Women's suffrage in Uruguay was practically established between 1917 and 1938.

Women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

was announced as a principle in the Constitution of Uruguay of 1917, and declared as law in a decree of 1932. The first national election in which women voted was the

1938 Uruguayan general election General elections were held in Uruguay on 28 March 1938.Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p494 The result was a victory for the Colorado Party, which won a majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputie ...

History

Uruguay's 1917 constitution announced the general right of women to vote and hold office at local and national levels in Uruguay. However, to become law, women's suffrage required a two-thirds majority in each legislative house. In 1919 the feminist

Paulina Luisi Paulina Luisi (1875–1950) was a leader of the feminist movement in the country of Uruguay. In 1909, she became the first Uruguayan woman to earn a medical degree and was a firm advocate of sex education in the schools. She represented Uruguay in ...

established the

Uruguayan Women's Suffrage Alliance The Uruguayan Women's Suffrage Alliance (''Alianza Uruguaya por el Sufragio Femenino'', or simply ''Alianza'') was a Uruguayan women's suffrage organization. The Alianza was cofounded by Paulina Luisi in August 1919, breaking away from CONAMU to c ...

, affiliated to the

International Women's Suffrage Alliance The International Alliance of Women (IAW; french: Alliance Internationale des Femmes, AIF) is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international org ...

, to push for women's suffrage. A 16 December 1932 decree declared women's eligibility to vote in the national elections scheduled for 1934. Though

Gabriel Terra José Luis Gabriel Terra Leivas ( Montevideo, 1 August 1873 - Montevideo, 15 September 1942) was a lawyer and politician of batllista origin in Uruguay, and advisor to all Uruguayan governments on diplomatic, Economic and financial issu ...

's 1933 coup resulted in those elections not being held, the new 1934 constitution reaffirmed that "national citizens are all men and women born within the nation ..every citizen is as such a voter and entitled to hold office". The first national election in which women participated was the

References

{{reflist Women's suffrage in Uruguay Political history of Uruguay Women's rights in Uruguay