Women's suffrage refers to the right of a woman to vote in an election. This right was often not included in the original suffrage legislation of a state or country, resulting in both men and women campaigning to introduce legislation to enable women to vote. Actions included writing letters to newspapers and legislators, compiling petitions, holding marches and rallies and carrying out acts of violence. Women were on occasion arrested for these actions and held in jail, during which time some went on hunger strikes, refusing to eat for the duration of their incarceration.
Monuments and memorials to women's suffrage have been constructed around the world in recognition of the bravery and strength of the women who campaigned for voting rights, and the achievement of having the legislation passed.
Australia NameLocationYearNotesStatue of Emma MillerBrisbane1993Commemorates the contribution of a leading suffragistCentenary of Western Australian Women's Suffrage MemorialPerth1998Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Western AustraliaCentenary of Women's Suffrage muralLake Grace1998Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Western AustraliaCentenary of Women's Suffrage GazeboKondinin1999Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Western AustraliaCentenary of Women's Suffrage Commemorative FountainCanberra2003Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Australia Resilience sculptureBrisbane2007Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in QueenslandGreat Petition sculptureMelbourne2008Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in Victoria
Canada NameLocationYearNotes"Women are Persons!"Ottawa2000Commemorates the five suffragists who filed and won the Persons Case, enabling women to be appointed to the Senate of CanadaMonument to the SuffragettesQuebec City2012Commemorates the three suffragists who campaigned for women's suffrage in Quebec
New Zealand NameLocationYearNotesNew Lynn Suffrage Memorial MuralAuckland1993 (later damaged) 2012 (replacement)Marks the centenary of women's suffrage in New ZealandAuckland Women's Suffrage MemorialAuckland1993Commemorates Auckland suffragistsKate Sheppard National MemorialChristchurch1993Commemorates the lives of New Zealand's leading suffragistsPuketapapa Women's Suffrage MemorialAuckland2013Commemorates the local women suffragists of the community
United Kingdom
NameLocationYearArtistNotesAnnie's ArboretumEagle House, Batheaston1909–1913 (destroyed in the 1960s)Emily and Colonel Linley BlathwaytCommemorated c. 60 suffragists and suffragettesThe Suffrage OakGlasgow1918Scottish suffragistsOak tree planted to mark the passing of the Representation of the People Act 1918.Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst MemorialLondon1930Arthur George WalkerCommemorates the lives of two leading suffragistsSuffragette MemorialLondon1970Lorne McKean and Edwin Russell with Paul PagetCommemorates the bravery of the suffragistsThe Pankhurst ParlourManchester 1987Historical site and memorialSylvia Pankhurst (artwork)London2011Commemorates the contribution of a leading suffragistAlice Hawkins (statue)Leicester2018Sean Hedges-QuinnCommemorates the life of a leading local suffragistMillicent Fawcett (statue)London2018Gillian WearingCommemorates the contribution of a leading suffragistEmily Wilding Davison (statue)Morpeth2018Ray LonsdaleA welded steel statue portraying the suffragette tipping over a bowl of food, in reference to her hunger strikeRise up, Women (Emmeline Pankhurst statue)Manchester2018Hazel ReevesCommemorates the suffragettes' leader in the city of her birthAnnie Kenney (statue)Oldham2018Denise DuttonCommemorates the only working-class woman to hold a senior position in the suffragette movementBessie Watson (memorial plaque)Edinburgh2019Commemorates the youngest Scottish girl (age 9) in the suffragette movement
United States NameLocationYearNotesPortrait Monument to Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. AnthonyWashington, D.C.1921Commemorates the lives of leading suffragists of the United StatesStatue of Esther Hobart MorrisCheyenne, Wyoming1953Commemorates the life of one of Wyoming's leading suffragistsMinnesota Woman Suffrage MemorialSaint Paul2000Commemorates the women who campaigned for the state legislature to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to give women the right to vote. Minnesota was the 15th state to ratify the amendment, doing so in 1919.Tennessee Woman Suffrage MemorialKnoxville2006Commemorates the women who campaigned for the state legislature to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to give women the right to vote. Tennessee was the final state to ratify the amendment, doing so in 1920.Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National MonumentWashington, D.C.2016Commemorates the headquarters of the National Woman's Party, a key political organization in the fight for women's suffrage, and two of its leaders, Alva Belmont and Alice Paul.Women's Rights Pioneers MonumentNew York, New York2020Commemorates Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and all of the women involved in the women's suffrage movement. This is the first statue in Central Park representing historical women and was organized by Monumental Women.StandLexington, Kentucky, near the intersection of Vine and Mill Streets2020Statue by Barbara Grygutis celebrating the 100th anniversary of the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The statue consists of the silhouettes of five generic, unnamed suffragists.Turning Point Suffragist MemorialLorton, Virginia2021Monument to American suffragists that stands in close proximity to Occoquan Workhouse, a prison where 168 suffragists were held during the Silent Sentinels voting rights demonstrations in the late 1910s.On the Wings of ChangeChicago, Illinois2021Monument to suffrage leaders who worked in Chicago created by artist Diosa (Jasmina Cazacu) on the Wabash Arts Corridor.
The ten women featured in the mural are: Jane Addams, Myra Bradwell, Mary Livermore, Catharine Waugh McCulloch, Agnes Nestor, Grace Wilbur Trout, Mary Fitzbutler Waring, Ida B. Wells, Frances Willard, and Fannie Barrier Williams.Women's Suffrage National MonumentWashington, DCTBDForthcoming monument authorized by a 2020 act of Congress.
See also Elizabeth Cady Stanton House, Seneca Falls, New York Elizabeth Cady Stanton House, Tenafly, New Jersey Kate Sheppard House, Christchurch, New Zealand Paulsdale, Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey, birthplace and childhood home of Alice Paul Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, Adams, Massachusetts Susan B. Anthony Childhood House, Battenville, New York Susan B. Anthony House, Rochester, New York Women's Rights National Historical Park, Seneca County, New York M'Clintock House, site of the writing of the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments Wesleyan Methodist Church, site of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention
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