Editing Women's suffrage (section)

=== Europe ===
[[File:Savka Dabcevic Kucar.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Savka Dabčević-Kučar]], [[Croatian Spring]] participant; Europe's first female prime minister]]

In Europe, the first two countries to enact women's suffrage were Finland in 1906 and Denmark in 1913, and the last two were [[Switzerland]] and [[Liechtenstein]]. In Switzerland, women gained the [[Women's suffrage in Switzerland|right to vote]] in federal [[Elections in Switzerland|elections]] in 1971;<ref name="switzerland-chronology2">{{cite web|url=http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html|title=The Long Way to Women's Right to Vote in Switzerland: a Chronology|website=history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch|publisher=History of Switzerland|access-date=January 8, 2011}}</ref> but in the canton of [[Appenzell Innerrhoden]] women obtained the right to vote on local issues only in 1991, when the canton was forced to do so by the [[Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland]].<ref name="wom1373">{{cite press release |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2003/WOM1373.doc.htm |title=Experts in Women's Anti-Discrimination Committee Raise Questions Concerning Reports of Switzerland on Compliance with Convention |id=WOM/1373 |date=January 14, 2003 |website=United Nations |access-date=June 6, 2021}}</ref> In Liechtenstein, women were given the right to vote by the [[1984 Liechtenstein women's suffrage referendum|women's suffrage referendum of 1984]]. Three prior referendums held in [[1968 Liechtenstein women's suffrage referendum|1968]], [[1971 Liechtenstein women's suffrage referendum|1971]] and [[1973 Liechtenstein women's suffrage referendum|1973]] had failed to secure women's right to vote.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/womens-suffrage-in-switzerland/|title=Women's Suffrage in Switzerland|date=February 1, 2018|work=OHRH|access-date=May 23, 2018}}</ref>

==== Albania ====
Albania introduced a limited and conditional form of women's suffrage in 1920, and subsequently provided full voting rights in 1945.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.swedenabroad.com/ImageVaultFiles/id_38954/cf_347/Women_in_Politics.PDF |title=Albanian Women Participation in Politics and Decision-Making|publisher=Gender Alliance for Development|place=Tirana|date= November 2015|access-date=2016-09-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002061701/http://www.swedenabroad.com/ImageVaultFiles/id_38954/cf_347/Women_in_Politics.PDF |archive-date=2016-10-02 }}</ref>

==== Andorra ====

The Principality of Andorra introduced women's suffrage in 1970 (third last in Europe), though Andorra did not have a democratic constitution until 1993.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qH9eEAAAQBAJ&dq=women%27s+suffrage+andorra+1970&pg=PA7 | title=Andorra | isbn=9781502663023 | last1=Harts | first1=Shannon | date=December 15, 2021 | publisher=Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC }}</ref>

In 1969, 3708 signatures demanding women's suffrage and eligibility was presented to the Andorra Council Parliament. In April 1970, women's suffrage was introduced after a vote with 10 votes for and eight against, while however eligibility was voted down.<ref name="ara.ad">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ara.ad/politica/merce-bonell-consell-general-espantada_1_1393186.html|title=Mercè Bonell: "Vaig entrar al Consell General espantada"|first=Francesc|last=Alguacil|date=March 7, 2017|website=Ara Andorra}}</ref> Women's eligibility was introduced on 5 September 1973.<ref name="ara.ad"/> The first woman became MP in 1984.

==== Austria ====
{{main|Women's suffrage in Austria}}
After the breakdown of the [[Habsburg monarchy]] in 1918, [[Austria]] granted the general, equal, direct and secret right to vote to all citizens, regardless of sex, through the change of the electoral code in December 1918.<ref name="demokratiezentrum"/> The first elections in which women participated were the [[1919 Austrian Constituent Assembly election|February 1919 Constituent Assembly elections]].<ref>{{cite web| title = 85 Jahre allgemeines Frauenwahlrecht in Österreich| url = http://www.onb.ac.at/ariadne/projekte/frauen_waehlet/index.html| publisher = Österreichische Nationalbibliothek| access-date = September 1, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110306075818/http://www.onb.ac.at/ariadne/projekte/frauen_waehlet/index.html| archive-date = March 6, 2011}}</ref>

==== Azerbaijan ====
{{Main|Women in Azerbaijan#Voting Rights}}

Universal voting rights were recognized in Azerbaijan in 1918 by the [[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic]].<ref name="Tadeusz Swietochowski 2004. p. 144"/> Thus, making Azerbaijan the first Muslim-majority country to enfranchise women.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://euneighbourseast.eu/young-european-ambassadors/blog/blog-azerbaijani-women-who-wrote-history/#:~:text=During%20the%20Azerbaijan%20People's%20Republic,women%20the%20right%20to%20vote |title=Azerbaijani women who wrote history |publisher=EU Neighbours East |access-date=2024-05-10}}</ref> This early commitment to women's rights was part of a broader movement towards secularization and modernization in the country.

==== Belgium ====
[[File:C1910 Jane Brigode Belgian suffragist.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jane Brigode]], Belgian suffragist, {{Circa|1910}}]]
A revision of the constitution in October 1921 (it changed art. 47 of the [[Constitution of Belgium|Constitution of Belgium of 1831]]) introduced the general right to vote according to the "one man, one vote" principle. Art. 47 allowed widows of World War&nbsp;I to vote at the national level as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.verfassungen.eu/b/belgien31-index.htm|title=Verfassung des Königreichs Belgien (1831)|website=www.verfassungen.eu}}</ref> <!--- a sentence in the new Art. 47 says that it is possible to create an electoral law giving the same voting rights as to men - and fixed that such el. laws needed a 2/3 majority to pass. see [[Special law#Belgium]]---> The introduction of women's suffrage was already put onto the agenda at the time, by means of including an article in the constitution that allowed approval of women's suffrage by [[Special law#Belgium|special law]] (meaning it needed a 2/3 majority to pass).<ref>this 2/3 majority had been fixed in 1921 when Art. 47 was changed as mentioned above</ref> Belgian socialists opposed the women's suffrage, fearing their conservative leanings and their "domination" by the clergy.<ref name="Colomer-2001">{{Cite book |last=Colomer |first=Josep M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uif6pJn6WHUC |title=Political Institutions: Democracy and Social Choice |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-152925-2 |pages=36 |language=en}}</ref> This happened on March 27, 1948. In Belgium, voting is compulsory.

==== Bulgaria ====
Bulgaria left Ottoman rule in 1878. Although the first adopted constitution, the [[Tarnovo Constitution]] (1879), gave women equal election rights, in fact women were disenfranchised, not allowed to vote and to be elected. The [[Bulgarian Women's Union]] was an umbrella organization of the 27 local women's organisations that had been established in Bulgaria since 1878. It was founded as a reply to the limitations of women's education and access to university studies in the 1890s, with the goal to further women's intellectual development and participation, arranged national congresses and used ''Zhenski glas'' as its organ. However, they had limited success, and women were allowed to vote and to be elected only after when [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Communist rule]] was established.

==== Croatia ====
{{Main|Women in Croatia#Legal status}}
{{Expand section|date=June 2016}}

==== Czech Republic ====
In the former [[Bohemia]], taxpaying women and women in "learned profession[s]" were allowed to vote by proxy and made eligible to the legislative body in 1864.<ref name="jstor.org">{{cite journal|last1=Ray|first1=P. Orman|title=Woman Suffrage in Foreign Countries|journal=American Political Science Review|date=2013|volume=12|issue=3|pages=469–74|doi=10.2307/1946097|jstor=1946097|s2cid=146961744 }}</ref> The first Czech female MP was elected to the Diet of Bohemia in 1912. The Declaration of Independence of the Czechoslovak Nation from October 18, 1918, declared that "our democracy shall rest on universal suffrage. Women shall be placed on equal footing with men, politically, socially, and culturally," and women were appointed to the Revolutionary National Assembly (parliament) on November 13, 1918. On June 15, 1919, women voted in local elections for the first time. Women were guaranteed equal voting rights by the [[Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920|constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic]] in February 1920 and were able to vote for the parliament for the first time in [[1920 Czechoslovak parliamentary election|April 1920]].<ref>{{Citation |publisher = Édition de la Société l'effort de la tchécoslovaquie|location = Prague|title = The constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic|author = Czechoslovakia|date = 1920|oclc = 3474827|at = Section II. §§ 9–15|ol = 23290715M}}</ref>

==== Cyprus ====

Cyprus had no organized women's movement until the mid-20th century and no activism in favor of women's suffrage, which was introduced in the new constitution of 1961 after the liberation from Britain, simply because women's suffrage had at that point came to be regarded as a given thing in international democratic standard.<ref>Vassiliadou, Myria (1997) Herstory: The Missing Woman of Cyprus, The Cyprus. Review, Vol.9, Spring No.1, pp. 95–120.</ref>

==== Denmark ====
{{See also|Women in Denmark#Women's suffrage}}
[[File:Marie Luplau - Fra Kvindevalgretskampens første dage (1897),.jpg|thumb|Line luplau seen in the foreground on her daughter [[Marie Luplau]]'s large group portrait painting ''From the Early Days of the Fight for Women's Suffrage'' (1897)]]
In Denmark, the [[Danish Women's Society]] (DK) debated, and informally supported, women's suffrage from 1884, but it did not support it publicly until in 1887, when it supported the suggestion of the parliamentarian [[Fredrik Bajer]] to grant women municipal suffrage.<ref name="Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon">Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon</ref> In 1886, in response to the perceived overcautious attitude of DK in the question of women suffrage, [[Matilde Bajer]] founded the ''[[Kvindelig Fremskridtsforening]]'' (or KF, 1886–1904) to deal exclusively with the right to suffrage, both in municipal and national elections, and it 1887, the Danish women publicly demanded the right for women's suffrage for the first time through the KF. However, as the KF was very much involved with worker's rights and pacifist activity, the question of women's suffrage was in fact not given full attention, which led to the establishment of the strictly women's suffrage movement ''[[Kvindevalgretsforeningen]]'' (1889–1897).<ref name="Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon"/> In 1890, the KF and the Kvindevalgretsforeningen united with five women's trade worker's unions to found the ''[[De samlede Kvindeforeninger]]'', and through this form, an active women's suffrage campaign was arranged through agitation and demonstration. However, after having been met by compact resistance, the Danish suffrage movement almost discontinued with the dissolution of the De samlede Kvindeforeninger in 1893.<ref name="Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon"/>

In 1898, an [[umbrella organization]], the ''[[Danske Kvindeforeningers Valgretsforbund]]'' or DKV was founded and became a part of the [[International Woman Suffrage Alliance]] (IWSA).<ref name="Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon"/> In 1907, the [[Landsforbundet for Kvinders Valgret]] (LKV) was founded by [[Elna Munch]], [[Johanne Rambusch]] and [[Marie Hjelmer]] in reply to what they considered to be the much too careful attitude of the [[Danish Women's Society]]. The LKV originated from a local suffrage association in Copenhagen, and like its rival DKV, it successfully organized other such local associations nationally.<ref name="Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon"/>

Women won the right to vote in municipal elections on April&nbsp;20, 1908. However it was not until June&nbsp;5, 1915 that they were allowed to vote in [[Rigsdagen|Rigsdag]] elections.<ref>[http://www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Denmark.htm Report from Denmark] in European Database Women in Decision-making.</ref>

==== Estonia ====
Estonia gained its independence in 1918 with the [[Estonian War of Independence]]. However, the first official elections were held in 1917. These were the elections of temporary council (i.e. Maapäev), which ruled Estonia from 1917 to 1919. Since then, women have had the right to vote.

The parliament elections were held in 1920. After the elections, two women got into the parliament – history teacher [[Emma Asson]] and journalist [[Alma Ostra-Oinas]]. Estonian parliament is called [[Riigikogu]] and during the First Republic of Estonia it used to have 100 seats.

==== Finland ====
[[File:Women in Finnish Parliament (1907).jpg|thumb|13 of the total of 19 female MPs, who were the first female MPs in the world, elected in [[1907 Finnish parliamentary election|Finland's parliamentary elections in 1907]]]]

The area that in 1809 became [[Finland]] had been a group of integral provinces of the [[Kingdom of Sweden]] for over 600 years. Thus, women in Finland were allowed to vote during the Swedish [[Age of Liberty]] (1718–1772), during which conditional suffrage was granted to tax-paying female members of [[guild]]s.<ref name="Karlsson-Sjögren 1866">* Åsa Karlsson-Sjögren: ''Männen, kvinnorna och rösträtten : medborgarskap och representation 1723–1866'' ("Men, women and the vote: citizenship and representation 1723–1866") (in Swedish)</ref>  However, this right was controversial. In [[Vaasa]], there was opposition against women participating in the town hall discussing political issues, as this was not seen as their right place, and women's suffrage appears to have been opposed in practice in some parts of the realm: when [[Anna Elisabeth Baer]] and two other women petitioned to vote in Turku in 1771, they were not allowed to do so by town officials.<ref name="books.google.se">Heinonen, Jarna and Vainio-Korhonen, Kirsi (2018) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tnlTDwAAQBAJ&dq=civil+code+1734+sweden+women&pg=PT153 Women in Business Families: From Past to Present]''. Routledge. {{ISBN|9781351796583}}.</ref>

The predecessor state of modern [[Finland]], the [[Grand Duchy of Finland]], was part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917 and enjoyed a high degree of [[autonomy]]. In 1863, taxpaying women were granted municipal suffrage in the countryside, and in 1872, the same reform was implemented in the cities.<ref name="jstor.org"/> 
The issue of women's suffrage was first raised by the women's movement when it organized in the [[Finnish Women's Association]] (1884), and the first organization exclusively devoted to the issue of suffrage was [[Naisasialiitto Unioni]] (1892).<ref>Aura Korppi-Tommola (toim.): Tavoitteena tasa-arvo. Suomen Naisyhdistys 125 vuotta. SKS, 2009. ISBN 978-952-222-110-0</ref>

In 1906, Finland became the first province in the world to implement racially-equal women's suffrage, unlike Australia in 1902. Finland also elected the world's first female members of parliament [[1907 Finnish parliamentary election|the following year]].<ref name="eduskunta.fi" /><ref name="web.archive.org" /> In 1907, the first general election in Finland that had been open to women took place. Nineteen women were elected which was less than 10% of the total members of parliament. The successful women included [[Lucina Hagman]], [[Miina Sillanpää]], [[Anni Huotari]], [[Hilja Pärssinen]], [[Hedvig Gebhard]], [[Ida Aalle]], [[Mimmi Kanervo]], [[Eveliina Ala-Kulju]], [[Hilda Käkikoski]], [[Liisi Kivioja]], [[Sandra Lehtinen]], [[Dagmar Neovius]], [[Maria Raunio]], [[Alexandra Gripenberg]], [[Iida Vemmelpuu]], [[Maria Laine]], [[Jenny Nuotio]] and [[Hilma Räsänen]]. Many had expected more. A few women realised that the women of Finland needed to seize this opportunity and organisation and education would be required. Newly elected MPs Lucina Hagman and [[Maikki Friberg]] together with [[Olga Oinola]], [[Aldyth Hultin]], Mathilda von Troil, [[Ellinor Ingman-Ivalo]], Sofia Streng and [[Olga Österberg]] founded the [[Finnish Women's Association]]'s first branch in Helsinki.<ref name=list>{{Cite web|url=https://naisliittohelsinki.fi/index.php?k=225852|title=Suomalainen Naisliitto – Historia|website=www.naisliittohelsinki.fi|language=fi|access-date=2020-01-18}}</ref>  [[Miina Sillanpää]] became Finland's first female government minister in 1926.<ref name="finland.fi_female">{{cite web|url=https://finland.fi/life-society/real-bridge-builder-became-finlands-first-female-government-minister/ |title=Real bridge-builder became Finland's first female government minister |publisher=Finland.fi |date=2018-12-31 |access-date=2021-10-07}}</ref>

==== France ====
The April&nbsp;21, 1944 ordinance of the [[French Committee of National Liberation]], confirmed in October 1944 by the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic|French provisional government]], extended the suffrage to French women.<ref>{{cite web|author=Maury, Jean-Pierre  |url=http://mjp.univ-perp.fr/france/co1944-2.htm |title=Ordonnance du 21 avril 1944 relative à l'organisation des pouvoirs publics en France après la Libération |publisher=Mjp.univ-perp.fr |access-date=January 8, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/femmes/citoyennete_politique_de-Gaulle.asp |title=La citoyenneté politique des femmes&nbsp;– La décision du Général de Gaulle |author=Assemblée nationale |access-date=December 19, 2007 |language=fr}}</ref> The first elections with female participation were the municipal elections of April&nbsp;29, 1945 and the [[1945 French legislative election|parliamentary elections]] of 21 October 1945. "Indigenous [[Muslim]]" women in [[French Algeria]] also known as Colonial Algeria, had to wait until a July 3, 1958, decree.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.patrick-weil.com/Fichiers%20du%20site/2005%20-%20Le%20statut%20des%20musulmans%20en%20Alg%C3%A9rie%20coloniale%20(Doc.%20fran%C3%A7aise).pdf |title=Le statut des musulmans en Algérie coloniale. Une nationalité française dénaturée |author=Patrick Weil |publisher=in La Justice en Algérie 1830–1962, La Documentation française, Collection Histoire de la Justice, Paris, 2005, pp. 95–109 |access-date=December 19, 2007 |language=fr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023230221/http://www.patrick-weil.com/Fichiers%20du%20site/2005%20-%20Le%20statut%20des%20musulmans%20en%20Alg%C3%A9rie%20coloniale%20(Doc.%20fran%C3%A7aise).pdf |archive-date=October 23, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://clio.revues.org/document524.html |title=1945–1958 : un million et demi de citoyennes interdites de vote ! |journal=Clio |author=Lefeuvre, Daniel |date=March 26, 2003 |issue=1 |access-date=December 19, 2007 |language=fr|doi=10.4000/clio.524 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Although several countries had started extending suffrage to women from the end of the 19th century, France was one of the last countries to do so in Europe. In fact, the [[Napoleonic Code]] declares the legal and political incapacity of women, which blocked attempts to give women political rights.<ref name="Europe 1">{{cite web |last1=des Cars |first1=Jean |title=LE SAVIEZ-VOUS ? La France est l'un des derniers pays d'Europe à avoir autorisé le droit de vote des femmes |url=https://www.europe1.fr/emissions/Au-coeur-de-l-histoire/le-saviez-vous-la-france-est-lun-des-derniers-pays-deurope-a-avoir-autorise-le-droit-de-vote-des-femmes-3953530 |website=Europe 1 |date=March 7, 2020 |access-date=March 7, 2020}}</ref> First feminist claims started emerging during the French Revolution in 1789. [[Condorcet]] expressed his support for women's right to vote in an article published in [[Journal de la Société de 1789]], but his project failed.<ref name="Gouvernement">{{cite web |title=Les Françaises obtiennent le droit de vote |url=https://www.gouvernement.fr/partage/10120-21-avril-1944-les-francaises-obtiennent-le-droit-de-vote |website=Gouvernement}}</ref> On 17 January 1913, [[Marie Denizard]] was the first woman to stand as a candidate in a French [[Presidential elections in France|presidential election]] but the state refused to acknowledge her.<ref>{{Cite news |title=TimesMachine: Tuesday January 14, 1913  |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/01/14/issue.html |access-date=2024-11-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> After [[World War I]], French women continued demanding political rights, and despite the [[Chamber of Deputies]] being in favor, the [[Senate]] continuously refused to analyze the law proposal.<ref name="Gouvernement"/> Socialists, and more generally, the political left repeatedly opposed the right to vote for women because they feared their more conservative preferences and their "domination" by priests.<ref name="Europe 1"/><ref name="Colomer-2001" /> It was only after [[World War II]] that women were granted political rights.

==== Georgia ====
Upon its declaration of independence on May 26, 1918, in the aftermath of the [[Russian Revolution]], the [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]] extended suffrage to its female citizens. The women of Georgia first exercised their right to vote in the [[1919 Georgian parliamentary election|1919 legislative election]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Georgian archive showcases women in politics in 1919–1921|url=http://agenda.ge/news/31613/eng|access-date=March 8, 2018|work=Agenda.ge|date=March 16, 2015}}</ref>

==== Germany ====
Women were granted the right to vote and be elected from November 12, 1918. The [[Weimar Constitution]] established a "new" Germany after the [[end of World War I]] and extended the right to vote to all citizens above the age of 20, with some exceptions.<ref name=Timeline />

==== Greece ====
Greece had [[universal suffrage]] since its independence in 1832, but this suffrage excluded women. The first proposal to give Greek women the right to vote was made on May 19, 1922, by a member of parliament, supported by then Prime Minister [[Dimitrios Gounaris]], during a constitutional convention.<ref name="GGE">{{Citation |title=Ἑλλάς – Ἑλληνισμὸς |url=http://anemi.lib.uoc.gr/php/pdf_pager.php?filename=%2Fvar%2Fwww%2Fanemi-portal%2Fmetadata%2Fa%2Ff%2Fb%2Fattached-metadata-01-0002588%2F279838_10.pdf&rec=%2Fmetadata%2Fa%2Ff%2Fb%2Fmetadata-01-0002588.tkl&do=279838_10.pdf&width=662&height=963&pagestart=1&maxpage=1104&lang=en&pageno=1&pagenotop=1&pagenobottom=262 |work=Μεγάλη Ἐλληνικὴ Ἐγκυκλοπαιδεῖα |volume=10 |location=Athens |publisher=Pyrsos Co. Ltd. |date=1934 |trans-title=Greece – Hellenism |page=871}}</ref> The proposal garnered a narrow majority of those present when it was first proposed, but failed to get the broad 80% support needed to add it to the constitution.<ref name="GGE" /> In 1925 consultations began again, and a law was passed allowing women the right to vote in local elections, provided they were 30 years of age and had attended at least primary education.<ref name="GGE" /> The law remained unenforced, until [[feminism|feminist]] movements within the civil service lobbied the government to enforce it in December 1927 and March 1929.<ref name="GGE" /> Women were allowed to vote on a local level for the first time in the [[Thessaloniki]] local elections, on December 14, 1930, where 240 women exercised their right to do so.<ref name="GGE" /> Women's turnout remained low, at only around 15,000 in the national local elections of 1934, despite women being a narrow majority of the population of 6.8&nbsp;million.<ref name="GGE" /> Women could not stand for election, despite a proposal made by Interior minister [[Ioannis Rallis]], which was contested in the courts; the courts ruled that the law only gave women "a limited franchise" and struck down any lists where women were listed as candidates for local councils.<ref name="GGE" /> [[Misogyny]] was rampant in that era; [[Emmanuel Rhoides]] is quoted as having said that "two professions are fit for women: housewife and prostitute". Another misogynistic "argument" employed against women's right to vote was that "during menstruation women are loony and in a frantic psychological state, and since they may be menstruating at the time of the elections, they can't vote".<ref name="mixani gun ps">{{cite web |url=http://www.mixanitouxronou.gr/otan-i-ellinides-den-mporousan-na-psif/ |title=Όταν οι Ελληνίδες δεν μπορούσαν να ψηφίσουν με το επιχείρημα ότι είχαν περίοδο και η ψήφος τους ήταν "επικίνδυνη και αποκρουστέα"! |date=September 1, 2015|website=ΜΗΧΑΝΗ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΟΝΟΥ |language=el |trans-title=When Greek women couldn't vote with the argument that they had a period and the vote was "dangerous and therefore coterminous" for them |access-date=September 8, 2018}}</ref>

On a national level women over 18 voted for the first time in April 1944 for the [[National Council (Greece)|National Council]], a legislative body set up by the [[National Liberation Front (Greece)|National Liberation Front]] [[Greek Resistance|resistance movement]]. Ultimately, women won the legal right to vote and run for office on May 28, 1952. [[Eleni Skoura]], again from [[Thessaloniki]], became the first woman elected to the [[Hellenic Parliament]] in 1953, with the conservative [[Greek Rally]], when she won a by-election against another female opponent.<ref name="Bacchetta">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ag7qRiZqYZoC&q=eleni+skoura&pg=PA124 |title=Right-wing Women: From Conservatives to Extremists Around the World |last1=Bacchetta |first1=Paola |last2=Power |first2=Margaret |date=2002 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=9780415927789 |page=124 }}</ref> Women were finally able to participate in the [[1956 Greek legislative election|1956 election]], with two more women becoming members of parliament; [[Lina Tsaldari]], wife of former Prime Minister [[Panagis Tsaldaris]], won the most votes of any candidate in the country and became the first female minister in Greece under the conservative [[National Radical Union]] government of [[Konstantinos Karamanlis]].<ref name="Bacchetta" />

No woman has been elected [[Prime Minister of Greece]], but [[Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou]] served as the country's first female prime minister, heading a [[caretaker government]], between August 27 and September 21, 2015. The first woman to lead a major political party was [[Aleka Papariga]], who served as General Secretary of the [[Communist Party of Greece]] from 1991 to 2013.

==== Hungary ====
In Hungary, although it was already planned in 1818,{{citation needed|date=March 2024|reason=Is this a misprint for 1918?}} the first occasion when women could vote was the elections held in January 1920.

==== Iceland ====
Iceland was under [[Denmark|Danish]] rule until 1944. Icelandic women acquired full voting rights along with Danish women in 1915.

==== Ireland ====
[[File:Irish Suffragette girl (cropped).jpg|thumb|200px]]
[[Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom|From 1918]], with the rest of the United Kingdom, women in Ireland could vote at age 30 with property qualifications or in university constituencies, while men could vote at age 21 with no qualification. From separation in 1922, the [[Irish Free State]] gave [[Equal voting|equal voting rights]] to men and women. ["All citizens of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Eireann) without distinction of sex, who have reached the age of twenty-one years and who comply with the provisions of the prevailing electoral laws, shall have the right to vote for members of Dáil Eireann, and to take part in the Referendum and Initiative."]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1922/act/1/enacted/en/print|title=electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB)|last=Book (eISB)|first=electronic Irish Statute|website=www.irishstatutebook.ie|access-date=July 10, 2019}}</ref> Promises of equal rights from the Proclamation were embraced in the Constitution in 1922, the year Irish women achieved full voting rights. However, over the next ten years, laws were introduced that eliminated women's rights from serving on juries, working after marriage, and working in industry. The 1937 Constitution and Taoiseach [[Éamon de Valera]]’s conservative leadership further stripped women of their previously granted rights.<ref name="The Sisterhood of the Easter Rising">Walshe, Sadhbh (March 16, 2016) [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/17/opinion/the-sisterhood-of-the-easter-rising.html The Sisterhood of the Easter Rising]. ''New York Times''.</ref> As well, though the 1937 Constitution guarantees women the right to vote and to nationality and citizenship on an equal basis with men, it also contains a provision, Article 41.2, which states:

{{blockquote|1° [...] the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.

2° The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.}}

==== Isle of Man ====
In 1881, The Isle of Man (in the British Isles but not part of the United Kingdom) passed a law giving the vote to single and widowed women who passed a property qualification. This was to vote in elections for the House of Keys, in the Island's parliament, Tynwald. This was extended to universal suffrage for men and women in 1919.<ref>{{cite web | title = Votes for women! | url = http://www.tynwald.org.im/education/women/Pages/VotesForWomen.aspx | website = tynwald.org.im | publisher = [[Tynwald]], Isle of Man | access-date = February 6, 2018 | archive-date = April 26, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210426153758/https://www.tynwald.org.im/education/women/Pages/VotesForWomen.aspx | url-status = dead }}</ref>

==== Italy ====
In Italy, women's suffrage was not introduced following [[World War&nbsp;I]], but upheld by [[Socialism|Socialist]] and [[Fascism|Fascist]] activists and partly introduced on a local or municipal level by [[Benito Mussolini]]'s government in 1925.<ref>{{cite book|author=Passmore, Kevin |title=Women, Gender and Fascism|page= 16|publisher=Manchester University Press|year= 2003|isbn=0719066174}}</ref> In April 1945, the provisional government led by the [[Italian Resistance]] decreed the universal enfranchisement of women in Italy, allowing for the immediate appointment of women to public office, of which the first was Elena Fischli Dreher.<ref>{{cite web |first=Elena |last=Fischli Dreher (1913–2005) |title=donna di azione e di fede |publisher=Voce Evangelica |url=http://www.voceevangelica.ch/miscellanea/miscellanea.cfm?item=12470 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919043018/http://www.voceevangelica.ch/miscellanea/miscellanea.cfm?item=12470 |archive-date=September 19, 2015 }}</ref> In the [[1946 Italian general election|1946 election]], all Italians simultaneously voted for the Constituent Assembly and for [[1946 Italian institutional referendum|a referendum]] about keeping Italy a [[Kingdom of Italy|monarchy]] or creating a [[History of the Italian Republic|republic]] instead. Elections were not held in the [[Julian March]] and [[History of South Tyrol#After World War II|South Tyrol]] because they were under [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] occupation.

The new version of [[Constitution of Italy#Political Rights and Duties (Articles 48-54)|article 51 Constitution]] recognizes equal opportunities in electoral lists.<ref>Also before the Amendment to Constitution, there was a favor of constitutionality for the so-called "pink" clause in the electoral rules, a reserve quota by sex (...) on the electoral roll.{{cite journal|last1=Buonomo|first1=Giampiero|title=Il debutto delle pari opportunità in Costituzione: la modifica dell'articolo 51|journal=Diritto&Giustizia Edizione Online|date=2003|url=https://www.questia.com/projects#!/project/89339257|access-date=March 28, 2016|archive-date=March 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324160801/https://www.questia.com/projects#!/project/89339257|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==== Liechtenstein ====
: ''See also [[Women's suffrage in Liechtenstein]]''
In [[Liechtenstein]], women's suffrage was granted via [[1984 Liechtenstein women's suffrage referendum|referendum in 1984]].<ref>{{cite news|author=AP |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/02/world/around-the-world-liechtenstein-women-win-right-to-vote.html |title=Around the World – Liechtenstein Women Win Right to Vote |location=Liechtenstein |work=The New York Times |date=July 2, 1984 |access-date=January 8, 2011}}</ref>

==== Luxembourg ====
In Luxembourg, [[Marguerite Thomas-Clement]] spoke in favour of women suffrage in public debate through articles in the press in 1917–19; however, there was never any organized women suffrage movement in Luxembourg, as women suffrage was included without debate in the new democratic constitution of 1919.

==== Malta ====

Malta was a British colony, but when women's suffrage was finally introduced in Great Britain in 1918, this had not been included in the 1921 Constitution on Malta, when Malta was given its own parliament, although the [[Labour Party (Malta)|Labour Party]] did support the reform.<ref name="Europe 2012">The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe: Voting to Become Citizens. (2012). Nederländerna: Brill.</ref>  
In 1931, [[Mabel Strickland]], assistant secretary of Constitution Party, delivered a petition signed by 428 to the Royal Commission on Maltese Affairs requesting women's suffrage without success.<ref name="Europe 2012"/>

However, there had been no organized movement for women's suffrage on Malta. In 1944 the [[Women of Malta Association]] was founded by [[Josephine Burns de Bono]] and [[Helen Buhagiar]]. The purpose was to work for the inclusion of women's suffrage in the new Malta constitution, which was to be introduced in 1947 and which was at that time prepared in parliament.<ref name="Europe 2012"/>  The Women of Malta Association was officially registered as a labor union, in order to give its representatives the right to speak in parliament.<ref name="Europe 2012"/>  
The Catholic church as well as the [[Nationalist Party (Malta)|Nationalist Party]] opposed women's suffrage with the argument that suffrage would be an unnecessary burden for women who had family and household to occupy them.<ref name="Europe 2012"/>  The Labour Party as well as the labour movement in general supported the reform.<ref name="Europe 2012"/>  An argument was that women paid taxes and should therefore also vote to decide what to do with them. Women's suffrage was approved with the votes 145 to 137.<ref name="Europe 2012"/>  
However, this did not include women's right to be elected to political office, and the Women of Malta Association therefore continued the campaign to include also this right. The debate continued with the same supporters and opponents, and the same arguments for and against, until this right was approved as well.

Women's suffrage and right to be elected to political office were included in the MacMichael Constitution, which was finally introduced on September 5, 1947. A politician at the time commented that the reform had been possible only because of women's participation in the war effort during the [[World War II]].<ref name="Europe 2012"/>

==== Monaco ====

Monaco introduced women's suffrage in 1962, as the fourth last in Europe. In Monaco, Women's suffrage was not introduced after a long campaign – although supported by the [[Union of Monegasque Women]], itself only founded in 1958<ref name="MH">{{cite web|access-date=2023-05-03|date=2013-01-23|language=fr-FR|title=Droit de vote des femmes : " Pas un combat féministe " – Monaco Hebdo|url=https://monaco-hebdo.com/actualites/societe/droit-de-vote-des-femmes-pas-un-combat-feministe/}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> – but was introduced as a part of the new Constitution, alongside Parliamentarism, an independent court system and a number of other legal and political reforms.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hlqtDwAAQBAJ&dq=Women's+Suffrage+monaco&pg=PA22|title=Monaco Offshore Tax Guide - Strategic, Practical Information, Regulations|date=November 28, 2017|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-4330-3420-6 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

==== Netherlands ====
[[File:Wilhelmina Drucker 1917.jpg|thumb|[[Wilhelmina Drucker]], a Dutch pioneer for women's rights, is portrayed by [[Truus Claes]] in 1917 on the occasion of her seventieth birthday.]]

Women were granted the right to vote in the [[Netherlands]] on August 9, 1919.<ref name=Timeline /> In 1917, a constitutional reform already allowed women to be electable. However, even though women's right to vote was approved in 1919, this only took effect from January 1, 1920.

The women's suffrage movement in the Netherlands was led by three women: [[Aletta Jacobs]], [[Wilhelmina Drucker]] and [[Annette Versluys-Poelman]]. In 1889, Wilhelmina Drucker founded a women's movement called [[Vrije Vrouwen Vereeniging]] (Free Women's Union) and it was from this movement that the campaign for women's suffrage in the Netherlands emerged. This movement got a lot of support from other countries, especially from the women's suffrage movement in England. In 1906 the movement wrote an open letter to the Queen pleading for women's suffrage. When this letter was rejected, in spite of popular support, the movement organised several demonstrations and protests in favor of women's suffrage. This movement was of great significance for women's suffrage in the Netherlands.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Aidt|first1=Toke S.|last2=Dallal|first2=Bianca|date=March 1, 2008|title=Female voting power: the contribution of women's suffrage to the growth of social spending in Western Europe (1869–1960)|journal=Public Choice|volume=134|issue=3–4|pages=391–417|doi=10.1007/s11127-007-9234-1|s2cid=153354759}}</ref>

==== Norway ====
[[File:57041 Første kvinne legger stemmeseddelen i urnen ved valget i 1910.jpg|thumb|The first Norwegian woman voter casts her ballot in the 1910 municipal election.]]

Liberal politician [[Gina Krog]] was the leading campaigner for women's suffrage in Norway from the 1880s. She founded the [[Norwegian Association for Women's Rights]] and the [[National Association for Women's Suffrage (Norway)|National Association for Women's Suffrage]] to promote this cause. Members of these organisations were politically well-connected and well organised and in a few years gradually succeeded in obtaining equal rights for women. Middle-class women won the right to vote in municipal elections in 1901 and parliamentary elections in 1907. Universal suffrage for women in municipal elections was introduced in 1910, and in 1913 a motion on universal suffrage for women was adopted unanimously by the [[Parliament of Norway|Norwegian parliament]] (Stortinget).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www3.hf.uio.no/1905/publikasjon/Gamme-hoved.pdf |title= "Mandsstemmer har vi saa evigt nok af fra før": perspektiver på stemmerettsdebatt for kvinner i Norge 1898–1913|last1=Gamme |first1=Anne |year=2001 |publisher=University of Oslo |access-date=March 15, 2013}}</ref> Norway thus became the first independent country to introduce women's suffrage.<ref>{{cite web|title=Women's suffrage centenary |url=http://stemmerettsjubileet.no/in-english|publisher= [[Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion]]|access-date=June 3, 2013}}</ref>

==== Poland ====
Regaining independence in 1918 following the 123-year period of partition and foreign rule,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Davies|first=Norman|title=Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland's Present|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2001|isbn=9780192801265}}</ref> [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] immediately granted women the right to vote and be elected as of November 28, 1918.<ref name=Timeline>{{cite web|title=The Women Suffrage Timeline|url=http://womensuffrage.org/?page_id=69|website=Women Suffrage and Beyond|access-date=August 7, 2015|archive-date=December 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216151820/http://womensuffrage.org/?page_id=69|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The first women elected to the [[Sejm of the Republic of Poland|Sejm]] in 1919 were: [[Gabriela Balicka]], [[Jadwiga Dziubińska]], [[Irena Kosmowska]], [[Maria Moczydłowska]], [[Zofia Moraczewska]], [[Anna Piasecka]], [[Zofia Sokolnicka]], and [[Franciszka Wilczkowiakowa]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bs.sejm.gov.pl/F/6YEKEYLQ269HCBVE1RBBJUQ3FEP6MSL3F6AN2VGAA9AQA5BDPL-47712?func=find-b-0&clear_level=2|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121221130214/http://bs.sejm.gov.pl/F/6YEKEYLQ269HCBVE1RBBJUQ3FEP6MSL3F6AN2VGAA9AQA5BDPL-47712?func=find-b-0&clear_level=2|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 21, 2012|title=Biblioteka Sejmowa /Parlamentarzyści polscy ("The Sejm Library / Polish deputies"): bs.gov.pl|access-date=August 27, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://rownetraktowanie.gov.pl/aktualnosci/otwarcie-wystawy-kobiety-w-parlamencie|publisher=The Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment, Otwarcie wystawy "Kobiety w Parlamencie"|title=Opening of the exhibition "Women in Parliament"|language=pl|date=April 24, 2009|access-date=August 27, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020055356/http://www.rownetraktowanie.gov.pl/aktualnosci/otwarcie-wystawy-kobiety-w-parlamencie|archive-date=October 20, 2014}}</ref>

==== Portugal ====
[[Carolina Beatriz Ângelo]] was the first Portuguese woman to vote, in the [[1911 Portuguese Constituent National Assembly election|Constituent National Assembly election of 1911]],<ref name="modern">{{cite book |title=Modern Portugal
|author=Costa Pinto, António |page=171|publisher=Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship |date=1998
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hpPtAAAAMAAJ&q=Carolina+Beatriz+%C3%82ngelo|isbn=978-0-930664-17-6 }}</ref> taking advantage of a [[loophole]] in the country's electoral law.

In 1931, during the [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|Estado Novo]] regime, women were allowed to vote for the first time, but only if they had a high school or [[Academic degree|university degree]], while men had only to be able to read and write. In 1946 a new electoral law enlarged the possibility of female vote, but still with some differences regarding men. A law from 1968 claimed to establish "equality of [[Rights|political rights]] for men and women", but a few electoral rights were reserved for men. After the [[Carnation Revolution]], women were granted full and equal electoral rights in 1976.<ref name=idea.int/><ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>

==== Romania ====
The timeline of granting women's suffrage in Romania was gradual and complex, due to the turbulent historical period when it happened. The concept of universal suffrage for all ''men'' was introduced in 1918,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.stevenson.ac.uk/comenius/articles/univsuff/ro_db/suff_1b.htm|title=Comenius 1 History Project – A History of the right to vote in Romania|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009152036/http://www2.stevenson.ac.uk/comenius/articles/univsuff/ro_db/suff_1b.htm|archive-date=October 9, 2016}}</ref> and reinforced by the [[1923 Constitution of Romania]]. Although this constitution opened the way for the possibility of women's suffrage too (Article 6),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.constitutia.ro/const1923.htm|title=Constitutia Romaniei, monitorul oficial, constitutiunea din 1866, constitutia din 1866, Principatele Unite Romane, Carol I|author1=T.A.|author2= Dezibel Media|author3= Romania|date=January 2, 2000}}</ref> this did not materialize: the Electoral Law of 1926 did not grant women the right to vote, maintaining all male suffrage.<ref name="Summary">{{cite web|url=http://www.impowr.org/content/summary-rights-vote-romania#footnote2_urb4lp3|title=Summary: Rights to Vote in Romania|access-date=July 18, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009181905/http://www.impowr.org/content/summary-rights-vote-romania#footnote2_urb4lp3|archive-date=October 9, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Starting in 1929, women who met certain qualifications were allowed to vote in local elections.<ref name="Summary"/> After the [[1938 Constitution of Romania|Constitution from 1938]] (elaborated under [[Carol II of Romania]] who sought to implement an authoritarian regime) the voting rights were extended to women for national elections by the Electoral Law 1939,<ref name="fp.kross.ro">{{cite web |url=http://fp.kross.ro/pdf/le_1939.pdf |title=LEGEA ELECTORALA|publisher=kross.ro|access-date=February 9, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216133450/http://fp.kross.ro/pdf/le_1939.pdf |archive-date=February 16, 2016 }}</ref> but both women and men had restrictions, and in practice these restrictions affected women more than men (the new restrictions on men also meant that men lost their previous universal suffrage). Although women could vote, they could be elected only to the [[Senate of Romania|Senate]] and not to the [[Chamber of Deputies (Romania)|Chamber of Deputies]] (Article 4 (c)).<ref name="fp.kross.ro"/> (the Senate was later abolished in 1940). Due to the historical context of the time, which included the dictatorship of [[Ion Antonescu]], there were no elections in Romania between 1940 and 1946. In 1946, Law no. 560 gave full equal rights to men and women to vote and to be elected in the Chamber of Deputies; and women voted in the [[1946 Romanian general election]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fp.kross.ro/pdf/le_1946.pdf |title=LEGEA Nr. 560|access-date=February 9, 2016|publisher=kross.ro |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216133614/http://fp.kross.ro/pdf/le_1946.pdf |archive-date=February 16, 2016 }}</ref> The [[Constitution of Romania|Constitution of 1948]] gave women and men equal civil and political rights (Article 18).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.constitutia.ro/const1948.htm|title=Constitutia Romaniei, monitorul oficial, constitutia din 1948, constitutia Republicii Populare Romane 1948, Republica Populara Romana|author1=T.A.|author2= Dezibel Media|author3= Romania|date=January 4, 2000}}</ref> Until the collapse of communism in 1989, all the candidates were chosen by the [[Romanian Communist Party]], and civil rights were merely symbolic under this authoritarian regime.<ref>{{cite web|title=A History of the Right to Vote in Romania|url=http://www2.stevenson.ac.uk/comenius/articles/univsuff/ro_db/suff_1b.htm|website=Comenius|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009152036/http://www2.stevenson.ac.uk/comenius/articles/univsuff/ro_db/suff_1b.htm|archive-date=October 9, 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Woman's suffrage denonstration.jpg|thumb|A 1917 demonstration in Petrograd. The plaque says (in Russian): "Without the participation of women, election is not universal!"]]

==== Russia ====
Despite initial apprehension against enfranchising women for the right to vote for the upcoming [[1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election|Constituent Assembly election]], the [[League for Women's Equality]] and other suffragists rallied throughout the year of 1917 for the right to vote. After much pressure (including a 40,000-strong march on the [[Tauride Palace]]), on July 20, 1917, the [[Russian Provisional Government|Provisional Government]] enfranchised women with the right to vote.<ref name=Wade>{{cite book|last1=Wade|first1=Rex|title=The Russian Revolution, 1917|date=April 21, 2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-60242-6|page=117|edition=2nd}}</ref>

==== San Marino ====
[[San Marino]] introduced [[Women in San Marino|women's suffrage]] in 1959,<ref name=idea.int/> following the 1957 constitutional crisis known as [[Fatti di Rovereta]]. It was however only in 1973 that women obtained the right to stand for election.<ref name=idea.int/>

==== Spain ====
[[File:01 eibar.jpg|thumb|Women exercising the right to vote during the [[Second Spanish Republic]], November 5, 1933]]

During the [[Miguel Primo de Rivera]] regime (1923–1930) only women who were considered heads of household were allowed to [[vote]] in local elections, but there were none at that time. Women's suffrage was officially adopted in 1931 despite the opposition of [[Margarita Nelken]] and [[Victoria Kent]], two female MPs (both members of the Republican Radical-Socialist Party), who argued that women in Spain at that moment lacked social and political education enough to vote responsibly because they would be unduly influenced by Catholic priests.<ref name="Colomer-2001" /> Most Spanish Republicans at the time held the same view.<ref name="Colomer-2001" /> The other female MP at the time, [[Clara Campoamor]] of the liberal Radical Party, was a strong advocate of women's suffrage and she was the one leading the Parliament's affirmative vote.  During the [[Francoist Spain|Franco]] regime in the "organic democracy" type of elections called "referendums" (Franco's regime was dictatorial) women over 21 were allowed to vote without distinction.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/01361697557806725311802/p0000001.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070514084006/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/01361697557806725311802/p0000001.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 14, 2007 |title=Ley de Referéndum de 1945 |publisher=www.cervantesvirtual.com |date=September 2, 2015|access-date=September 29, 2015 }}</ref> From 1976, during the [[Spanish transition to democracy]] women fully exercised the right to vote and be elected to office.

==== Sweden ====
[[File:Maria Gustava Gyllenstierna SP156.jpg|thumb|left|The Swedish writer [[Maria Gustava Gyllenstierna]] (1672–1737); as a taxpaying property owner, and a woman of legal majority due to her widowed status, she belonged to the women granted suffrage in accordance with the constitution of the [[Age of Liberty]] (1718–1772).]]

During the [[Age of Liberty]] (1718–1772), Sweden had conditional women's suffrage.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> Until the reform of 1865, the local elections consisted of mayoral elections in the cities, and elections of parish vicars in the countryside parishes. The ''Sockenstämma'' was the local parish council who handled local affairs, in which the parish vicar presided and the local peasantry assembled and voted, an informally regulated process in which women are reported to have participated already in the 17th century.<ref name="Du Rietz">Du Rietz, Anita, Kvinnors entreprenörskap: under 400 år, 1. uppl., Dialogos, Stockholm, 2013</ref> The national elections consisted of the election of the representations to the [[Riksdag of the Estates]].

Suffrage was gender neutral and therefore applied to women as well as men if they filled the qualifications of a voting citizen.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> These qualifications were changed during the course of the 18th-century, as well as the local interpretation of the credentials, affecting the number of qualified voters: the qualifications also differed between cities and countryside, as well as local or national elections.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" />

Initially, the right to [[vote]] in local city elections (mayoral elections) was granted to every ''burgher'', which was defined as a taxpaying citizen with a [[guild]] membership.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> Women as well as men were members of guilds, which resulted in women's suffrage for a limited number of women.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" />
In 1734, suffrage in both national and local elections, in cities as well as countryside, was granted to every property owning taxpaying citizen of [[legal majority]].<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> This extended suffrage to all taxpaying property owning women whether guild members or not, but excluded married women and the majority of unmarried women, as married women were defined as legal minors, and unmarried women were minors unless they applied for legal majority by royal dispensation, while widowed and divorced women were of legal majority.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> The 1734 reform increased the participation of women in elections from 55 to 71 percent.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" />

[[File:C1910 Signe Bergman Swedish suffragist.jpg|thumb|upright|Swedish suffragist [[Signe Bergman]], {{Circa|1910|lk=no}}]]

Between 1726 and 1742, women voted in 17 of 31 examined mayoral elections.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> Reportedly, some women voters in mayoral elections preferred to appoint a male to vote for them by [[proxy voting|proxy]] in the city hall because they found it embarrassing to do so in person, which was cited as a reason to abolish women's suffrage by its opponents.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> The custom to appoint to vote by proxy was however used also by males, and it was in fact common for men, who were absent or ill during elections, to appoint their wives to vote for them.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> In [[Vaasa]] in Finland (then a Swedish province), there was opposition against women participating in the town hall discussing political issues as this was not seen as their right place, and women's suffrage appears to have been opposed in practice in some parts of the realm: when [[Anna Elisabeth Baer]] and two other women petitioned to vote in [[Turku]] in 1771, they were not allowed to do so by town officials.<ref name="books.google.se"/>

In 1758, women were excluded from mayoral elections by a new regulation by which they could no longer be defined as burghers, but women's suffrage was kept in the national elections as well as the countryside parish elections.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> Women participated in all of the eleven national elections held up until 1757.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> In 1772, women's suffrage in national elections was abolished by demand from the burgher estate. Women's suffrage was first abolished for taxpaying unmarried women of legal majority, and then for widows.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" />
However, the local interpretation of the prohibition of women's suffrage varied, and some cities continued to allow women to vote: in [[Kalmar]], [[Växjö]], [[Västervik]], [[Simrishamn]], [[Ystad]], [[Åmål]], [[Karlstad]], [[Bergslagen]], [[Dalarna]] and [[Norrland]], women were allowed to continue to vote despite the 1772 ban, while in [[Lund]], [[Uppsala]], [[Skara]], Turku, [[Gothenburg]] and [[Marstrand]], women were strictly barred from the vote after 1772.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" />

[[File:Demonstrationståg för kvinnorösträtten, Göteborg - Nordiska Museet - NMA.0032617.jpg|thumb|left|Women's suffrage demonstration in Gothenburg, June 1918]]

While women's suffrage was banned in the mayoral elections in 1758 and in the national elections in 1772, no such bar was ever introduced in the local elections in the countryside, where women therefore continued to vote in the local parish elections of vicars.<ref name="Karlsson Sjögren" /> In a series of reforms in 1813–1817, unmarried women of legal majority, "Unmarried maiden, who has been declared of legal majority", were given the right to vote in the ''sockestämma'' (local parish council, the predecessor of the communal and city councils), and the ''kyrkoråd'' (local church councils).<ref>Ann Margret Holmgren: Kvinnorösträttens historia i de nordiska länderna (1920).</ref>

In 1823, a suggestion was raised by the mayor of Strängnäs to reintroduce women's suffrage for taxpaying women of legal majority (unmarried, divorced and widowed women) in the mayoral elections, and this right was reintroduced in 1858.<ref name="Du Rietz"/>

In 1862, tax-paying women of legal majority (unmarried, divorced and widowed women) were again allowed to vote in municipal elections, making Sweden the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote.<ref name="jstor.org"/> This was after the introduction of a new political system, where a new local authority was introduced: the communal municipal council. The right to vote in municipal elections applied only to people of legal majority, which excluded married women, as they were juridically under the guardianship of their husbands. In 1884 the suggestion to grant women the right to vote in national elections was initially voted down in Parliament.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Christer Palmquist  |author2=Hans Kristian Widberg |name-list-style=amp | title = Millenium. Samhällskunska| publisher = Bonniers| isbn = 978-91-622-5995-2| year = 2004| page = 317| language = sv}}</ref> During the 1880s, the [[Married Woman's Property Rights Association]] had a campaign to encourage the female voters, qualified to vote in accordance with the 1862 law, to use their vote and increase the participation of women voters in the elections, but there was yet no public demand for women's suffrage among women. In 1888, the [[temperance movement|temperance]] activist [[Emilie Rathou]] became the first woman in Sweden to demand the right for women's suffrage in a public speech.<ref>Emilie Rathou, urn:sbl:7563, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av [[Hjördis Levin]]), hämtad May 30, 2015.</ref> In 1899, a delegation from the [[Fredrika Bremer Association]] presented a suggestion of women's suffrage to prime minister [[Erik Gustaf Boström]]. The delegation was headed by [[Agda Montelius]], accompanied by [[Gertrud Adelborg]], who had written the demand. This was the first time the Swedish women's movement themselves had officially presented a demand for suffrage.

In 1902 the [[National Association for Women's Suffrage (Sweden)|Swedish Society for Woman Suffrage]] was founded, supported by the [[Stockholms Allmänna Kvinnoklubb|Social Democratic women's Clubs]].<ref>Barbro Hedwall (2011). Susanna Eriksson Lundqvist. red.. Vår rättmätiga plats. Om kvinnornas kamp för rösträtt.. (Our Rightful Place. About women's struggle for suffrage) Förlag Bonnier. {{ISBN|978-91-7424-119-8}} (Swedish)</ref> In 1906 the suggestion of women's suffrage was voted down in parliament again.<ref name="runeberg.org">{{cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/nfbo/0225.html |title=Runeberg.org |publisher=Runeberg.org |access-date=January 8, 2011}}</ref> In 1909, the right to vote in municipal elections were extended to also include married women.<ref name="Nordisk familjebok">Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. 15. Kromat – Ledvätska.</ref> The same year, women were granted eligibility for election to municipal councils,<ref name="Nordisk familjebok"/> and in the following 1910–11 municipal elections, forty women were elected to different municipal councils,<ref name="runeberg.org"/> [[Gertrud Månsson]] being the first. In 1914 [[Emilia Broomé]] became the first woman in the legislative assembly.<ref>[http://www.ub.gu.se/kvinn/portaler/fred/biografier/broome.xml Article] about [[Emilia Broomé]] on the webpage of [[Gothenburg University Library]].</ref>

The right to vote in national elections was not returned to women until 1919, and was practiced again in the election of 1921, for the first time in 150 years.<ref name="Karlsson-Sjögren 1866"/>

After the 1921 election, the first women were elected to Swedish Parliament after women's suffrage were [[Kerstin Hesselgren]] in the Upper chamber and [[Nelly Thüring]] (Social Democrat), [[Agda Östlund]] (Social Democrat) [[Elisabeth Tamm]] (liberal) and [[Bertha Wellin]] (Conservative) in the Lower chamber. [[Karin Kock-Lindberg]] became the first female government minister, and in 1958, [[Ulla Lindström]] became the first acting prime minister.<ref>(Swedish) Mikael Sjögren, Statsrådet och genusordningen – Ulla Lindström 1954–1966 (Minister and Gender – Ulla Lindström 1954–1966).</ref>

==== Switzerland ====
{{Main|Women's suffrage in Switzerland}}
A [[1959 Swiss referendums|referendum]] on women's suffrage was held on February 1, 1959. The majority of Switzerland's men (67%) voted against it, but in some French-speaking [[Cantons of Switzerland|cantons]] women obtained the vote.<ref name="switzerland-chronology">{{cite web|url=http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/chronology-womens-right-vote-switzerland.html |title=The Long Way to Women's Right to Vote in Switzerland: a Chronology |publisher=History-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch |access-date=January 8, 2011}}</ref> The first Swiss woman to hold political office, [[Trudy Späth-Schweizer]], was elected to the municipal government of [[Riehen]] in 1958.<ref name="Tages-Anzeiger 2010">{{cite news|last=Manz|first=Ev|title=Die Wegbereiterin aller Bundesrätinnen|url=http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/schweiz/standard/Die-Wegbereiterin-aller-Bundesraetinnen-/story/23894564|access-date=July 23, 2010|newspaper=[[Tages-Anzeiger]]|date=July 23, 2010|language=de}}</ref>

Switzerland was the last Western republic to grant women's suffrage; they gained the right to vote in federal elections in 1971 after [[1971 Swiss referendums|a second referendum]] that year.<ref name="switzerland-chronology"/> In 1991 following a decision by the [[Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland]], [[Appenzell Innerrhoden]] became the last Swiss canton to grant women the vote on local issues.<ref name="wom1373" />

The first female member of the seven-member [[Swiss Federal Council]], [[Elisabeth Kopp]], served from 1984 to 1989. [[Ruth Dreifuss]], the second female member, served from 1993 to 1999, and was the first female [[President of the Swiss Confederation]] for the year 1999. From September 22, 2010, until December 31, 2011, the highest political executive of the Swiss Confederation had a majority of female councillors (4 of 7); for the three years 2010, 2011, and 2012 Switzerland was presided by [[List of Presidents of the Swiss Confederation|female presidency]] for three years in a row. In 2015, 2017,<ref name=FSO>{{cite web |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/politik/wahlen/frauen.html |title=Frauen und Wahlen |publisher=Federal Statistical Office FSO |location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland |type=official site |date=2018 |language=de, fr |access-date=April 29, 2018}}</ref> 2020 and 2024, the country was presided by a woman.

==== Turkey ====
[[File:First female MPs of the Turkish Parliament (1935).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Eighteen female MPs joined the Turkish Parliament in 1935.]]
In [[Turkey]], [[Atatürk]], the founding president of the republic, led a secularist cultural and legal transformation supporting women's rights including voting and being elected. Women won the right to vote in municipal elections on March&nbsp;20, 1930. Women's suffrage was achieved for parliamentary elections on December&nbsp;5, 1934, through a constitutional amendment. Turkish women, who participated in parliamentary elections for the first time on February&nbsp;8, 1935, obtained 18&nbsp;seats.

In the early republic, when Atatürk ran a one-party state, his party picked all candidates. A small percentage of seats were set aside for women, so naturally those female candidates won. When multi-party elections began in the 1940s, the share of women in the legislature fell, and the 4% share of parliamentary seats gained in 1935 was not reached again until 1999. In the parliament of 2011, women hold about 9% of the seats. Nevertheless, Turkish women gained the right to vote a decade or more before women in such Western European countries as France, Italy, and Belgium  – a mark of Atatürk's far-reaching social changes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.oup.com/2012/02/turkey-women-vote/|title=Turkey holds first election that allows women to vote|work=OUPblog|date=February 6, 2012}}</ref>

[[Tansu Çiller]] served as the 22nd prime minister of Turkey and the first female prime minister of Turkey from 1993 to 1996. She was elected to the parliament in 1991 general elections and she became prime minister on June 25, 1993, when her cabinet was approved by the parliament.

==== United Kingdom ====
{{Main|Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Suffragette cartoon by L.M. Glackens.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A British cartoon speculating on why imprisoned [[suffragette]]s refused to eat in prison]]
[[File:Countess Constance Markiewicz-1.1.2 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Constance Markievicz]] was the first woman elected to the British [[House of Commons]] in 1918, but as an [[Irish nationalist]] she did not take her seat, instead joining the [[First Dáil]]. In 1919 she was appointed [[Minister for Labour (Ireland)|Minister for Labour]], the first female minister in a democratic [[Cabinet (government)|government cabinet]].]]
The campaign for women's suffrage in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]] gained momentum throughout the early part of the 19th&nbsp;century, as women became increasingly politically active, particularly during [[Chartism|the campaigns to reform suffrage in the United Kingdom]]. [[John Stuart Mill]], elected to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] in 1865 and an open advocate of female suffrage (about to publish ''[[The Subjection of Women]]''), campaigned for an amendment to the [[Reform Act 1832]] to include female suffrage.<ref>Nelson, Carolyn Christensen (2004). ''Literature of the women's suffrage campaign in England'', p. 3. Broadview Press. Retrieved February 29, 2012.</ref> Roundly defeated in an all-male parliament under a Conservative government, the issue of women's suffrage came to the fore.

Until the 1832 Reform Act specified "male persons", a few women had been able to vote in parliamentary elections through property ownership, although this was rare.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Heater|first1=Derek|title=Citizenship in Britain: A History|date=2006|publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-2672-4|page=107|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=js-qBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA107}}</ref> In local government elections, women lost the right to vote under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]]. Unmarried women [[ratepayer]]s received the right to vote in the [[Municipal Franchise Act 1869]]. This right was confirmed in the [[Local Government Act 1894]] and extended to include some married women.<ref name=HoCL2013>{{citation|title=The History of the Parliamentary Franchise|chapter-url=http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/RP13-14|publisher=House of Commons Library|access-date=March 16, 2016|date=March 1, 2013|pages=37–39|chapter=Female Suffrage before 1918|last1=Johnston|first1=Neil}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Heater|first1=Derek|title=Citizenship in Britain: A History|date=2006|publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-2672-4|page=136|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=js-qBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA136}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Women's rights|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/brave_new_world/women.htm|publisher=The National Archives|access-date=February 11, 2015}}</ref><ref name=Synonym>{{cite web|title=Which Act Gave Women the Right to Vote in Britain?|url=http://classroom.synonym.com/act-gave-women-right-vote-britain-5469.html|website=Synonym|access-date=February 11, 2015}}</ref> By 1900, more than 1&nbsp;million women were registered to vote in local government elections in England.<ref name="HoCL2013"/>

In 1881, the [[Isle of Man]] (in the British Isles but not part of the United Kingdom) passed a law giving the vote to single and widowed women who passed a property qualification. This was to vote in elections for the House of Keys, in the Island's parliament, Tynwald. This was extended to universal suffrage for men and women in 1919.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.tynwald.org.im/education/women/Pages/VotesForWomen.aspx | title=Tynwald – Parliament of the Isle of Man | access-date=February 6, 2018 | archive-date=April 26, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426153758/https://www.tynwald.org.im/education/women/Pages/VotesForWomen.aspx | url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the later half of the 19th century, a number of campaign groups for women's suffrage in national elections were formed in an attempt to lobby members of parliament and gain support. In 1897, seventeen of these groups came together to form the [[National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies]] (NUWSS), who held public meetings, wrote letters to politicians and published various texts.<ref name="Cook">Cook, Chris (2005). "The Routledge companion to Britain in the nineteenth century, 1815–1914", p. 124. Taylor & Francis, 2005.</ref> In 1907 the NUWSS organized its first large procession.<ref name="Cook"/> This march became known as the [[Mud March (Suffragists)|Mud March]] as over 3,000 women trudged through the streets of London from [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]] to [[Exeter Hall]] to advocate women's suffrage.<ref>Harold L Smith (2007). "The British women's suffrage campaign, 1866–1928" p. 23. Pearson/Longman, 2007.</ref>

In 1903 a number of members of the NUWSS broke away and, led by [[Emmeline Pankhurst]], formed the [[Women's Social and Political Union]] (WSPU).<ref>Scott, Bonnie Kime (2007). "Gender in modernism: new geographies, complex intersections", p. 693. University of Illinois Press, 2007.</ref> As the national media lost interest in the suffrage campaign, the WSPU decided it would use other methods to create publicity. This began in 1905 at a meeting in Manchester's [[Free Trade Hall]] where [[Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon]], a member of the newly elected Liberal government, was speaking.<ref name="Purvis">Puris, June; Sandra Stanley Holton (2000). "Votes for women", p. 112. Routledge, 2000.</ref> As he was talking, [[Christabel Pankhurst]] and [[Annie Kenney]] of the WSPU constantly shouted out: "Will the Liberal Government give votes to women?"<ref name="Purvis"/> When they refused to cease calling out, police were called to evict them and the two suffragettes (as members of the WSPU became known after this incident) were involved in a struggle that ended with them being arrested and charged for assault.<ref>{{cite news|title=Suppression of the W.S.P.U. |work=Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser |date=May 1, 1913 |access-date= February 24, 2015 |url =http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000206/19130501/043/0006 | publisher = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref> When they refused to pay their fine, they were sent to prison for one week, and three days.<ref name="Purvis"/> The British public were shocked and took notice at this use of violence to win the vote for women.

After this media success, the WSPU's tactics became increasingly violent. This included an attempt in 1908 to storm the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], the arson of [[David Lloyd George]]'s country home (despite his support for women's suffrage). In 1909 Lady [[Constance Lytton]] was imprisoned, but immediately released when her identity was discovered, so in 1910 she disguised herself as a working class seamstress called [[Constance Lytton|Jane Warton]] and endured inhumane treatment which included [[force-feeding]]. In 1913, suffragette [[Emily Davison]] protested by interfering with a horse owned by King [[George V]] during the running of [[Epsom Derby|The Derby]]; she was struck by the horse and died four days later. The WSPU ceased their militant activities during [[World War I]] and agreed to assist with the [[war effort]].<ref>Leventhal, F. M. (2002). "Twentieth-century Britain: an encyclopedia", p. 432.</ref>

The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, which had always employed "constitutional" methods, continued to lobby during the war years, and compromises were worked out between the NUWSS and the coalition government.<ref name="Cawood">Cawood, Ian; David McKinnon-Bell (2001). "The First World War", p. 71. Routledge 2001.</ref> The [[Speaker's Conference on electoral reform (1917)]] represented all the parties in both houses, and came to the conclusion that women's suffrage was essential. Regarding fears that women would suddenly move from zero to a majority of the electorate due to the heavy loss of men during the war, the Conference recommended that the age restriction be 21 for men, and 30 for women.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/parliamentary-collectionsdelete/representation-of-the-people-act-1918/ |title=Representation of the People Act 1918 |access-date=May 24, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304113052/http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/parliamentary-collectionsdelete/representation-of-the-people-act-1918/ |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref><ref>Arthur Marwick, ''A history of the modern British Isles, 1914–1999: circumstances, events and outcomes'' (Wiley-Blackwell, 2000) pp. 43–50.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Millicent Garrett Fawcett|title=The Women's Victory – and After: Personal Reminiscences, 1911–1918|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E__ZtG2bX7gC&pg=PA140|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge UP|pages=140–43|isbn=978-1-108-02660-4}}</ref>

On February 6, 1918, the [[Representation of the People Act 1918]] was passed, enfranchising women over the age of 30 who met minimum property qualifications. About 8.4&nbsp;million women gained the vote in Great Britain and Ireland.<ref name="Fawcett">Fawcett, Millicent Garrett. "The Women's Victory&nbsp;– and After". p. 170. Cambridge University Press</ref> In November 1918, the [[Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918]] was passed, allowing women to be elected into Parliament. The [[Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928]] extended the franchise in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to all women over the age of 21, granting women the vote on the same terms as men.<ref>Stearns, Peter N. (2008), ''The Oxford encyclopedia of the modern world'', Volume 7. Oxford University Press, p. 160.</ref>

In 1999, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, in naming Emmeline Pankhurst as one of the [[Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century|100 Most Important People of the 20th Century]], states: "...she shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back".<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Emmeline Pankhurst&nbsp;– Time 100 People of the Century |url=http://www.yachtingnet.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/pankhurst01.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727020126/http://www.yachtingnet.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/pankhurst01.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 27, 2017 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |quote=She shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back. }}</ref>