Women’s right to vote: As individuals we are given the chance to practice our right to vote which helps us in electing the desired representative who will govern us as per the current requirements and situation.
The right to vote has always been a very right for any individual. As it gives us the power to elect the candidate which would be well suited to fulfill our needs and would be sensitive to our needs and requirements. But it has not been that easy to get the right to vote as it appears that it has been a long struggle to get universal adult suffrage in the world. People have struggled a lot as it was not that much popular or considered conducive to have the right to vote in the world. A lot of movements took place to get this right and to get their voices heard. As earlier governments like monarchy and dictatorship were in prevalence whereas democracy was for a distant dream.
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In the first place the voting rights would not be given to every one different community and had to fight for it like men who had property were given the right to vote whereas others like women and landless people were not given the right.
Women have always been the suppressor in every field and voting rights is one of those. During the 19th Century when we saw the emergence of democracy and in democracy one of the most important things is the universal adult franchise. Therefore men were given the voting rights whereas women were neglected in the process they are not considered to be eligible to take decisions like those.
Women had to fight a lot to get the right to vote around the world but India was one of those countries which gave its women the right to vote on the very first day of its constitution as an independent country. But let’s try to understand the whole picture by going into the history and the struggles our women in the past had to do to have a peaceful and respectable place in the future.
History of women struggle for voting rights
In the 19th century due to the emergence of democracy in the world, there was also the emergence of voting rights around the world. Countries like America which got its independence in 1776 but it didn’t grant women suffrage.
According to the constitution of America, women were not given the right to vote like African Americans; they were also denied those rights. And to the surprise, the 14th amendment of its constitution(1869) stated citizens as ‘men’ therefore discriminating against women.
Therefore these discrimination lead to the emergence of suffrage movements in America. And therefore led to the formation of associations like National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and American Woman’s Suffrage Association (AWSA) and demanded the 15th amendment for women’s suffrage in the country.
And later in 1890 these two organizations reconciled and formed the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
For the voting rights of the women and their representation in the political Arena. After all the struggle related to it, political parties like Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose/Progressive party adopted woman suffrage as its agenda in 1912. And women got to vote in some States of America. But the movement got noticed during World War I all the women participated in it with full enthusiasm and helped throughout.
After this in 1919 after a lot of support gained by the suffrage movement, the American Parliament decided to pass the 19th amendment which removed the constraint of giving voting rights to women.
Half of the countries of the world gave their suffrage rights to the women between the years 1893 and 1960. Most of the European countries gave their Women’s the right to vote and the countries include Switzerland Portugal.
After this during the 20th century the British colonies were not given much voting rights and mainly the voting rights for the male class and women were denied. In Europe, the first country which introduced women’s suffrage was Finland.
Many rupee countries women were given the right to vote after World War 1 although there were some constraints like in Britain women over 30 got the right to vote ,Dutch women won passive vote but France was one of those countries which took a bit too late to grant its women voting rights.
And later after World War 2 the UN in 1948 adopted the Universal declaration of Human rights in which it mentioned in its article 21 about the rights to take part in the government directly or through chosen candidates.
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In 21st century- women’s right to vote
As most of the countries had attained their voting rights for their population but many countries have not been able to do so bcoz there are countries which do not have a democratic system or even if they have they haven’t given voting rights to women like bhutan in 2008 gave full voting rights to its women, Saudi Arabia most recent one in the year 2015 gave voting rights to their women.
Importance of suffrage movements
Suffrage Movement played a major role in providing womens the right which they deserve and that’s the right to vote during the 19th century. women got aware about their rights and responsibilities through the movements that were going on around the World . Women played a very major role in the whole process as during World War 1 World War 2 women played a very major role as they played the role of caretakers and medical providers. They worked as independent human beings who had the ability to take the decisions for themselves and for the society. The moments during the 28th century were mainly successful because they were having a very broad class base.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were the form most women who raise the voices for the women ‘s rights in America and who were successful in doing so.
So these women organizations which fought for the suffrage rights of women organized themselves and initiated the movements to make themselves heard. And the suffrage movements helped in economic growth as it made the women empowered to put up their decisions in front of the world.
It also helped in creating a welfare state in which each individual was considered to be important and their rights were valued. Women from every spare collectively fought for their rights be it black or white women the all fought for what was important for them and for their development as a whole.
India’s history
Madras for the foremost legislature in India which gave its women the right to vote, passed the resolution in accordance with the women’s suffrage rights and was accepted therefore it became the first legislature to do so. All the women fought for the rights in India so they also got involved in many suffrage movements to get their voice her but most importantly they were fighting for their position in the society which was often neglected.
Like the all India women conference Firstly demanded the right for girl child education but later it focused on other aspects of their life like working on social legal issues, giving voting rights etc.
Property was a barrier in India to therefore at the end of the 1920s voting rights were provided to all the provinces of the country but less than one percent of the women population was eligible for voting due to property constraint.
Altho after the independence period the first thing about which the assembly was totally sure was of giving voting rights to each and every citizen of the country. This was one of the matters on which there was no discussion and deliberation which was done. It was totally clear in the mind of the Constitution makers that this right is a very important right which needs to be given to its citizens as a democratic constitution Universal adult franchise is one of the first steps in the direction. And that has definitely helped our country to walk on the ideals of democracy and to present a perfect example in front of the world.
Conclusion
As we live in a world where men and women need to be treated equally in every aspect except in the field of biology. We need to understand the fact that women need to be valued and respected for what they are rather than just getting discriminated against just because of the societal structure which has been made.
Earlier during the colonial Times in the 18th and the 19th century women were not given that much respect and were not considered to be capable of taking the decisions for themselves and for their family but time to time women have proved themselves be it during the world war in which day showed how capable they are and after that the the national movements which took place had a great participation of women in it and again it proved that they have the ability to stand for themselves and for their country to. And therefore giving them the voting guys is one of the important step that needs to be taken as by giving them the rights to choose the representatives and the candidates which are suitable for them and their for well being as women know what they need better than anyone else so by giving them the site they can choose the right candidate who would listen to the problems and try to find some solutions to it rather than just taking it for granted.
