Women Suffrage Movements Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Women Suffrage Movements - Term Paper Example Participation of women in a countries decision-making process is a social issue that is experienced in the political field. This is because their participation depends on how they participate in making decisions at the domestic level. Their ability to make decision at the domestic level determines their chance of making decision at the national level through the voting process. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the question of whether women have a chance to vote was a major question in European politics1. Women suffrage could not have achieved success if women did not fight for their rights. This essay will therefore analyze European women suffrage between the late nineteenth century and the dawn of the twentieth century. The essay will focus on major movements, key figure, and beliefs of women suffrage across Europe. The French revolution of 1789 is believed to have been the source of the notion of citizenship. This notion changed people view and attitude towards their cou ntries2. The notion of citizenship caused people to have interest and responsibility over their home countries. Voting in a national election comes as a responsibility as well as an obligation for every citizen. After the French revolution, women in most European countries started to consider themselves responsible for their country’s development and decision-making.... at took place during the upper half of the nineteenth century are considered to have paved way for major changes and revolutions across European societies. The ideology of nationalism during the dawn of twentieth century also contributed to the field. As an ideology, nationalism identified people according to their national boundary, ethnicity, political boundaries, history, and culture3. The rise of nationalism and French revolution are considered as the main factor that triggered women suffrage. Although the two movements seemed insignificant to women suffrage campaigns, they laid a foundation that other future movements could use to launch their campaigns for women rights in European societies. This indicates that establishing women’s rights in governance was a demanding issue. Different ideologies across Europe determined women’s suffrage across various European countries. The rise of ideology paved way for actual campaigns for women’s rights across Europe wi th their emphasis being the right to vote among women. Although women’s suffrage campaign had a common source, the campaigns were different across the different European countries. This is because each individual country had its own unique political system. Countries with hereditary monarch system of government such as Austria, Russia, Spain, and Hungary did not have voting rights for both their men and women4. Lack of national unity was also a common issue in some European countries such as Denmark, Germany, and Ireland. This implies that establishing women’s rights in such country was a complicated as well as a difficult issue. Lack of national unity and democracy in most European countries hindered women's suffrage movements. Absence of democracy and national unity in European countries also