preview

Women 's Suffrage During The Nineteenth Century Essay

Good Essays

The women’s suffrage movements began to emerge during the first half of the nineteenth century. In the United States, a handful of Western states already granted women’s suffrage during the nineteenth century. However, in the majority of states the enfranchisement of women followed only after the nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted full voting rights to women in 1920. Similarly, British women gained partial suffrage through the Representation of the People Act of 1918.
In the same year, all women over 21 years old were granted the right to stand for Parliament through The Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act. Equal voting rights with men were only achieved through the Representation of the People Acts of 1928, also known as the Equal Franchise Act, which granted universal suffrage to women over age 21.
Even in the mid-twentieth century, women had not gained legal rights equal to men along all dimensions. In particular, women continued to face unequal legal treatment in the labor market long after they had gained the right to vote. In the United States, restrictions on hours worked, wages, and work conditions of female employees were introduced in almost all states during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,

Table 1.3 Democratization of suffrage in Selected Countries
Country Male Universal Suffrage Female Universal Suffrage
Australia 1903 1908
Canada 1915/18 1920
France 1869/71 1946
Great Britain 1877 1928
Italy

Get Access