Well done, Sister Suffragettes!

I attended a League of Women Voters event on Tuesday night, and I completely tuned out 85% of what the politicians there said. However, that does not mean my time was completely wasted. I attempted to list all 67 counties from memory (I got all but 7, by the way), and doodled some illegal aliens, complete with flying saucers, lasers, and tentacles. However, it also reminded me how grateful I am for all the women who came before me. They risked their lives, their health, their relationships, and their reputations, and thanks to their heroism and effort, I'm able to make a meaningful contribution to my nation, or doodle aliens while goofing off at political functions, as I so choose.


So, here's to you ladies. Your courage snowballed, and with each passing generation, young women get closer to true equality. I, for one, will never forget your sacrifices.

• Medieval. France and other countries, if woman was head of a household
• 1718. Sweden, if women paid taxes and were members of a professional guild (revoked 1771)
• 1755. Corsica, if single or widowed (revoked by France in 1769)
• 1756. Massachusetts Bay Colony, Lydia Chapin Taft legally voted at least three times in town meetings
• 1776. New Jersey, if women owned property (revoked 1807, along with suffrage for black men)
• 1792. Sierra Leone, all heads of households voted (1/3 were black women)
• 1838. Pitcairn Islands
• 1848. Austria, if women owned property (revoked 1889)
• 1856. Norfolk Island, when women from Pitcairn Islands settled here
• 1861. South Australia (limited)
• 1863. Finland (women in country)
• 1864. Bohemia
• 1869. Wyoming Territory
• 1870. Utah (revoked 1887)
• 1871. Paris Commune (fell same year)
• 1872. Finland (cities)
• 1880. Some areas of Japan
• 1881. Isle of Man
• 1884. Ontario
• 1889. Franceville (universal, until retaken by France and Britain)
• 1893. Cook Islands, New Zealand
• 1895. South Australia 
• 1902. Australia
• 1906. Finland
• 1909. Denmark (local)
• 1911. Portugal (loophole closed to prevent this)
• 1913. Norway
• 1915. Denmark, Iceland
• 1917. Estonia, Armenia, Canada, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Russian Provisional Government, Uruguay
• 1918. Ireland, Hungary, Georgia, Germany, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova
• 1919. Belgium, Belarus, Austria, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
• 1920. Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic and Slovakia), Albania, United States, Connecticut
• 1921. Sweden, Belgium (local only), Vermont
• 1922. Burma
• 1923. Delaware
• 1924. Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan
• 1925. Italy, informally under Mussolini
• 1928. United Kingdom
• 1929. Ecuador, Puerto Rico
• 1930. Greece (local elections, and only if literate), South Africa (whites only), Turkey (local only)
• 1931. Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
• 1932. Maldives, Thailand
• 1934. Chile, Cuba, Turkey (national)
• 1937. Indonesia (Europeans only), Philippines
• 1938. Bolivia, Bulgaria, Romania, Uzbek SSR
• 1939. El Salvador
• 1941. Panama, Indonesia, Maryland
• 1942. Dominican Republic
• 1943. Lebanon (with proof of elementary education)
• 1944. Jamaica, France, Bermuda
• 1945. Senegal, Togo, Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia), Indonesia (universal)
• 1946. North Korea, Italy, Djibouti, Guatemala, British Cameroons (Cameroon), Liberia, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam, Venezuela
• 1947. Japan, India, Argentina, Pakistan, Malta, Mexico, Taiwan, Singapore
• 1948. South Korea, Israel, Niger, Dutch Guinea (Suriname), Seychelles, Belgium
• 1949. Hong Kong, Costa Rica, Syria
• 1950. Haiti, Barbados
• 1951. British Leeward Islands (Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla), British Windward Islands (Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica), Nepal
• 1952. Cote d'Ivoire, Greece (universal), Lebanon (no education proof needed), Virginia
• 1953. Guyana, Bhutan, Alabama
• 1954. Ghana, British Honduras (Belize), Colombia
• 1955. Honduras, Ethiopia (including Eritrea), Cambodia, Peru, Nicaragua
• 1956. Egypt, Dahomey (Benin), Gabon, Comoros, Mali, Mauritius, Somalia
• 1957. Federation of Malaya (Malaysia)
• 1958. Guinea, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Chad, Nigeria, Laos, French Algeria
• 1959. Brunei, Madagascar, San Marino, Tunisia, Tanzania
• 1960. The Gambia, Bahamas, Cyprus, Tonga
• 1961. Burundi, Paraguay, Malawi, Mauritania, Rwanda, Sierra Leone
• 1962. Algeria, Monaco, Uganda, Zambia
• 1963. Kenya, Iran, Fiji, Equatorial Guinea, Afghanistan, Republic of the Congo, Morocco
• 1964. Papua New Guinea, Libya, Sudan
• 1965. Botswana, Lesotho
• 1967. Kiribati, Zaire (DRC), Tuvalu, South Yemen (Yemen)
• 1968. Nauru, Swaziland, South Africa (colored)
• 1969. Florida, South Carolina
• 1970. Andorra, Georgia, Louisiana
• 1971. Switzerland, North Carolina
• 1972. Bangladesh 
• 1974. Jordan, Solomon Islands, Portugal (full rights)
• 1975. Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Vanuatu
• 1976. Timor-Leste
• 1977. Guinea-Bissau
• 1979. Palau, Marshall Islands, Micronesia
• 1980. Iraq
• 1984. Lichtenstein, South Africa (Indian), Mississippi
• 1986. Central African Republic
• 1989. Namibia
• 1990. Samoa
• 1994. South Africa (black)
• 1997. Qatar
• 2002. Bahrain
• 2003. Oman
• 2005. Kuwait
• 2006. United Arab Emirates
• 2015 (maybe). Saudi Arabia