Question

Which right was given to the French women in 1946?
A)Right to hold political offices
B)Right to get education
C)Right to divorce
D)Right to vote

Answer 1

Hint: During that decade, France was the only western country that did not give women this right.
The International Woman Suffrage Alliance was started to promote this right for women.

Complete answer:
A. Right to hold political offices – Women started holding political offices in France since the 1930s i.e. years before they had secured the right to vote. Though this number was negligible for almost a decade, women did hold certain offices back then.

B. Right to get education – Schools for girls in France were built around 1880, by an act proposed by French politician Camille Sée. Later in 1920s the education also became free of cost. Thus we know that women have had the right to get education since the end of the 19th century.

C. Right to divorce – The right to divorce for women in France became legalized in 1792. It was one the first rights that was legalized for women, a right which they were deprived from under the Napoleonic Code. This right was again taken from women in 1816. After major revolutions in the French politics, women again secured this right in 1884 and have protected it ever since.

D. Right to vote – France was the only western nation in the world which did not give voting rights to women until 1944. It was Charles de Gaulle’s government that granted women this right. But women suffrage got definitively adopted in the Constitution of France, on 27th October 1946. It stated that the French law guaranteed that ‘all women have rights equal to that of men in all spheres’ without exception.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D)

Note: The International Woman Suffrage Alliance was founded in 1904, in Berlin, Germany. It is a non-government organization which promotes equal rights for women internationally.
It was this organization that helped the French women to fight for their right to vote.
Currently this organization has a consultative status at the United Nations Social and Economic Council.