A referendum on the introduction of

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

in national elections was held in

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

on 1 July 1984.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1174 Following the introduction of female suffrage in neighbouring

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

at the federal level after a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

in 1971 (although women had had the right to vote in many cantons and municipalities before this), Liechtenstein had been the only remaining European country to deny women the right to vote.LIECHTENSTEIN: Keeping Up with Kuwait
Time, 15 March 1971 Referendums had been held in

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

and

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

(the latter two limited to men), but on each occasion men had rejected its introduction, despite the support of newspapers and both major political parties. Nevertheless, some

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

had since introduced female suffrage at a local level, starting with

Vaduz Vaduz (; or ; High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' ...

in 1976, and women had been elected to the local councils of Vaduz and Gamprin in 1983.Beattie,
Liechtenstein: a modern history
p. 147 This referendum was also limited to male voters, and again both main parties had argued for its introduction. This time the referendum produced a vote in favour of the change, although only by the narrow margin of 119 votes, with 2,370 in favour and 2,251 against. Support was greater in Unterland than in Oberland. Voter turnout was 86.19%. Following the referendum, amendments were made to the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

to grant women the right to vote in national elections, although they did not gain the right to vote in local elections in three municipalities until 1986. The first national elections in which women could vote took place in 1986, and saw Emma Eigenmann elected to the

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

on the

Progressive Citizens' Party The Progressive Citizens' Party in Liechtenstein (, FBP) is a Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Liechtenstein, political party in Liechtenstein. The FBP is one of the two major party, major List of political parties in Liech ...

(FBP) list, becoming the first female member of the Landtag. In 1993 Cornelia Gassner of the FBP became the country's first female cabinet member.Beattie,
Liechtenstein: a modern history
p. 148

Results

References

{{Feminism

Women's suffrage referendum Referendums in Liechtenstein Women's suffrage in Liechtenstein Suffrage referendums Liechtenstein women's suffrage referendum Liechtenstein women's suffrage referendum Premiership of Hans Brunhart

Results

See also

References