Suffrage

Enfranchisement, or the right to vote, is an important right in any democracy. Societies routinely exclude some sectors of the community from voting and this is entirely consistent with international norms. Normally voting in a democracy is open to citizens that have reached the age of majority. In many countries today that is 18 years. The rules vary by country, and even subnational jurisdiction. Generally voting is restricted to citizens but even they may be excluded from voting if they have resided out side of the country for an extended period, if they have been convicted of or incarcerated for serious offences or for other reasons. Prohibiting individuals from voting in this manner is considered to be consistent with international standards today. This is generally called universal sufferage even though segments of the community are excluded from voting.

What is not considered acceptable by democracies today is to exclude someone from voting on the basis of gender. Feminists often state that women were disenfranchised from voting until recently. This is true, but what is often not stated in this narrative is that the same was true for most or all men.

Britain had no less than three acts of parliament during the 19th century that enfranchised a growing proportion of men - and yet a significant proportion of the male population remained unable to vote. This was still true when conscription was enacted in the UK in 1917 as the number of volunteers prepared to fight in World War I waned. Many of these men drafted and forced to war against their will were unable to vote. The year the war ended, 1918, the UK finally granted full enfranchisement to men. At the same time women over 30 were permitted to vote. Had women been fully enfranchised in 1918 along with men they would have constituted a majority of voters due to the significant number of men killed during World War I. Some historians think this was the reason why full enfranchisement for women was delayed. Women were finally fully enfranchised in 1928, only 10 years after men received full enfranchisement.

In the UK we see a pattern repeated around the world. Enfranchisement was held by a small group of people which grew over time. It would not be reasonable to say that the rights of women were curtailed in the UK (and elsewhere in Europe) in the 18th and 19th centuries. In previous centuries it had not been uncommon for women to work in trades, sometimes rising to high positions. Common men and women in the UK had little political power until the 18th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries the political rights of men in the UK grew, arguably causing the political rights of women to lag. Feminists today see the state of women during that time and erroneously apply it to all of history, all around the world.

A different situation existed in the United States. Many US states had laws that restricted the rights of black Americans, male or female. As a result there was a far wider divide between black and white citizens of the US than their was between men and women, in terms of their ability to have a voice in the running of the nation. Even after the civil rights movement black Americans continued to experience impediments to their ability to vote in elections.

Originally the US enfranchised land owners, as was common in the 18th and 19th centuries. Gradually the right to vote was extended to citizens of the US that were considered to be white. Sufferage in the US included all white men by 1860. White women were fully enfranchised in 1920. American citizens who were black, however, would have to wait. While some state provided de jure voting rights to black Americans, de facto the right to vote was denied. This would done through both overt intimidsation, and more subtle tactics that would put roadblocks in front of black Americans that tried to enrol to vote. Black Americans, both men and women, are generally held to have achieve a genuine right to vote with the civil rights movement in the 1960s, although as recently as the 2000 election there was evidence that black Americans, both men and women had a more difficult time casting their ballot than white Americans.

It is widely believed today that when women were enfranchised they achieved a state that men had enjoyed for a long time. This is a myth. In many countries men achieved the vote only a few years before women. In Britain, for example, men became fully enfranchised in 1918 and women in 1928. Had women been fully enfranchised in 1918 along with men they would have constituted a majority of voters. Some historians think this was the reason why full enfranchisement for women was delayed.

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