Women's Suffrage Cartographic Resources Available from Ball State University Libraries

Ball State University Libraries' Digital Media Repository

This Day in History:  Mapping Women’s Right to Vote

Congress passed the 19^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution extending the right of suffrage to women on June 4, 1919.  The Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920.  In some parts of the United States, however, women had already acquired complete or partial voting rights before 1920. 

This map (above, click to enlarge) from the Maps.com Atlas of U.S. History shows which states allowed no voting rights to women, which states allowed women to vote in presidential elections, which states and territories allowed women to vote in primary elections, and where women had complete voting rights before 1920.

The chart is from The Penguin State of Women in the World Atlas and shows the difference in the number of years for men and women to receive voting rights.  (The United States’ date of 1870 includes voting rights for the first time for African American males).  Denmark has the smallest gap, although no citizens were allowed to vote until 1915.  Switzerland has the longest gap, but women (and men) are still not allowed to vote in certain countries of the world.

For more information about these cartographic resources available from Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection, please call 765-285-1097.