the fight for women's right to vote began in 1891.
the fight for women's right to vote began in 1891.
when did the fight for women's right to vote began?
1891
utah held intensely liberal views of women's suffrage and also a strong dedication to polygamy. to the people in the east, women's suffrage was seen as the opposite of polygamy. for many, the two ideals could not coincide because polygamy was seen as oppressive to women. hamilton wilcox, a new york suffragist (1867–1868), suggested women's suffrage should be experimented with in the territories. people on the east coast were heavily motivated to push women's enfranchisement in utah territory, believing it would put an end to polygamy. by 1870, the idea became so popular and supported in the east that utah territorial legislature began debate over the right of women to vote. on february 10, 1869, after two weeks of debate, a unanimous vote passed a bill enfranchising the women of utah, fifty years before the nineteenth amendment to the united states constitution guaranteed women nationwide the right to vote. however, instead of voting against plural marriage, mormon women helped double the majority in favor of plural marriage by reelecting william h. hooper, who defended polygamy. froiseth, a long time believer in the enfranchisement of women and later the vice president of the utah women's suffrage association (1888), firmly believed mormon women should not have the right to vote—at least until polygamy was outlawed. she recognized this was inconsistent with her beliefs about women's rights but concluded, by her own judgement, that mormon women were too heavily influenced to make voting decisions for themselves.
jennie anderson froiseth
voting was initially restricted based on gender, though. victoria was the last state within australia to intentionally recognise female voters. the "electoral act 1863" granted the vote to all rate payers, which included some women at the time. therefore women were legally allowed to, and indeed did, vote in the election of 1864. the act was clarified in 1865 to exclude women. agitation for allowing women to vote began in earnest in 1891, with presentation of an immense petition containing over 30,000 signatures was presented to the parliament. this petition was proudly used as a promotional tool for the federation of australia. the newly federated nation allowed women to vote in elections, as well as stand for office, since 1902. yet victoria did not expand its suffrage to include women until 1908, nor allow women to stand for office until 1924. the first woman was not elected into the victorian parliament until 1933.
parliament of victoria