Women's suffrage – the right of women to vote – has been achieved at various times in countries throughout the world. 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.
Certain women (based on property ownership) 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 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 1895. In Sweden, conditional women's suffrage was granted during the Age of Liberty between 1718 and 1772.Karlsson Sjögren, Åsa, Männen, kvinnorna och rösträtten: medborgarskap och representation 1723–1866 [Men, women and suffrage: citizenship and representation 1723–1866], Carlsson, Stockholm, 2006 (in Swedish) 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 female British subjects resident in Australia to vote at federal elections and also permitted them to stand for election to the Australian Parliament, making the newly federated country of Australia the first in the modern world to do so. However, the act excluded "natives of Australia, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands (other than New Zealand)". Two states either effectively or explicitly 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
: 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
: Female suffrage in the independent republic's Diet (assembly; rescinded upon annexation by France in 1769).Lucien Felli, "La renaissance du Paolisme". M. Bartoli, Pasquale Paoli, père de la patrie corse, Albatros, 1974, p. 29. "Il est un point où le caractère précurseur des institutions paolines est particulièrement accusé, c'est celui du suffrage en ce qu'il était entendu de manière très large. Il prévoyait en effet le vote des femmes qui, à l'époque, ne votaient pas en France."
1776
New Jersey (U.S. state): allowed unmarried and widowed women meeting property requirements to vote; later rescinded in 1807
19th century
1830s 1832
: the Reform Act 1832 formally limits voting to men only.
1838
Pitcairn Islands
1840s 1840
Hawaiian Kingdom: later rescinded in 1852
1848
1850s 1853
: 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.M C Mirrow, Latin American Constitutionalism: The Constitution of Cadiz and its legacy
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
: limited to local elections with votes graded after taxation; universal franchise achieved in 1919, which went into effect at the 1921 elections. : 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. (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
: single women ratepayers gain the right to vote in local elections under the Municipal Franchise Act 1869. – incorporated Territory of Wyoming: full suffrage for women.
1870s 1870
– Utah Territory: passed a law granting women's suffrage. Utah women citizens voted in municipal elections that spring and a general election on 1 August, beating Wyoming women to the polls. The women's suffrage law was later repealed as part of the Edmunds–Tucker Act in 1887. – 10 May 1872, New York City: Equal Rights Party nominates Victoria C. Woodhull as their candidate for US president.
1880s 1881
: Female taxpayers allowed to vote in local elections (rescinded in 1895). (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. : The Electoral Reform of 1881 maintained the income qualification for voting for those over 21, restricted the vote to the literate, abolished the exclusive right of Catholics to vote and stand for office, and instituted direct voting and voter registration. However, it omitted the restriction of the vote to the male gender.
1884
Ontario – Canadian province: limited to widows and spinsters to vote in municipal elections; later extended to other provinces.
1887
– Kansas: Women can vote in city elections and hold certain offices. : Isabel de Mattos Dillon, a dentist, became the first Brazilian woman to vote after exploiting a loophole in the Electoral Reform Law of 1881, which granted the right to vote to anyone holding an academic degree without specifying gender.
1888
: 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."Wee, Small Republics: A Few Examples of Popular Government," Hawaiian Gazette, 1 Nov 1895, p 1 Loses self-rule within months)
1890s 1893
: first self-governing colony in the world in which women who were British subjects aged over 21 (and excluding Chinese women) are given the right to vote in parliamentary elections. However, women were barred from standing for parliament until 1919. (British protectorate) universal suffrage. Colorado (U.S. state): first state in the union to enfranchise women by popular vote.
1895
: universal suffrage, extending the franchise from property-owning women (granted in 1861) to all women, the first colony in Australia to do so. Women were also granted the right to stand for election. : 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.
1896
Utah (U.S. state): reestablishes women's suffrage upon gaining statehood. Idaho (U.S. state)
1897
: Formal provisions for female suffrage in village elections in Thailand date to the Local Administration Act of 1897. This makes Thailand the first major country in the world in which women and men achieved the vote on an equal basis simultaneously.Bowie, Katherine (2010). "Women's Suffrage in Thailand: A Southeast Asian Historiographical Challenge". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 52 (4): 708–741. doi:10.1017/S0010417510000435
1898
: Danske Kvindeforeningers Valgretsforbund (Danish Women's Society's Suffrage Union) founded in Copenhagen
1899
: West Australian women gained the vote but there was a property qualification for "Aboriginal natives of Australia, Asia or Africa" and people of mixed descent. The property qualification (ownership of land that was valued at least £100) excluded virtually all such persons from the franchise.
20th century Source:
1900s 1901
(Australian state): Women were allowed to vote in Australia's first federal election (Australian state): Women were allowed to vote in Australia's first federal election, but there were racial restrictions.
1902
: The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 gave all adult British subjects resident in Australia, including women, the right to vote at the federal level. However, the act excluded "natives of Australia, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands (other than New Zealand)".Indigenous Suffrage Timeline, Government of Queensland The 1903 Australian federal election was the first under the new legislation. (Australian state)
1903
(Australian state)
1905
Latvia, Russian Empire (Australian state): excluded "Aboriginal natives of Australia, India, China or the South Sea Islands."
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.)Bourdiol, Julien (1908), Condition internationale des Nouvelles-Hebrides, p 106
1908
(limited to local elections) (Australian state): last Australian state to enact equal voting rights for women in state elections.
1910s 1910
Washington (U.S. state)
1911
(U.S. state) : 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. : 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.