The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe: Voting to become citizens

Abstract

Looks at the articulation of women's suffrage rights in the countries that make up the political-unity-in-the-making we call the European Union. This book uncovers the dynamics that were at play in the recognition of male and female suffrage rights and in the definition of male and female citizenship in modern Europe. Whilst scholarship on women's suffrage usually focuses on a few emblematic countries, "The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe" casts a comparative look at the articulation of women's suffrage rights in the countries that now make up the political-unity-in-the-making we call the European Union. The book uncovers the dynamics that were at play in the recognition of male and female suffrage rights and in the definition of male and female citizenship in modern Europe. It allows readers to identify differences and commonalities in the histories of women's disenfranchisement and sheds light on the role suffrage has played in the construction of female citizenship in European countries. It provides the background against which a new European paradigm of parity democracy is gradually asserting itself.