Women's suffrage in Switzerland

Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal elections after a referendum in February 1971.[1] The first federal vote in which women were able to participate was the 31 October 1971 election of the Federal Assembly.[2] However it was not until a 1990 decision by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland that women gained full voting rights in the final Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden.[3]

An earlier referendum on women's suffrage was held on 1 February 1959 and was rejected by the majority (67%) of Switzerland's men. Despite this, in some French-speaking cantons women obtained the right to vote in cantonal referendums.[4] The first Swiss woman to hold political office, Trudy Späth-Schweizer, was elected to the municipal government of Riehen in 1958.[5]

  1. ^ "The Long Way to Women's Right to Vote in Switzerland: a Chronology". History-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  2. ^ "EXPERTS IN WOMEN'S ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE RAISE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPORTS OF SWITZERLAND ON COMPLIANCE WITH CONVENTION". Geneva, Switzerland: Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), United Nations. 14 January 2003. Archived from the original on 17 January 2003. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  3. ^ "Appenzell Inner Rhodes: the last Swiss canton to give women the vote". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Suffrage féminin". hls-dhs-dss.ch (in French). Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  5. ^ Manz, Ev (23 July 2010). "Die Wegbereiterin aller Bundesrätinnen". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 23 July 2010.

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