This timeline lists the dates of the first women's suffrage in Muslim majority countries. Dates for the right to vote, suffrage, as distinct from the right to stand for election and hold office, are listed.

Some countries with majority Muslim populations established universal suffrage upon national independence, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Malaysia. In most North Africa countries, women participated in the first national elections or soon following. Some dates relate to regional elections and, where possible, the second date of general election has been included. Even countries listed may not have universal suffrage for women, and some may have regressed in women's rights since the initial granting of suffrage.

Timeline of first women's suffrage in majority-Muslim countries

Timeline

1917

Crimean People's Republic

1918

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic

(Soviet Republic)

Timeline of first women's suffrage in majority-Muslim countries

1920

1921

(Soviet Republic)

Timeline of first women's suffrage in majority-Muslim countries

1924

(Soviet Republic) (Soviet Republic)

1927

(Soviet Republic)

1930

(municipal elections)

1932

1934

(national elections)

1938

(Soviet Republic)

1945

1946

French Somaliland

1947

(Upon its national independence)

1948

(first ever free elections were held in 2005)

1949

1952

(An educational requirement).

1956

1957

(universal). (Now Peninsular Malaysia)

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

(revoked)

1963

(after a referendum)

1964

1965

(first time)

1967

1970

1972

(Bangladesh achieved independence on December 16, 1971 and women suffrage was never barred)

1973

(Bahrain did not hold elections until 2002)

1974

1976

(women allowed to vote in local elections for the first time; at the previous election, in 1972, only male property owners could vote)

1978

(North)

1985

(first time)

1996

(revoked by Taliban) (first elections held in the territory since 1923)

1999

(revoked)

2002

(re-granted after the fall of Taliban)

2003

2005

(re-granted)

2006

2011

(introduced along with right to run for municipal elections in 2015)

See also

Rawya Ateya (first female parliamentarian in Egypt and the Arab world) List of the first female members of parliament by country List of equal or majority Muslim countries List of suffragists and suffragettes List of women's rights activists Sex segregation in Islam Timeline of women's suffrage Women in Islam

References

Islamic feminism

Women's suffrage by country

Women's suffrage

suffrage muslim