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
1917
Crimean People's Republic
1918
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
(Soviet Republic)
1920
1921
(Soviet Republic)
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