When Women Won the Vote
The year women could first vote in national elections, on terms at least close to men's. Drag the slider to watch the map fill in.
New Zealand1893
The first self-governing country to give women the vote; Māori women were included from the start.
A country appears once, in the year women first voted nationally on terms close to men's. Earlier partial or local rights, and exclusions of some groups of women, are in the notes.
Read this first
These charts show a single number for each country, from our own knowledge: the year something first happened, or the time the law sets for it. Where a rule differs by region, by type of case or by group of people, the note says so. Rules are reformed from time to time, so check the current law. It is general information, not legal advice.
The same numbers, as a table
| Country | Year | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 1947 | |
| Australia | 1902 | Federal law; many Aboriginal women could not vote until 1962. |
| Austria | 1918 | |
| Belgium | 1948 | Women who were widows or mothers of war dead could vote from 1919. |
| Brazil | 1932 | |
| Canada | 1918 | Federal law; some provinces gave it earlier, and Indigenous people could not vote federally until 1960. |
| Chile | 1949 | Women could vote in local elections from 1934. |
| Colombia | 1954 | |
| Cuba | 1934 | |
| Czechia | 1920 | As part of Czechoslovakia. |
| Denmark | 1915 | |
| Egypt | 1956 | |
| Finland | 1906 | The first country in Europe, then a grand duchy of the Russian Empire, and the first to let women stand for parliament. |
| France | 1944 | |
| Germany | 1918 | |
| Greece | 1952 | Literate women could vote in local elections from 1930. |
| Iceland | 1915 | At first with an age limit above men's. |
| India | 1950 | In the Constitution of 1950, which gave all adult citizens the vote. |
| Indonesia | 1945 | |
| Ireland | 1922 | In the Irish Free State; women over 30 had voted in 1918 as part of the United Kingdom. |
| Israel | 1948 | |
| Italy | 1945 | |
| Japan | 1945 | |
| Luxembourg | 1919 | |
| Mexico | 1953 | Women voted in local elections from 1947. |
| Netherlands | 1919 | |
| New Zealand | 1893 | The first self-governing country to give women the vote; Māori women were included from the start. |
| Norway | 1913 | |
| Peru | 1955 | |
| Philippines | 1937 | |
| Poland | 1918 | |
| Russia | 1917 | |
| Slovakia | 1920 | As part of Czechoslovakia. |
| South Korea | 1948 | |
| Spain | 1931 | |
| Sweden | 1919 | Law of 1919; the first election with women voting was in 1921. |
| Switzerland | 1971 | Federal elections; the last canton gave women the vote on local matters in 1990. |
| Thailand | 1932 | |
| Turkey | 1934 | Women could vote in local elections from 1930. |
| United Kingdom | 1918 | Women over 30 with a property test; equal terms with men from 1928. |
| United States | 1920 | The Nineteenth Amendment; some states had given women the vote earlier, and many Black women were kept from voting until 1965. |
| Uruguay | 1932 |
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TheLawToKnow Tools. When Women Won the Vote. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/who-went-first/when-women-won-the-vote.
