The Facts: Suffrage

Sometimes the facts of women’s history speak for themselves. Did you know that the United Arab Emirates only granted women the right to vote in 2006? Or that South Africa did not include black women in their right to vote in 1930, waiting until 1994, only 14 years ago, to grant black women suffrage? Did you know that many women’s suffrage rights all over the world are tied to both their age and their probable marriage to a man? In Bolivia, if you are an 18 year old woman you can only vote if you are married; otherwise, you must wait until you are 21. Moreover, most countries only provide limited suffrage, or voting rights with restrictions, and some of those restrictions are gender-related: in Brunei, women cannot vote in national elections, only township or local village elections. Did you know that most countries did not grant women suffrage until the last century (the 20th)? Did you know that the U.S.A. only granted women suffrage in 1920 but that black women’s (and all black people’s) voting rights were impeded through violence, election place restrictions, and arcane rules well after the 1965 Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. § 1973–1973aa-6) passed? Among the most prevalent restrictions were the requirement to pass a literary test. Did you know that one of the countries that the U.S.A. still relies on for the unfortunately basic resource of oil, Saudi Arabia, still denies all women the right to vote until this very day? Sometimes the facts of women’s history speak for themselves.