Information about Women's Suffrage

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The term women's suffrage refers to an economic and political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage — the right to vote — to women. The movement's origins are usually traced to the United States in the 1820s. In the following century it spread throughout the European and European-colonised world, generally being adopted in places which had undergone later colonization than that in Europe and the eastern United States. Today women's suffrage is considered an uncontroversial right, although a few countries, mainly in the Middle East, continue to deny many women the vote.

History

Women's suffrage has been granted (and revoked) at various times in various countries throughout the world. In many countries women's suffrage was granted before universal suffrage, so women (and men) from certain races and social classes were still unable to vote.

The first women's suffrage was granted by the Corsican republic of 1755 whose Constitution stipulated a national representative assembly elected by all inhabitants over the age of 25, both women (if unmarried or widowed) and men. Suffrage was ended when France annexed the island in 1769. In 1756, Lydia Chapin Taft, also known as Lydia Taft, became the first legal woman voter in America.^[1] She voted on at least three occassions in an open New England Town Meeting, at Uxbridge, Massachusetts, with the consent of the electorate. This was between 1756 and 1768, during America's colonial period.^[2] New Jersey granted women the vote (with the same property qualifications as for men, although, since married women did not own property in their own right, only unmarried women and widows qualified) under the state constitution of 1776, where the word "inhabitants" was used without qualification of sex or race. New Jersey women, along with "aliens...persons of color, or negroes," lost the vote in 1807, when the franchise was restricted to white males, partly in order, ostensibly at least, to combat electoral fraud by simplifying the conditions for eligibility.

The Pitcairn Islands granted women's suffrage in 1838. Various countries, colonies and states granted restricted women's suffrage in the latter half of the nineteenth century, starting with South Australia in 1861. The 1871 Paris Commune granted voting rights to women, but they were taken away with the fall of the Commune and would only be granted again in July 1944 by Charles de Gaulle. The Pacific island of Franceville, granted independence in 1879, became the first self-governing nation to practice universal suffrage without distinction of sex or color;^[3] however, in 1887 it came back under French and British colonial rule. In 1886 the small island kingdom of Tavolara became a republic and introduced women's suffrage.^[4][5] However, by 1900 the monarchy was reinstated, and the kingdom was some years later on annexed by Italy.

The first unrestricted women's suffrage in terms of voting rights (women were not initially permitted to stand for election) in a self-governing, still-independent country was granted in New Zealand. Following a movement led by Kate Sheppard, the women's suffrage bill was adopted mere weeks before the general election of 1893. The state of South Australia granted both universal suffrage and allowed women to stand for state parliament in 1894. The Commonwealth of Australia provided this for women in Federal elections from 1902 (except Aboriginal women). The first major European country to introduce women's suffrage was Finland, where women were granted the right both to vote (universal and equal suffrage) and to stand for election in 1906. The world's first female members of parliament were also in Finland, when on 1907, 19 women took up their places in the Parliament of Finland as a result of the 1907 parliamentary elections. The 'first European country' distinction is currently contested by Lithuania (both these countries were technically under Russian rule at the time but Finland was autonomous).

In the years before the First World War, Norway (1913) and Denmark also gave women the vote, and it was extended throughout the remaining Australian states. Canada granted the right in 1917 (except in Quebec, where it was postponed until 1940), as did Soviet Russia. British women over 30 and all German and Polish women had the vote in 1918, and American women in states that had previously denied them suffrage were allowed the vote in 1920. Women in Turkey were granted voting rights in 1926. In 1928, suffrage was extended to all British women on the same terms as men i.e.over 21. One of the last jurisdictions to grant women equal voting rights was Liechtenstein in 1984. Since then only a handful of countries have not extended the franchise to women, usually on the basis of certain religious interpretations.

Bhutan allows one vote per property, a policy that many claim in practice prevents women from voting. However, inheritance in Bhutanese society is matrilinear, and since daughters inherit their parent's property and men are expected to make their own way in the world, Bhutanese women may potentially have greater political power, although this is only theoretical. In any case, this one vote per property practice is planned to be changed once the newly proposed constitution is accepted before 2008.

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Suffrage movements

The suffrage movement was a very broad one which encompassed women and men with a very broad range of views. One major division, especially in Britain, was between suffragists, who sought to create change constitutionally, and suffragettes, who were more militant. There was also a diversity of views on a 'woman's place'. Some who campaigned for women's suffrage felt that women were naturally kinder, gentler, and more concerned about weaker members of society, especially children. It was often assumed that women voters would have a civilising effect on politics and would tend to support controls on alcohol, for example. They believed that although a woman's place was in the home, she should be able to influence laws which impacted upon that home. Other campaigners felt that men and women should be equal in every way and that there was no such thing as a woman's 'natural role'. There were also differences in opinion about other voters. Some campaigners felt that all adults were entitled to a vote, whether rich or poor, male or female, and regardless of race. Others saw women's suffrage as a way of cancelling out the votes of lower class or non-white men.

Women's suffrage by country

Australian suffrage

The first election for the Parliament of the newly-formed Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 was based on the electoral provisions of the six states, so that women who had the vote and the right to stand for Parliament at state level (in South Australia and Western Australia) had the same rights for the 1901 Federal election. In 1902, the Commonwealth Parliament passed its own electoral act that extended these rights to women in all states on the same basis as men. However, the Commonwealth legislation excluded all Aboriginal men and women from the Commonwealth franchise, which in theory some of them had enjoyed in 1901 (state Parliaments generally had property qualifications for the franchise, which in practice few Aboriginals would have met). This was not corrected until 1962, through an amendment to the Commonwealth Electoral Act (it was not an outcome of the 1967 referendum that gave the Commonwealth Parliament the power to legislate specifically on Aboriginal matters).

New Zealand

Main article: Women's suffrage in New Zealand

In 1893, New Zealand became the first major self-governing country in the world to give women the vote, (none of the small short lived states of Corsica, Franceville and Tavolara, retained suffrage - or an independent democracy - for more than 20 years). Although the Liberal government which passed the bill generally advocated social and political reform, the electoral bill was only passed because of a combination of personality issues and political accident. The bill granted the vote to women of all races. New Zealand women were not given the right to stand for parliament, however, until 1918.

United Kingdom

Main article: Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom

Women's suffrage did not become a political issue in the United Kingdom until 1832, when the 1832 Reform Act specifically disenfranchised women. From this point the suffrage movement campaigned for voting rights for women. The suffragette movement in the United Kingdom was particularly militant, with some of its members committing vandalism and assault. Some suffragettes firebombed churches -and one threw an axe at Prime Minister Asquith (who, incidentally was removed from power during the middle of the war)- smashed windows and terrorised many Liberal MPs as well as other men. Some Liberal MPs who had supported women's suffrage moved away from the movement because of the violence. Numerous activists were imprisoned and then force-fed when they went on hunger strikes.However there was also the suffragists, these women wanted the same goal as the suffragettes. however they went about it in different ways. Firstly, the main difference being that the suffragists took a non-violent approach to try and win the franchise, this is often why it is much more publisised about the suffragettes because of there attention seeking, headline grabbing protests. However, neither group actually won the franchise, they only highlighted it as a problem. The First World War brought a halt to the public campaign. It is possible that women's war work, working in munitions factories and putting their lives at risk, contributed to women over the age of 30 getting the vote in 1918 (men could vote at 21). Women were given the vote on the same conditions as men in 1928.

United States

Main article: History of women's suffrage in the United States

Lydia Chapin Taft was an early forerunner in Colonial America who was allowed to vote in 3 New England town meetings, beginning in 1756. American women were pioneers in the women's suffrage cause, advocating women's right to vote from the 1820s onward. Some early victories were won in the territories of Wyoming (1869) and Utah (1870), although Utah women were disenfranchised by the U.S. Congress in 1887. The push to grant Utah women's suffrage was at least partially fueled by outsiders' belief that, given the right to vote, Utah women would dispose of polygamy. It was only after Utah women exercised their suffrage rights in favor of polygamy that the U.S. Congress disenfranchised Utah women.^[6] Other territories and states granted women the right to vote in the late 19th and early 20th century, but national women's suffrage did not come until the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1920. Today the Center for American Women and Politics keeps alive the push for more women to continue to participate in the government.

Women's suffrage denied or conditioned

• 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.^[7]
• Lebanon — Partial suffrage. Proof of elementary education is required for women but not for men. Voting is compulsory for men but optional for women.^[8]
• 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.^[9]
• 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.

Further information: Timeline of women's suffrage

Anti-suffragism

Anti-suffragism was a political movement composed mainly of women, begun in the late 19th century in order to campaign against women's suffrage in the United States and Britain. It was closely associated with "domestic feminism", the belief that women had the right to complete freedom within the home.