of 25 or more could vote or hold office as long as they met any property requirements. When the Federation fell apart the following year, women lost the right to vote.
Sweden The Riksdag takes the second and confirming the decision to amend the Constitution such that equal voting rights are introduced in elections to the Riksdag.

1922

British Raj, Burma Province became the third province of British India to grant limited suffrage, but not the right to stand in elections.
Irish Free State (equal parliamentary (Oireachtas) suffrage to that of men upon independence from UK. Partial suffrage granted as part of UK in 1918.)
Kingdom of Mysore became the 3rd of India's princely estates to grant women's suffrage.
Prince Edward Island (Canadian province)
Yucatán (Mexican state) (limited to regional and congressional elections)

1923

British Raj, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh became the 4th province in British India to grant limited suffrage, though women could not stand for office.
Rajkot State became the first princely state and first entity in British India to grant women both the right to vote and stand in elections.

1924

British Raj, Assam Province became the 5th province in British India to grant suffrage with income and property restrictions, as well as the inability to stand for office.
Ecuador (a doctor, Matilde Hidalgo de Prócel, sues and wins the right to vote)
Kazakh SSR (Soviet Union)
Kingdom of Cochin one of the princely states of British India granted both suffrage and the right for women to stand in elections.
Mongolia (no electoral system in place prior to this year)
Saint Lucia
Spain (limited to single women and widows in local elections. First women mayors)
Tajik SSR (Soviet Union)

1925

British Raj, Bengal Presidency became the 6th province in British India to grant limited suffrage without the ability for women to stand in elections.
Dominion of Newfoundland (limited to women 25 and older; men can vote at age 21. Equal suffrage granted in 1946.)
Italy (limited to local elections)

1926

British Raj, Punjab Province became the 7th province in British India to grant limited suffrage without the ability for women to stand in elections.
British Raj was empowered by the British Parliament to amend the voting regulations and allow women to stand for office, if the province in which they resided granted women's suffrage.

1927

British Raj Central Provinces became the 8th province in British India to grant suffrage to women.
Turkmen SSR (Soviet Union)
Uruguay (women's suffrage is broadcast for the first time in 1927, in the plebiscite of Cerro Chato)

1928

United Kingdom (franchise made equal to that for men by the Representation of the People Act 1928)

1929

British Raj Bihar and Orissa Province became the last of the provinces in British India to grant women's limited suffrage with income and property restrictions.
Ecuador (the right of women to vote is written into the Constitution)
Puerto Rico (literate women given the right to vote. Equal suffrage granted in 1935.)
Romania (limited to local elections only, with restrictions)

1930s

1930

South Africa (Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930: limited to white women on the same basis as white men.)
Turkey (limited to municipal elections).

1931

Ceylon (Modern day Sri Lanka) (Universal Suffrage)
Chile (limited to municipal level for female owners of real estate under Legislative Decree No. 320)
Portugal (with unequal restrictions regarding level of education)
Spain (universal suffrage)

1932

Brazil (universal suffrage)
Maldives
Thailand

1933

Philippines (Act No. 4112; never implemented – regulation on the registration of women voters was supposed to be determined by the Secretary of the Interior and Labor )

1934

Chile (limited to municipal level under Law No. 5,357)
Cuba
Portugal (suffrage is expanded)
Tabasco (Mexican state) (limited to regional and congress elections only)
Turkey (parliamentary elections; full voting rights and rights to be elected for any public office including the National Parliament, which resulted in 18 female members of the parliament to stand for office from 18 different provinces in the 1935 National Parliament elections).

1935

British Raj
British Burma (now Myanmar, women are granted the right to vote)
Irish Free State (equal suffrage at local elections; partial suffrage as part of the UK from 1869, extended in 1918.)

1937

Bulgaria (limited to mothers with legitimate children voting in local elections)
Dutch East Indies (for European women only)
Philippines (ratified Commonwealth Act No. 34 and affirmed suffrage rights provision proposed in the 1935 Constitution through the a plebiscite)

1938

Bolivia
Uzbek SSR (Soviet Union)
Western Samoa (European women)

1939

El Salvador (with restrictions requiring literacy and a higher age)
Romania (women are granted suffrage on equal terms with men with restrictions on both men and women; in practice the restrictions affected women more than men)
South West Africa (now Namibia, white women)

1940s

1940

Quebec (Canadian province)
Moldavian SSR (Soviet Union) (as part of Romania, partial suffrage from 1929, extended in 1939)

1941

Dutch East Indies (limited to European women only)
Panama (with restrictions. Full suffrage granted in 1946.)

1942

Dominican Republic

1944

Bermuda (limited to property-holding women)
Bulgaria (full rights)

1945

France
Dutch East Indies
Guatemala (Literate only)
Italy
Japan
Senegal
French Togoland
Yugoslavia
Guyana (to stand)

1946

Cameroon
French Somaliland
Kenya
North Korea
Liberia (Americo women only; indigenous men and women were not enfranchised until 1951)
Mandatory Palestine
Portugal (expands suffrage)
Romania (extended to full rights)
Venezuela
Vietnam
Djibouti (to vote)

1947

Argentina
Republic of China (1912–1949) (includes Taiwan: with restrictions)
Malta
Mexico (limited to municipal level)
India (establishment of the state)
Nepal
Pakistan (establishment of the state)
Singapore

1948

United Nations adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 21
Belgium
Israel (establishment of the state)
South Korea
Iraq
Niger
Dutch Surinam
Seychelles

1949

Chile (right expanded to all elections on January 8 by Law No. 9,292)
Netherlands Antilles
People's Republic of China (establishment of the state)
Costa Rica
Syria

1950s

1950

Barbados
El Salvador (all restrictions removed)
Haiti

1951

1952

United Nations enacts Convention on the Political Rights of Women
Bolivia
Côte d'Ivoire
Greece

1953

Bhutan
British Guiana
Mexico (all women and for national elections)
Guyana (to vote)

1954

1955

Cambodia
Ethiopia
Eritrea (as part of Ethiopia)
Indonesia
Honduras
Nicaragua
Peru

1956

Dahomey (a part of the present Benin)
Comoros
Egypt
Gabon
Mali
British Somaliland
Mauritius
Somalia

1957

Colombia (by constitution)
Malaya
Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
Lebanon (nationwide)

1958

Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso)
Chad
Guinea
Laos
Nigeria (South)

1959

1960s

1960

1961

1962

Algeria
Australia (universal suffrage Australian Aboriginals men and women)
Bahamas
Brunei (revoked) (including men)
Monaco
Uganda
Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)

1963

1964

Afghanistan
Libya^{[citation needed]}
Papua New Guinea (Territory of Papua and Territory of New Guinea)
Sudan

1965

Botswana
Lesotho
Guatemala (all restrictions removed).

1966

Basel-Stadt (Swiss canton)

1967

Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ecuador (women's vote made obligatory, like that of men's)
Kiribati
Tuvalu
South Yemen

1968

Basel-Landschaft (Swiss canton)
Bermuda (universal)
Nauru
Portugal (systemic limitations remained due to the general rule of being able to read)
Swaziland

1970s

1970

1971

Switzerland (federal level)

1972

Bangladesh (suffrage enshrined in constitution adopted after independence) (For pre 1971 rights see British Raj 1935 and East/West Pakistan 1947.)

1973

Bahrain (Bahrain did not hold elections until 2002)

1974

1975

1976

Timor Timur (Indonesia)
Portugal (general restriction to be able to read was lifted after the democratization by the Carnation Revolution)

1977

Guinea-Bissau

1978

1980s

1984

Liechtenstein

1985

Kuwait (first time)

1986

Central African Republic
Djibouti (to stand)

1989

Namibia (universal suffrage)

1990s

1991

Appenzell Innerrhoden (Swiss canton) was forced to accept women's suffrage by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland
Western Samoa (universal suffrage)

1996

Afghanistan (revoked)

1997

Eritrea

1999

Qatar
Kuwait (revoked)

21st century

2000s

2001

Afghanistan (re-granted after the fall of Taliban)

2003

Oman

2005

Kuwait

2006

United Arab Emirates (UAE) (limited suffrage for both men and women).

2010s

2015

Saudi Arabia (introduced along with right to run for municipal elections)

2020s

2021

Afghanistan (restricting previous full right, allowing "temporarily" limited voting rights)

Note: In some countries, both men and women have limited suffrage. For example, in Brunei, which is a sultanate, there are no national elections, and voting exists only on local issues. In the United Arab Emirates the rulers of the seven emirates each select a proportion of voters for the Federal National Council (FNC) that together account for about 12% of Emirati citizens.

References

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