The women’s vote is an integral part of the building of a truly equal society. While travelling around the world on the Orient Expedition, we’ve come in contact with several cultures and countries with pretty interesting histories.

In 1893, New Zealand was the first country in the world to allow adult women to vote. This was a result of the efforts of a women’s movement led by Kate Sheppard. She wrote a famous pamphlet in 1888 where she listed ten good reasons for women in New Zealand being allowed to vote. Nowadays, you can find Kate’s face on the New Zealand ten dollar bill.

The history of women’s suffrage is quite complex to analyse, since many countries have had different ways to restrict and allow the vote. For instance, ever since 1718 Swedish women that were members of the city guild could vote, but that right was lost in 1771. In other countries, usually only women who had properties (in other words, very few ones) had the right to vote. With that in mind, it becomes clear how important New Zealand’s role was in this scenario: it was the first country, without limitations, to allow the female vote by following the same rules as the male one.

The women’s suffrage became one of the main tendencies of the 20th century, becoming the norm gradually throughout the nations. In Europe, France adopted it in 1944, Italy in 1946, Greece in 1952, Switzerland in 1971 and so on. Portugal, for instance, already allowed women’s suffrage since 1931, but with more restrictions. True equality came in 1976. Brazil allowed the women’s vote in 1932.

Truly equal rights are always important, in all contexts. We deeply wish that more and more nations make sure to allow for such rights to become reality.