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.[1][2][3][4][5] "Suffragette" in the British or Australian usage can sometimes denote a more "militant" type of campaigner,[6] 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.[7]
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.
Doria Shafik (1908–1975) – feminist, poet and editor who went on an eight-day hunger strike at Egypt's press syndicate in protest of the creation of a constitutional committee without any women
Huda Sha'arawi (1879–1947) – feminist, activist, nationalist, revolutionary, co-founder of the EFU
Nigeria
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (1900–1978) – educator and activist who fought for women's enfranchisement and political representation[8]
Gambo Sawaba (1933–2001) - widely regarded as the pioneer of fighting for the liberation of northern women[9]
Wuraola Esan (1909–1985) - educator and advocate for women in traditional and legislative spaces
South Africa
Annie Botha (1864–1937) – political hostess, wife of the first Prime Minister of South Africa and suffragist, co-founder of the South African Women's Federation[10]
Zainunnisa Gool (1897–1963) – lawyer and civil rights activist, and after white women only were granted the vote in 1930, founder of the League for the Enfranchisement of Non-European Women in 1938[11]
Charlotte Maxeke (1871–1939) – religious leader, suffragist and the first black South African woman to graduate from a university, founded the Bantu Women’s League
Jessie Rose-Innes (1860–1943) – nurse, social campaigner and suffragist of British descent, elected chair of the Cape Town branch of the National Council for Women[14]
Olive Schreiner (1855–1920) – writer, suffragist and co-founder of the Cape Women's Enfranchisement League,[15] left the Women's Enfranchisement League (WEL) when they refused to support the vote for black African women
Jessie M. Soga (1870–1954) – singer, music teacher and suffragist
Julia Solly (1862–1953) – British-born South African feminist, temperance activist and suffragist who co-founded Cape Women's Enfranchisement League and helped acquire the vote for white women only in 1930
Daisy Solomon (1882–1978) – suffragist who campaigned in South Africa and Britain,[16] daughter of Georgiana Solomon
Georgiana Solomon (1844–1933) – Scottish-born educator and suffragist, co-founder of the South African Women's Federation[10]
Lady Barbara Steel (1857–1943) – suffragist and member of the Women's Enfranchisement Association of the Union,[17] helped acquire the vote for white women only in 1930
Zhang Mojun (Chinese: 張默君; 1884–1965) – military commander, suffragist,[18] and the first female member of the Kuomintang Central Committee
India
Kumudini Basu (1873–1942) – social reformer, freedom fighter and suffragist, one of the leaders of the Nigil Bangiya Nari Votadhikar Samiti (All Bengali Women's Franchise Association) which fought for women's suffrage
Annie Besant (1847–1933) – British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer, orator, educationist, philanthropist
Amrit Kaur (1887–1964) – political activist and politician who testified before the Lothian Committee on universal Indian franchise and constitutional reforms[19]
Sheroo Keeka (1921–2006) – campaigned for 'Votes for Married Women' and chair of the Dodoma branch of the Tanganyika Council of Women
Hannah Sen (1894–1957) – politician and co-founder of the Indo-British Mutual Welfare League, a women's organization that established a network of British and Indian suffragists also involved in educational projects
Herabai Tata (1879–1941) – argued before British government commissions that suffrage should be extended in India
Indonesia
Thung Sin Nio (1902–1996) – women's rights activist, physician, economist, politician
Iran
Bibi Khanoom Astarabadi (1858/59–1921) – Iranian writer, satirist, founder of the first school for girls in the modern history of Iran and a pioneering figure in the women's movement of Iran
Annie Basil (1911–1995) – Iranian-Indian activist for Armenian women
Táhirih (1817–1852) – also known as Fatimah Baraghani, renowned poet, removed her veil in public, "first woman suffrage martyr"
Fusae Ichikawa (1893–1981) – politician who founded the nation's first women's suffrage organization: the Women's Suffrage League of Japan, president of the New Japan Women's League
Emily Fares Ibrahim (1914–2011) was an American-born Lebanese writer, poet, and feminist. She was the first woman to run for the elections in Lebanon after suffrage in 1952.
Nezihe Muhiddin (1889–1958) – suffragist and founder of the Turkish Women's People Party, which demanded suffrage for women, and the Turkish Women's Union
Karla Máchová (1853–1920) – women's rights activist who, in 1908, was among the first three women to run for the Bohemian Diet
Františka Plamínková (1875–1942) – founded the Committee for Women's Suffrage (Czech: Výbor pro volební právo ženy) in 1905 and served as a vice president of the International Council of Women, as well as the International Woman's Suffrage Alliance
Marie Tůmová (1866–1925) –– women's suffragist who, in 1908, was among the first three women to run for the Bohemian Diet
Kalliroi Parren (1861–1940) – journalist and founder of the Greek women's movement
Avra Theodoropoulou (1880–1963) – music critic, pianist, suffragist, women's rights activist, nurse
Lina Tsaldari (1887–1981) – suffragist and politician, president of the Greek Federation of Women's Unions and later the first female minister in Greece[27]
Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir (1856–1940) – founded Kvennablaðið, the first women's magazine in Iceland and, in 1907, the first suffrage organization in Iceland[28][29]
Ingibjörg H. Bjarnason (1867–1941) – politician, suffragist, schoolteacher, gymnast and leader of Iceland’s Women’s Rights Association
Marguerite Thomas-Clement (1886–1979) – politician who spoke in favour of women's suffrage in public debates and who became the first woman to serve in Luxembourg's parliament
Ragna Nielsen (1845–1924) – chairperson of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights
Thekla Resvoll (1871–1948) – head of the Norwegian Female Student's Club and on the board of the women's suffrage movement (Kvinnestemmeretsforeningen)
Anna Rogstad (1854–1938) – vice president of the Association for Women's Suffrage and Norway’s first female Member of Parliament
Hedevig Rosing (1827–1913) – co-leader of the movement in Norway; author, educator, school founder
Poland
Elżbieta Ciechanowska (1875–1948) - women's rights and labour activist, musician and poet
Władysława Habicht (1867–1963) – suffragette, social activist, and part of the housing cooperative movement.
Paulina Kuczalska-Reinschmit (1859–1921) – founded the 'Związek Równouprawnienia Kobiet Polskich' ( Union for the Equal Rights of Polish Women)[32]
Portugal
Carolina Beatriz Ângelo (1878–1911) – physician, suffragist and a co-founder of the League of Republican Women which campaigned for women's emancipation and suffrage, became the first woman to vote in Portugal
Adelaide Cabete (1867–1935) – suffragist and a co-founder of the League of Republican Women[26]
Elena Meissner (1867–1940) – suffragist and professor of law at the University of Bucharest who headed the Asociația de Emancipare Civilă și Politică a Femeii Române
Savka Subotić (1834–1918) – philanthropist and a leading feminist in the Serbian suffrage movement[36]
Slovenia
Pavla Hočevar (1889–1972) – teacher, writer, socialist and suffragist[37]
Alojzija Štebi (1883 –1956) – suffragist, founder of the Feminist Alliance of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, editor of the journal Ženski pokret (Women’s movement), and writer of paper Demokratizem in ženstvo (Democracy and womanhood) which argued for women's suffrage[24]
Spain
Concepción Arenal (1820–1893) – pioneer and founder of the feminist movement in Spain; activist, writer, journalist and lawyer
Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851–1921) – Spanish writer, journalist, university professor and support for women's rights and education
Carmen de Burgos (1867–1932) – Spanish journalist, writer, translator and women's rights activist
Clara Campoamor (1888–1972) – Spanish politician and feminist best known for her advocacy for women's rights and suffrage during the writing of the Spanish constitution of 1931
Mabel Walker (suffragist) (1902–1987) – American-Bahamian suffragist and co-founder of the Bahamian Women's Suffrage Movement
Barbados
Nellie Weekes (1896–1990) – 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 (1888–1969) – suffragette leader and secretary of the Bermuda Women's Suffrage Society[40]
María Collado Romero (1885– c. 1968) – journalist, vice-president of the National Suffragist Party, then founder and president of the Democratic Suffragist Party of Cuba[41]
Aída Peláez de Villa Urrutia (1895–1923) – writer, journalist and suffragist who published "Necesidad del voto para la mujer" (Necessity of the vote for women) in El Sufragista magazine
Pilar Jorge de Tella (1884–1967) – suffragist who presented petitions to the Cuban legislature and constitutional conventions demanding suffrage[43]
Abigail Mejia (1895 –1941) – suffragist, educator and founder of Acción Feminista Dominicana (AFD)[45]
El Salvador
Prudencia Ayala (1885–1936) – writer and suffragist who attempted to run as a candidate for the presidency of the Republic, even though the Salvadoranlegislation did not recognize women's right to vote
Rosa Amelia Guzmán (1922–2011) – journalist, suffragist, and co-founder of the Liga Femenina Salvadoreña (LFS) (Salvadoran Feminist League) whose 1950 speech to the Constituent Assembly was instrumental in women gaining the vote; later one of the first 3 women to gain a seat in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador
Paca Navas (1883–1971) – journalist, feminist and suffragist, exiled for her political views
Alba Alonso de Quesada (1924–2020) – 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
Fidelia Brindis Camacho (1889–1972)– teacher, journalist, suffragist, women's rights activist and politician
Margaret Iris Duley (1894–1968) – considered Newfoundland's first novelist, member of Women's Patriotic Association
Julia Salter Earle (1878–1945) – suffragist, trade unionist, one of the first three women to run for St. John's Municipal Council
Armine Nutting Gosling (1861–1942) – member of Women's Patriotic Association, suffragette, founder and first Secretary of the Ladies Reading Room and Current Events Club, first female member of the Council of Higher Education in Newfoundland
Fannie Knowling McNeil (1869–1928) – suffragist, social activist, member of the Newfoundland Women's Franchise League, and co-founder of the Newfoundland Society of Art, one of the first three women to run for St. John's Municipal Council
Janet Morison Miller (1891–1946) – first woman added to the rolls of the Newfoundland Law Society
Mary Southcott (1862–1943) – nurse, hospital administrator and campaigner
Clara González (1898–1990) – feminist, lawyer, judge, and activist
Gumercinda Páez (1904–1991) – teacher, women's rights activist and suffragette, and Constituent Assemblywoman of Panama
Puerto Rico
Isabel Andreu de Aguilar (1887–1948) – 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
Bertha C. Boschulte (1906–2004) – Secretary of the St. Thomas Teacher's Association, which sued for women's suffrage in the territory in 1935
Edith L. Williams (1887–1987) – first woman to attempt to register to vote in the US Virgin Islands
South America
Argentina
Cecilia Grierson (1859–1934) – the first woman physician in Argentina; supporter of women's emancipation, including suffrage
Julieta Lanteri (1873–1932) – physician, freethinker, and activist; the first woman to vote in Argentina
Alicia Moreau de Justo (1885–1986) – physician, politician, pacifist and human rights activist
Eva Perón (1919–1952) – First Lady of Argentina, created the first large female political party in the nation
Elvira Rawson de Dellepiane (1867–1954) – physician, activist for women's and children's rights; co-founder of the Association Pro-Derechos de la Mujer
Belize
Gwendolyn Lizarraga (1901–1975) – politician who, when only landowners were eligible as voters, supported women to obtain land grants from the Lands Department
Elfreda Reyes (1901–1992) – labor organizer, suffragette and member of the Women’s League
Brazil
Leolinda de Figueiredo Daltro (1859–1935) – teacher and indigenous' rights activist; co-founder of the Feminine Republican Party
Celina Guimarães Viana (1890–1972) – Brazilian professor and suffragist; first woman to vote in Brazil
Ivone Guimarães (1908–1999) – Brazilian professor and activist for women's suffrage
Carlota Pereira de Queirós (1892–1982) – the first woman to vote and be elected to the Brazilian parliament
Marie Rennotte (1852–1942) – Native Belgian, naturalized Brazilian teacher and lawyer who founded the Aliança Paulista pelo Sufrágio Feminino with Carrie Chapman Catt's help
Miêtta Santiago (1903–1995) – Brazilian writer, poet, and lawyer; challenged the constitutionality of the ban on women voting in Brazil
Nathercia da Cunha Silveira (1905–1993) – suffragist, lawyer and Assistant Attorney General of the National Labor Council
Maria Werneck de Castro (1909–1993) – lawyer, militant communist, feminist, and supporter of women's suffrage
Lucila Rubio de Laverde (1908–1970) – co-founder of the suffrage organizations, Unión Femenina de Colombia (Women's Union of Colombia) (UFC) and the Alianza Femenina de Colombia (Women's Alliance of Colombia)
María Currea Manrique (1890–1985) – co-founder of the suffrage organizations, Unión Femenina de Colombia (Women's Union of Colombia) (UFC) and the Alianza Femenina de Colombia (Women's Alliance of Colombia)
Matilde Hidalgo (1889–1974) – physician, poet, and activist who was the first woman in Latin America to exercise her constitutional right to vote in a national election
^Wright, Clare Alice (2018). You daughters of freedom : the Australians who won the vote and inspired the world. Melbourne, Vic. ISBN978-1-925603-93-4. OCLC1037809229.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Kratz, Jessie (14 May 2019). "What is Suffrage?". Pieces of History. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
^Lassalle, Beatriz (September 1949). "Biografía de Rosario Bellber González Por la Profesora Beatriz Lassalle". Revista, Volume 8, Issue 5 (in Spanish). La Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico. pp. 149, 158.
^Asenjo, Conrado, ed. (1942). "Quién es Quién en Puerto Rico". Diccionario Biográfico De Record Personal (in Spanish) (Third edition 1941-42 ed.). San Juan, Puerto Rico: Cantero Fernández & Co. p. 33.
^Krüger Torres, Lola (1975). Enciclopedia Grandes Mujeres de Puerto Rico, Vol. IV (in Spanish). Hato Rey, Puerto Rico: Ramallo Bros. Printing, Inc. pp. 273–274.