List of suffragists and suffragettes


This list of suffragists and suffragettes includes noted individuals active in the worldwide women's suffrage movement who have campaigned or strongly advocated for women's suffrage, the organisations which they formed or joined, and the [|publications] which publicized – and, in some nations, continue to publicize– their goals. Suffragists and suffragettes, often members of different groups and societies, used or use differing tactics. Australians called themselves "suffragists" during the nineteenth century while the term "suffragette" was adopted in the earlier twentieth century by some British groups after it was coined as a dismissive term in a newspaper article. "Suffragette" in the British or Australian usage can sometimes denote a more "militant" type of campaigner, while suffragists in the United States organized such nonviolent events as the Suffrage Hikes, the Woman Suffrage Procession of 1913, the Silent Sentinels, and the Selma to Montgomery march. US and Australian activists most often preferred to be called suffragists, though both terms were occasionally used.

Africa

Egypt

Kenya

Nigeria

South Africa

Asia

China

India

Indonesia

  • Thung Sin Nio – women's rights activist, physician, economist, politician

Iran

Iraq

Japan

Jordan

  • Emily Bisharat – first female lawyer in Jordan, fought for women's suffrage

Kuwait

Lebanon

Philippines

Sri Lanka

  • Drummond Shiels – Scottish-born politician who supported the founding of the Women’s Franchise Union of Ceylon
  • Mary Rutnam – Canadian-born doctor, gynaecologist, and suffragist who emigrated and became a member of the Women’s Franchise Union of Sri Lanka and a co-founder of the All-Ceylon Women's Conference
  • Agnes de Silva – secretary of the Women's Franchise Union of Ceylon then founder of the Women's Franchise Union of Sri Lanka

Syria

  • Thuraya Al-Hafez – suffragist and politician who campaigned against the niqab and founded women's organisations

Turkey

Yishuv

Europe

Albania

  • Shaqe Çoba – suffragist and publisher of a magazine that covered women's issues
  • Parashqevi Qiriazi – suffragist, teacher and founder of Yll' i Mengjesit, a women's association
  • Sevasti Qiriazi – Albanian patriot, suffragist, pioneer of female education and founder of Korça Girls School
  • Urani Rumbo – suffragist, teacher, playwright and founder of ''Lidhja e Gruas''

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Croatia

Cyprus

Czechia

Finland

Greece

  • Kalliroi Parren – journalist and founder of the Greek women's movement
  • Avra Theodoropoulou – music critic, pianist, suffragist, women's rights activist, nurse
  • Lina Tsaldari – suffragist and politician, president of the Greek Federation of Women's Unions and later the first female minister in Greece

Hungary

Iceland

Italy

Liechtenstein

  • Melitta Marxer – one of the "Sleeping Beauties" who took the issue of women's suffrage to the Council of Europe in 1983

Luxembourg

Malta

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Serbia

Slovenia

Spain

  • Concepción Arenal – pioneer and founder of the feminist movement in Spain; activist, writer, journalist and lawyer
  • Emilia Pardo Bazán – Spanish writer, journalist, university professor and support for women's rights and education
  • Carmen de Burgos – Spanish journalist, writer, translator and women's rights activist
  • Clara Campoamor – Spanish politician and feminist best known for her advocacy for women's rights and suffrage during the writing of the Spanish constitution of 1931
  • María Espinosa de los Monteros – Spanish women's rights activist, suffragist and business executive
  • Victoria Kent – Spanish lawyer, suffragist and politician

North America

Bahamas

Barbados

  • Nellie Weekes – campaigner for women's involvement in politics, who ran for office in 1942, before women were allowed to vote in the country

Bermuda

  • Gladys Morrell – suffragette leader and secretary of the Bermuda Women's Suffrage Society

Cayman Islands

Costa Rica

Cuba

Dominican Republic

El Salvador

Haiti

Honduras

  • Graciela Bográn – educator, writer, trade unionist and women's rights activist
  • María Trinidad del Cid – journalist, feminist and suffragist considered a foundational figure in the fight for women's rights in Honduras
  • Lucila Gamero de Medina – novelist and suffragist
  • Paca Navas – journalist, feminist and suffragist, exiled for her political views
  • Alba Alonso de Quesada – lawyer, academic and politician who submitted petitions to the legislature which granted partial suffrage and granted votes to women who could read and write

Mexico

Newfoundland">Dominion of Newfoundland">Newfoundland

Nicaragua

Panama

Puerto Rico

  • Isabel Andreu de Aguilar – educator, helped establish the Puerto Rican Feminist League, was president of Puerto Rican Association of Women Suffragists, and first woman to run for Senate in PR
  • Rosario Bellber González - educator, social worker, women's rights activist, suffragist, and philanthropist; president of the Social League of Suffragists of Puerto Rico
  • Milagros Benet de Mewton – teacher who filed a lawsuit to press for suffrage
  • Carlota Matienzo – teacher, one of the founders of the Puerto Rican Feminine League and the Suffragist Social League
  • Felisa Rincón de Gautier – mayor of San Juan, first woman to hold post of mayor of a capitol city in the Americas

Trinidad

United States

United States Virgin Islands

South America

Argentina

Belize

  • Gwendolyn Lizarraga – politician who, when only landowners were eligible as voters, supported women to obtain land grants from the Lands Department
  • Elfreda Reyes – labor organizer, suffragette and member of the Women’s League

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Ecuador

Peru

Uruguay

  • Paulina Luisi Janicki – leader of the feminist movement in Uruguay, first Uruguayan woman to earn a medical degree in Uruguay

Venezuela