Comment by Kristine1975

10 years ago

> How dated that sounds.

It's also somewhat idealistic. After all, it was only in 1920 (13 years before the essay was written) that in the US women got the right to vote. And even today in some states felons are not allowed to vote.

Edit: And of course people under 18 also don't have the right to vote.

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Kristine1975

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acqq  10 years ago

And women voting in Switzerland: only since 1971:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_suffrage_in_Switzerlan...

  • bhaak  10 years ago

    1971 on the national level. On the cantonal level, it was between 1959 and 1972 that women voting was introduced in most cantons. Only the two Appenzells hold out until 1989 and 1990.

    But you have to remember that in Switzerland, the people had to vote in this. Only 12 years earlier in 1959, 2/3 of the voters voted against it. In 1971, 2/3 of the voters voted for it. A big turnaround in a short time.

    Do you really think that most countries would have given women voting power when they did it if they'd asked the voting people (that is men at the time)?

    • acqq  10 years ago

      It's not an argument against Switzerland, just an argument that women had officially less rights even in rich Western societies until very recently and that it wasn't easy to achieve the current state.

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  • Kristine1975  10 years ago

    1991 actually: In 1991 following a decision by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, Appenzell Innerrhoden became the last Swiss canton to grant women the vote on local issues