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Have you ever wondered what difference your vote will make?

A simple way to put meaning to this question is to look at the history of women’s suffrage.

It was only in 1734 in Sweden when female taxpaying property owners of legal majority were given the right to vote in local countryside elections. While still limited, at the time it was a monumental decision and the right was never rescinded right up until it was upgraded to full suffrage in 1921.

Since then, women around the world have slowly been given the right to vote in their country’s national elections one fight at a time – below is a list of dates of women’s suffrage according to nations:

• 1893 New Zealand
• 1902 Australia
• 1906 Finland
• 1913 Norway
• 1915 Denmark
• 1917 Canada
• 1918 Austria, Germany, Poland, Russia
• 1919 Netherlands
• 1920 United States
• 1921 Sweden
• 1928 Britain, Ireland
• 1930 South Africa
• 1931 Spain
• 1934 Turkey
• 1944 France
• 1945 Italy
• 1947 Argentina, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan
• 1949 China
• 1950 India
• 1954 Colombia
• 1957 Malaysia, Zimbabwe
• 1962 Algeria
• 1963 Iran, Morocco
• 1964 Libya
• 1967 Ecuador
• 1971 Switzerland
• 1972 Bangladesh
• 1974 Jordan
• 1976 Portugal
• 1989 Namibia
• 1990 Western Samoa
• 1993 Kazakhstan, Moldova
• 2005 Kuwait
• 2006 United Arab Emirates
• 2015 Saudi Arabia

Although women now have the right to vote – and have had it for a long time – on average females constitute only 23.5% of representatives in parliaments around the world, according to research from Ecard Shack.

Just take a look at this graph: https://www.verdict.co.uk/womens-suffrage-across-world/

So what does this mean for you, as a female voter in Zimbabwe? 

Well, it’s simple, really: it’s time to vote.

Long have women been mostly marginalised in African political processes, and voting is the one key area of equality with their menfolk: it is important to remember that the ballot does not discriminate, even if the results of the balloting frequently do not meet the expectations of the voter.

Whether the vote is for you, for your children, or for your children’s children, if you have registered in time, you have no reason not to cast your vote on 30 July.

Stats for the upcoming elections show that registered women outnumber their registered male counterparts by around half a million, which means Zimbabwean women hold a lot of power.

More statistics from Zimbabwean Situation:

“Zimbabweans aged between 30 and 34 years constitute the largest number of registered voters. Figures from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission show that 5 439 822 people had registered to vote by May 8, with females accounting for 2 953 142 while there were 2 486 680 males.

Female voters also constitute the highest number of voters across all provinces and nearly all 210 National Assembly constituencies.

Statistics show that 754 886 people between the ages of 30 to 34 account for the most registered voters, while only 780 are above 99 years of age.

Other key voting age groups are people aged 20 to 24 and those between 35 and 39, who each constitute more than 700 000 of the registrants.

Those aged 25 to 29 are 690 905, while the 40 to 44 age bracket has 603 597 registrants.

Virgin voters aged 18 to 19, who were not eligible to vote in the last election, account for just over 200 000 registrants.”

So why wouldn’t women want to vote?

From being empathetic to the idea, to having concerns over the secrecy of their vote, female Zimbabwean’s have a number of circumstances they need to overcome when it comes to voting – but they can all be achieved with determination to make their voice heard.

The time to vote is now, and casting your ballot on 30 July is the first step to creating a female-influenced future.

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