Editing Women's suffrage (section)

=== Africa ===

==== Algeria ====

Women's suffrage was in place in Algeria from 1962.

Women's suffrage was introduced in Algeria by the French colonial authorities after a long struggle, and confirmed after Algeria became an independent nation in 1962.
Women's suffrage was introduced in France in 1944. This right automatically included French women residing in French Algeria; but it did not include Muslim Algerian women, since indigenous Algerians was not governed by French law, but indigenous Islamic law.<ref>Maamri, M. R. (2015). The State of Algeria: The Politics of a Post-Colonial Legacy. Storbritannien: Bloomsbury Publishing. p.</ref>

The advocates of women's suffrage raised the question of an extension of suffrage to Muslim women in Algeria to the French National Assembly 
in 1947;<ref name="p113">Maamri, M. R. (2015). The State of Algeria: The Politics of a Post-Colonial Legacy. Storbritannien: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 113</ref> in September 1947 the Organic Statute was passed which granted citizenship to Muslim women in Algeria, but Article 4 of the statue gave the Algerian Assembly free choice to decide when to exercise and introduce that reform.<ref name="p113"/> 
In 1949 the Justrabo Proposal put forvard in the Algerian Assembly suggested to extend suffrage to educated Muslim women, which was a very small minority, but the suggestion did not pass.<ref>Maamri, M. R. (2015). The State of Algeria: The Politics of a Post-Colonial Legacy. Storbritannien: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 114</ref>

When the UN created the [[United Nations Commission on the Status of Women|Commission on the Status of Women]] (CSW) the French UN-delegate 
[[Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux]] worked to have France ratify it in order to force them to introduce suffrage in Algeria.<ref>Maamri, M. R. (2015). The State of Algeria: The Politics of a Post-Colonial Legacy. Storbritannien: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 114-115</ref> 
She succeeded on 20 December 1952 when General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Political Rights of Women.<ref>Maamri, M. R. (2015). The State of Algeria: The Politics of a Post-Colonial Legacy. Storbritannien: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 115</ref>
After this, there was great pressure on France to introduce this reform in the Algerian colony. The French colonial authorities finally passed women's suffrage in 1958.<ref>Harrison, N. (2019). Our Civilizing Mission: The Lessons of Colonial Education. Storbritannien: Liverpool University Press. p. 210</ref>

Algeria became an independent nation in 1962, and the Algerian Constitution of 1962 confirmed the existing equal political rights to vote and be elected to all citizens.<ref>Maamri, M. R. (2015). The State of Algeria: The Politics of a Post-Colonial Legacy. Storbritannien: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 71</ref>

==== Egypt ====
The struggle for women's suffrage in Egypt first sparked from the nationalist [[Egyptian Revolution of 1919|1919 Revolution]] in which women of all classes took to the streets in protest against the British occupation. The struggle was led by several [[:Category:Egyptian women's rights activists|Egyptian women's rights pioneers]] in the first half of the 20th century through protest, journalism, and lobbying, and through women's organizations, primarily the [[Egyptian Feminist Union]] (EFU). President [[Gamal Abdel-Nasser]] consolidated women's suffrage in 1956 after they were denied the vote in elections for the Egyptian government under the British, who suppressed popular movement and interfered with democratic processes in parliament under the Egyptian monarchy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sis.gov.eg/Story/26370?lang=en-us |title=Women's right to voting |publisher=Egypt State Information Service |date=3 March 2000 |access-date=23 July 2021 }}</ref>

==== Liberia ====

In 1920, the women's movement organized in the [[National Liberian Women's Social and Political Movement]], who campaigned without success for women's suffrage, followed by the  [[Liberia Women's League]] and the [[Liberian Women's Social and Political Movement]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Kathleen |last=Sheldon |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwqQCwAAQBAJ&dq=liberia+women+League&pg=PA160|title= Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa|chapter=Liberia Women's League|page=160|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2016|isbn=9781442262935}}</ref> and in 1946, limited suffrage was finally introduced for women of the privileged Libero-American elite, and expanded to universal women's suffrage in 1951.<ref name="pam">{{cite book|access-date=2022-12-07|date=2020|first=Peace A.|isbn=978-0-19-092296-2|language=en|last=Medie|publisher=Oxford University Press|title=Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence Against Women in Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a9bODwAAQBAJ&dq=liberia+women+suffrage&pg=PA57}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

==== Libya ====

In [[Kingdom of Libya]] (1951–1969) the 1951 Constitution did secure women basic rights, since they were not excluded from the rights granted to all citizens under the constitution. A women's movement was organized by a minority of educated urban elite women who wished to secure women equal rights, starting with the first women's association in Benghazi 1955, followed by bone in Tripoli in 1957.<ref>Habib, H. (1981). Libya Past and Present. Libyen: Edam Publishing House. 20</ref>

The municial suffrage was granted in 1951.<ref name="auto2"/> The Constitution of 1963 extended the suffrage to women.<ref>Nyrop, R. F. (1973). Area Handbook for Libya. USA: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 37</ref>

====Morocco====

Women's suffrage was introduced in Morocco in 1963.<ref name="auto4"/>

The right to vote was technically granted for both the local and national levels on 1 September 1959.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.ipu.org/parliament/MA/MA-UC01/elections/historical-data-on-women/|title=Morocco &#124; House of Councillors &#124; Historical data on women|website=IPU Parline: global data on national parliaments}}</ref> This right was however not enforced until  18 June 1963.

The first woman was elected to Parliament in 1993, thirty years after women first participated in the election as voters.

==== Sierra Leone ====
One of the first occasions when women were able to vote was in the elections of the [[Nova Scotian settlers]] at [[Freetown]]. In the 1792 elections, all heads of household could vote and one-third were ethnic African women.<ref>[[Simon Schama]], ''[[Rough Crossings]],'' (2006), p. 431.</ref>
Women won the right to vote in Sierra Leone in 1930.<ref name=Denzer>{{cite book|last=Denzer|first=LaRay|title=Sierra Leone: 1787–1987; Two Centuries of Intellectual Life|date=January 27, 1988|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-2791-8|page=442|editor=Murray Last |editor2=Paul Richards |editor3=Christopher Fyfe}}</ref>

==== South Africa ====
The campaign for women's suffrage was conducted largely by the [[Women's Enfranchisement Association of the Union]], which was founded in 1911.<ref>Ian Christopher Fletcher, Philippa Levine, Laura E. Nym Mayhall :''[https://books.google.com/books?id=7U5hln57PtkC&dq=Women%E2%80%99s+Enfranchisement+Association+of+the+Union+%28WEAU%29&pg=PA73 Women's Suffrage in the British Empire: Citizenship, Nation and Race]''</ref>

The franchise was extended to [[white South African|white]] women 21 years or older by the [[Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930]]. The first general election at which women could vote was the [[1933 South African general election|1933&nbsp;election]]. At that election [[Leila Reitz]] (wife of [[Deneys Reitz]]) was elected as the first female&nbsp;MP, representing [[Parktown]] for the [[South African Party]]. The limited voting rights available to non-white men in the [[Cape Province]] and [[Natal Province|Natal]] ([[Transvaal Province|Transvaal]] and the [[Orange Free State]] practically denied all non-whites the right to vote, and had also done so to white foreign nationals when independent in the 1800s) were not extended to women, and were themselves progressively eliminated between 1936 and 1968.

The right to vote for the Transkei Legislative Assembly, established in 1963 for the [[Transkei]] [[bantustan]], was granted to all adult citizens of the Transkei, including women. Similar provision was made for the Legislative Assemblies created for other bantustans. All adult [[coloured]] citizens were eligible to vote for the [[Coloured Persons Representative Council]], which was established in 1968 with limited legislative powers; the council was however abolished in 1980. Similarly, all adult [[Indian South Africans|Indian]] citizens were eligible to vote for the [[South African Indian Council]] in 1981. In 1984 the [[Tricameral Parliament]] was established, and the right to vote for the [[House of Representatives of South Africa|House of Representatives]] and [[House of Delegates of South Africa|House of Delegates]] was granted to all adult Coloured and Indian citizens, respectively.

In 1994 the bantustans and the Tricameral Parliament were abolished and the right to vote for the [[National Assembly of South Africa|National Assembly]] was granted to all adult citizens.

==== Southern Rhodesia ====
Southern Rhodesian white women won the vote in 1919 and [[Ethel Tawse Jollie]]&nbsp;(1875–1950) was elected to the Southern Rhodesia legislature 1920–1928, the first woman to sit in any national Commonwealth Parliament outside Westminster. The influx of women settlers from Britain proved a decisive factor in the 1922&nbsp;referendum that rejected annexation by a South Africa increasingly under the sway of traditionalist [[Afrikaner nationalism|Afrikaner Nationalists]] in favor of Rhodesian Home Rule or "responsible government". Black Rhodesian males qualified for the vote in 1923 (based only upon property, assets, income, and literacy). It is unclear when the first black woman qualified for the vote.

====Tunisia====

Women's suffrage was introduced in Tunisia in 1957.

The context of the introduction of women's suffrage in Tunisia was a part of a big reform program in women's rights. Tunisia became an independent nation in 1956 and saw a number of progressive reforms in favor of women's rights under the Secular President  [[Habib Bourguiba]], whose Code of Personal Statue (CSP) replaced the Islamic [[sharia law]] with a secular family law: raised the age of marriage, abolished arranged marriages and polygamy and introduced equal divorce law, as well as breaking Islamic sex segregation and encouraged women to appear unveiled.<ref>Tchaïcha, J. D., Arfaoui, K. (2017). The Tunisian Women’s Rights Movement: From Nascent Activism to Influential Power-broking. Storbritannien: Taylor & Francis. p. 78</ref> This progressive policy was completed by the introduction of women's suffrage the same year. 
Women were granted the right to vote in 1957, and became eligible for political office in 1959.<ref>Freedom House, Women's Rights in the Middle East and North Africa 2010 - Tunisia, 3 March 2010, https://www.refworld.org/reference/countryrep/freehou/2010/en/72312 [accessed 17 February 2025]</ref>