In nearly all democracies citizens or subjects above the voting age can normally vote in its elections.

 

Women's suffrage

An organized movement on behalf of woman suffrage, led by women but open to men, first emerged in the United States in 1848. Although a few countries, mainly in the Middle East, continue to deny many women to vote, today women's suffrage is considered an uncontroversial right. 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. Women’s suffrage in Turkey were granted in 1926. Woman suffrage claimed for women the right to govern themselves and choose their own representatives because many men — and some women — believed that women were not suited by circumstance or temperament for the vote.

 

 

Forms of exclusion from suffrage

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Roman Catholics were denied the right to vote until 1788, and the right to sit in parliament until 1829. Worldwide voting ages are not consistent, fluctuating between countries and even within countries, usually between 16 and 21.

 

Women's Suffrage by Country

 

Australian suffrage

Women's suffrage did not become a political issue in the United Kingdom until 1832, when the 1832 Reform Act specifically disenfranchised women. It is possible that women's war work in munitions factories and other dangerous work, contributed to women over the age of 30 being given the vote in 1918 (men could vote at 21).

 

United States

It was only after Utah women exercised their suffrage rights in favor of polygamy that the U.S. Congress disenfranchised Utah women. Grateful to American women for their active participation during World War I (1917–1918), Congress passed a woman suffrage constitutional amendment by a narrow margin in 1919.

 

Great Britain

The first British Woman Suffrage Committee was formed in Manchester in 1865. Woman suffrage made progress at the municipal level in the late 19th century.  

 

Scandinavia

Before World War I women in Norway and Denmark enjoyed the right to vote.

 

Germany

Some German suffragists favored universal suffrage for men and women, while others supported limited suffrage for both sexes.

 

Italy

The Mussolini regime, however, passed laws preventing Italian women from voting.

 

Latin America

Woman suffrage was a relatively unpopular cause in Latin America.

 

Asia

In 1950, soon after Indian independence, women were granted the vote.