Women use your vote! – History of Women’s suffrage

On November 12th 1918 women in Austria were granted the right to vote and to stand for election. It was only with the adoption of voting rights for women that their exclusion from political decisions came to an end. In 1919 they were able to vote for the first time on equal terms with men.

The adoption of women’s suffrage was also about redefining what was considered the “male-only” state and opening it up to the “female” gender. Constitutional democracies are founded on the principle of political participation by its citizens as a fundamental right. The most important means of doing so is the right to elect to Parliament and all other representative political institutions.

This virtual exhibition traces the path of women's suffrage, beginning with the revolution of 1848  up  to the election day on February 16th 1919 – using contemporary illustrations, newspaper cuttings, photos, posters and leaflets from the collections of the Austrian National Library.

This is an enlarged and revised version of the online exhibition on 85 years of women’s right to vote which was produced by Sonja Edler, Lydia Jammernegg, Julia Köstenberger and Brigitte Noelle in 2004.