Today is a significant anniversary: the Stemmerettsjubileet, or women’s suffrage centenary.
On 11 June 2013 it will be 100 years since Norwegian women gained the right to vote and Norway became a true democracy. Norway was the first independent country in the world to introduce universal suffrage, with women and men enjoying equal democratic rights.
It’s amazing that it’s only been a century — I can’t imagine the injustice of depriving women of the right to vote.
I know some representatives of other countries who comment here will be quick to complain that Norway wasn’t the very first—but they’ve got that covered.
Globally, Norway was a universal suffrage pioneer. It is true that three countries had already introduced universal suffrage – New Zealand in 1893, Australia in 1902 and Finland in 1906 – but they were not independent states at the time. Norway was the first sovereign state to extend the vote to all adults. The right to vote gave women a formal foundation on which to participate in democratic bodies on an equal footing with men.
You’re all pioneers, OK? Clearly there was a wave of suffrage that swept around the world at roughly the turn of the last century.
But this goes too far.
A cause championed since the French Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment had finally been won.
“Won”? Keep in mind that Ann Coulter is promoting the revocation of women’s suffrage, it’s easy to find other cranks creating petitions to repeal the 19th amendment, and it’s a common talking point on the far right. I wish the Enlightenment were won.
Maybe it’s just the United States that’s trying to roll it back.