The map above shows when women got the right to vote in each country around the world.
2018 marks the centenary of Women’s suffrage in the UK and even then only with several restrictions (had to be over the age of 30 and meet property qualifications).
Women in the UK would not get get to vote on equal terms as men until the passage of the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928.
Somewhat ironically, the Isle of Man gave women who owned property the right to vote in 1881 making it one of the first jurisdictions in the world to do so.
The US territory of Wyoming gave women the right to vote even earlier in 1869, although it’s population at time was less than 10,000. And several other US States granted women the right to vote prior to Nationwide Suffrage in 1920. (See: 1919 Women’s Suffrage Victory Map, Published The Year Before The Passage Of The 19th Amendment and A 1917 Map of Women’s Suffrage in North America)
New Zealand (at the time still a British colony) is often regarded as the first country to grant women the right to vote in 1893.
Other countries who’ve were early adopters of women’s suffrage include: Australia (1902), Finland (1906) Norway (1907), Denmark (1915), Iceland (1915), Canada (1917), Russia (1917), Armenia (1917) and Estonia (1917).
At the other extreme Saudi Arabia only gave women the right to vote in 2011! Other notable laggards include the UAE (2006), Bahrain (2002), Oman (1997), Qatar (1997) and Samoa (1990).
Women don’t have the right to vote in the Vatican, but then again neither can men. The Pope is elected by the by the College of Cardinals, which part of the Holy See (technically separate from the Vatican City State). However, since Cardinals can only men, that means that the Vatican City is the only country remaining with no voting or electoral rights for women.
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Tse says
Many countries have asterisks, but there doesn’t seem to be any explanation of what they indicate. Clarification please?
KerryJ says
The asterisks mean that states in that country – like the US – gave women the right to vote locally earlier than the date indicated, but it wasn’t enshrined in national law.