Question

What was the suffrage movement and what did it accomplish?

Answer 1

Hint: Universal Adult Franchise or Universal Suffrage is meant to provide all citizens, who have attained a certain age (mostly 18), the right to vote regardless of their gender, religion, caste, class, ethnicity, wealth, income, place of birth, etc. This feature forms the very basis of democracy.

Complete answer: The women’s rights movement or the suffrage movement started in the USA when women in the country demanded the right to vote and other such civil and political rights. The movement was almost a century-long and began after the Civil War when women started playing a larger role in political organisations and groups. The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention in New York which was attended by abolitionist activists is believed to be the foundation of the women’s movement as it was the first time when the idea of women’s rights was discussed. From 1869, the National Woman Suffrage Association was founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, kept fighting for women’s suffrage rights. Starting in 1910, some states in the West began to extend the vote to women. Finally, on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified which granted American women the right to vote.

Note: Women in New Zealand had won the right to vote in 1893. By 1908, Australia had granted voting rights to women. This was followed by Norway in 1913 and Denmark and Iceland in 1915. After the Russian Revolution, in 1918, women in Russia over 20 were granted suffrage followed by Austria and Germany that same year. By 1919, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg and Ukraine also granted women voting rights. The last few countries to extend suffrage to women were Spain in 1931, France in 1944 and Italy in 1946.