Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process. In English, ''suffrage'' and its synonyms are sometimes also used to mean the right to run for office (to be a candidate), but there are no established qualifying terms to distinguish between these different meanings of the term(s). The right to run for office is sometimes called (''candidate'') ''eligibility'', and the combination of both rights is sometimes called ''full suffrage''. In many other languages, the right to vote is called the ''active right to vote'' and the right to be voted for (to run for office) is called the ''passive right to vote''. In English, these are rarely called ''active suffrage'' and ''passive suffrage''.

Suffrage is often conceived in terms of elections for representatives, however suffrage applies equally to initiative and referendum. Suffrage describes not only the legal right to vote, but also the practical question of whether a question will be put to a vote. The utility of suffrage is reduced when important questions are decided unilaterally by elected or unelected representatives. In the United States, extension of suffrage was part of Jacksonian democracy.

In most democracies, eligible voters can vote in elections of representatives. Voting on issues by initiative may be available in some jurisdictions but not others. For example, Switzerland permits initiatives at all levels of government whereas the United States does not offer initiatives at the federal level or in many states. That new constitutions must be approved by referendum is considered natural law.

Typically citizens become eligible to vote after reaching the age of legal adulthood. Most democracies no longer extend different voting rights on the basis of sex or race. Resident aliens can vote in some countries and in others exceptions are made for citizens of countries with which they have close links (e.g. some members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and the members of the European Union).

Types of suffrage

Universal suffrage

Where Universal suffrage exists, the right to vote is not restricted by race, gender, belief, sexual orientation, gender identity, wealth, or social status. It typically does not extend a right to vote to all residents of a region; distinctions are frequently made in regard to citizenship, age, and occasionally mental capacity or criminal convictions.

The short-lived Corsican Republic (1755–1769) was the first country to grant limited universal suffrage for all inhabitants over the age of 25. This was followed by other experiments in the Paris Commune of 1871 and the island republic of Franceville (1889), and then by New Zealand in 1893. Finland was the first European country to grant universal suffrage to its citizens in its 1906 elections, and the first country in the world to make every citizen eligible to run for parliament.

Women's suffrage

Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote on the same terms as men. This was the goal of the ''suffragists'' and the "Suffragettes". In 1756, Lydia Chapin Taft became the first legal woman voter in colonial America. This occurred under British rule in the Massachusetts Colony.

Equal suffrage

Equal suffrage is sometimes confused with ''Universal suffrage'', although its meaning is the removal of graded votes, where a voter could possess a number of votes in accordance with income, wealth or social status.

Census suffrage

Also known as "censitary suffrage", the opposite of ''Equal suffrage,'' meaning that the votes cast by those eligible to vote are not equal, but are weighed differently according to the person's rank in the census (e.g., people with high income have more votes than those with a small income, or a stockholder in a company with more shares has more votes than someone with fewer shares). Suffrage may therefore be limited, usually to the propertied classes, but can still be ''universal,'' including, for instance, women or ethnic minorities, if they meet the census.

Compulsory suffrage

Where Compulsory suffrage exists, those who are eligible to vote are required by law to do so. Thirty-two countries currently practice this form of suffrage.

==Forms of exclusion from suffrage==

Religion

In the aftermath of the Reformation it was common in European countries for people of disfavored religious denominations to be denied civil and political rights, often including the right to vote, to stand for election or to sit in parliament. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Roman Catholics were denied the right to vote from 1728 to 1793, and the right to sit in parliament until 1829. The anti-Catholic policy was justified on the grounds that the loyalty of Catholics supposedly lay with the Pope rather than the national monarch.

In England and Ireland, several Acts practically disenfranchised non-Anglicans or non-Protestants by imposing an oath before admission to vote or to run for office. The 1672 and 1678 Test Acts forbade non-Anglicans from holding public offices, the 1727 Disenfranchising Act took away Catholics' (''Papists''') voting rights in Ireland, which were restored only in 1788. Jews could not even be naturalized. An attempt was made to change this situation, but the Jewish Naturalization Act 1753 provoked such reactions that it was repealed the next year. Nonconformists (Methodists and Presbyterians) were only allowed to run for elections to the British House of Commons in 1828, Catholics in 1829 (following the Catholic Relief Act 1829), and Jews in 1858 (with the Emancipation of the Jews in England). Benjamin Disraeli could only begin his political career in 1837 because he had been converted to Anglicanism at the age of 12.

In several British North American colonies, even the Declaration of Independence, Jews, Quakers or Catholics were denied voting rights and/or forbidden to run for office. The Delaware Constitution of 1776 stated that "Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the execution of his office, shall (...) also make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: ''I, A B. do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.''". This was repealed by article I, section 2 of the 1792 Constitution: "No religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, under this State.". The 1778 Constitution of the State of South Carolina stated that "No person shall be eligible to sit in the house of representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion", the 1777 Constitution of the State of Georgia (art. VI) that "The representatives shall be chosen out of the residents in each county (...) and they shall be of the Protestent ''(sic)'' religion". In Maryland, voting rights and eligibility were extended to Jews in 1828.

In Canada, several religious groups (Mennonites, Hutterites, Doukhobors) were disenfranchised by the war-time Elections Act of 1917, mainly because they opposed military service. This disenfranchisement ended with the end of the First World War, but was renewed for Doukhobors from 1934 (''Dominion Elections Act'') to 1955.

The first Constitution of modern Romania in 1866 provided in article 7 that only Christians could become Romanian citizens. Jews native to Romania were declared stateless persons. In 1879, under pressure of the Berlin Peace Conference, this article was amended granting non-Christians the right to become Romanian citizens, but naturalization was granted on a case-by-case basis and was subject to Parliament approval. An application took over ten years to process. Only in 1923 was a new constitution adopted, whose article 133 extended Romanian citizenship to all Jewish residents and equality of rights to all Romanian citizens.

In the Republic of Maldives, only Muslim citizens have voting rights and are eligible for parliamentary elections.

Wealth, tax class, social class

Until the nineteenth century, many Western democracies had property qualifications in their electoral laws; e.g. only landowners could vote, or the voting rights were weighed according to the amount of taxes paid (as in the Prussian three-class franchise). Most countries abolished the property qualification for national elections in the late nineteenth century, but retained it for local government elections for several decades. Today these laws have largely been abolished, although the homeless may not be able to register because they lack regular addresses.

In the United Kingdom, prior to the House of Lords Act 1999, peers who were members of the House of Lords were excluded from voting for the House of Commons because they were not commoners. The sovereign is also ineligible to vote in British parliamentary elections.

Knowledge

Sometimes the right to vote has been limited to people who had achieved a certain level of education or passed a certain test, e.g. "literacy tests" in some states of the US.

In practice, the composition and application of these tests were frequently manipulated so as to functionally limit the electorate on the basis of other characteristics like wealth or race.

Race

Various countries, usually with large non-white populations, have historically denied the vote to people of particular races or to non-whites in general. This has been achieved in a number of ways:

Official - laws and regulations passed specifically disenfranchising people of particular races (for example South Africa under apartheid).

Indirect - nothing in law specifically prevents anyone from voting on account of their race, but other laws or regulations are used to exclude people of a particular race. In southern states of the U.S. before the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, literacy and other tests were used to disenfranchise African-Americans. Property qualifications have tended to disenfranchise non-whites, particularly if tribally-owned land is not allowed to be taken into consideration. In some cases (such as early colonial New Zealand) property qualifications were deliberately used to disenfranchise non-whites; in other cases this was an unintended (but usually welcome) consequence.

Unofficial - nothing in law prevents anyone from voting on account of their race, but people of particular races are intimidated or otherwise prevented from exercising this right.

Age

All modern democracies require voters to meet age qualifications to vote. Worldwide voting ages are not consistent, differing between countries and even within counties, usually between 16 and 21 years. Demeny voting would extend voting rights to everyone including children regardless of age.

Criminality

Many countries restrict the voting rights of convicted criminals. Some countries, and some U.S. states, also deny the right to vote to those convicted of serious crimes after they are released from prison. In some cases (e.g. the felony disenfranchisement laws found in many U.S. states) the denial of the right to vote is automatic on a felony conviction; in other cases (e.g. France and Germany) deprivation of the vote is meted out separately, often limited to certain crimes such as those against the electoral system. In the Republic of Ireland, prisoners are allowed the right to vote, following the Hirst v UK (No2) ruling, and this was granted in 2006. Canada allowed only prisoners serving a term of less than 2 years the right to vote, but this was found unconstitutional in 2002 by the Supreme Court of Canada in ''Sauvé v. Canada (Chief Electoral Officer)'', and all prisoners were allowed to vote as of the 2004 Canadian federal election.

Residency

Under certain electoral systems elections are held within subnational jurisdictions, preventing persons who would otherwise be eligible from voting because they do not reside within such a jurisdiction, or because they live in an area which cannot participate. In the United States, residents of Washington, DC receive no voting representation in Congress, although they have (de facto) full representation in presidential elections. Residents of Puerto Rico have neither. Sometimes citizens become ineligible to vote because they are no longer resident in their country of citizenship. For example, Australian citizens who have been outside Australia more than one and less than six years may excuse themselves from the requirement to vote in Australian elections while they remain outside Australia (voting in Australia is compulsory for resident citizens).

Nationality

In most countries, suffrage is limited to citizens and, in many cases, permanent residents of that country. However, some members of supra-national organisations such as the Commonwealth of Nations and the European Union have given voting rights to citizens of all countries within that organisation. Until the mid-twentieth century, many Commonwealth countries gave the vote to all British citizens in the country, regardless of whether they were normally resident there. In most cases this was because there was no distinction between British and local citizenship. Several countries qualified this with restrictions preventing non-white British citizens such as Indians and British Africans from voting. Under European Union law, citizens of European Union countries can vote in each others' local and European Parliament elections on the same basis as citizens of the country in question.

Naturalization

In some countries, naturalized citizens do not enjoy the right of vote and/or to be candidate, either permanently or for a determined period.

Article 5 of the 1831 Belgian Constitution made a difference between ordinary naturalization, and ''grande naturalisation''. Only (former) foreigners who had been granted ''grande naturalisation'' were entitled to vote or be candidate for parliamentary elections or to be appointed as minister. However, ordinary naturalized citizens could vote for municipal elections. Ordinary naturalized citizens and citizens who had acquired Belgian nationality through marriage were only admitted to vote, but not to be candidate, for parliamentary elections in 1976. The concepts of ordinary and grande naturalization were suppressed from the Constitution in 1991.

In France, the 1889 Nationality Law barred those who had acquired the French nationality by naturalization or marriage from voting, eligibility and access to several public jobs. In 1938 the delay was reduced to 5 years. These discriminations, as well as others against naturalized citizens, were gradually abolished in 1973 (9 January 1973 law) and 1983.

In Morocco, a former French protectorate, and in Guinea, a former French colony, naturalized citizens are prohibited from voting for 5 years after their naturalization.

In the Federated States of Micronesia, Micronesian citizenship for a minimum of 15 years is an eligibility condition to be elected to the parliament.

In Nicaragua, Peru and the Philippines, only citizens by birth are eligible for being elected to parliament; naturalized citizens enjoy only voting rights.

In Uruguay, naturalized citizens have the right of eligibility to the parliament after 5 years.

In the United States, the President and Vice President must be natural-born citizens. All other governmental offices may be held by any citizen.

Function

In France, an 1872 law, rescinded only by a 1945 decree, prohibited all army personnel from voting.

In the United Kingdom, public servants have to resign before running for an election.

The 1876 Constitution of Texas (article VI, section 1) stated that "The following classes of persons shall not be allowed to vote in this State, to wit: (...) Fifth--All soldiers, marines and seamen, employed in the service of the army or navy of the United States.".

Most countries that exercise separation of powers forbid a person from being a legislator and government official at the same time. Such provisions are found, for example, in Article I of the U.S. Constitution.

History of suffrage around the world

Finland was the first nation in the world to give all citizens full suffrage, in other words the right to vote and to run for office (in 1906). New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant all citizens the right to vote (in 1893), but women did not get the right to run for the New Zealand legislature until 1919.

History of suffrage in Canada

1916 - Manitoba becomes the first province where women have the right to vote in provincial elections. 1917 - Wartime Elections Act - Gives voting rights to women with relatives fighting overseas. Voting rights are stripped from all "enemy aliens" (those born in enemy countries who arrived in Canada after 1902; see also Ukrainian Canadian internment). Military Voters Act - gave the vote to all soldiers, even non-citizens, and to females serving as nurse or clerks for the armed forces, but the votes are not for specific candidates but simply for or against the government. 1918 - Women gain full voting rights in federal elections. 1919 - Women gain the right to run for federal office.

1940 - Quebec becomes the last province where women's right to vote is recognized.

1947 - Racial exclusions against Chinese and Indo-Canadians lifted.

1948 - Racial exclusions against Japanese Canadians lifed. 1955 - Religious exclusions are removed from election laws. 1960 - Right to vote is extended unconditionally to First Nations people. (Previously they could vote only by giving up their status as First Nations people; this requirement was removed.) 1960 - Right to vote in advance is extended to all electors willing to swear they would be absent on election day. 1970 - Voting age lowered from 21 to 18.

1982 - Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees all adult citizens the right to vote.

1988 - Supreme Court of Canada rules mentally ill patients have the right to vote. 1993 - Any elector can vote in advance.

2000 - legislation is introduced making it easier for people of no fixed address to vote

2002 - Prisoners given the right to vote in the riding in which they received their conviction. All adult Canadians except the Chief and Deputy Returning Officers can now vote in Canada.

History of suffrage in New Zealand

1853 - British government passes the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, granting limited self rule, including a bicameral parliament to the colony. The vote was limited to male British subjects aged 21 or over who owned or rented sufficient property, and were not imprisoned for a serious offence. Communally owned land was excluded from the property qualification, thus disenfranchising most Māori (indigenous) men.

1860 - Franchise extended to holders of miner's licenses who met all voting qualifications except that of property.

1867 - Māori seats established, giving Māori four reserved seats in the lower house. There was no property qualification; thus Māori men gained universal suffrage before other New Zealanders. The number of seats did not reflect the size of the Māori population, but Māori men who met the property requirement for general electorates were able to vote in them as well as in the Māori electorates.

1879 - Property requirement abolished.

1893 - Women given equal voting rights with men, making New Zealand the first nation in the world to allow adult women to vote.

1969 - Voting age lowered to 20.

1974 - Voting age lowered to 18.

1975 - Franchise extended to permanent residents of New Zealand, regardless of whether they have citizenship.

1996 - Number of Māori seats increased to reflect Māori population.

2010 - Prisoners stripped of all voting rights

History of suffrage in Australia

1884 - Henrietta Dugdale forms the first Australian women’s suffrage society in Melbourne.

1894 - South Australian women eligible to vote. 1899 - Western Australian women eligble to vote.

1902 - Women able to vote federally, and in the state of New South Wales.

1921 - Edith Cowan elected to the West Australian Legislative Assembly as member for West Perth, the first woman elected to any Australian Parliament.

1962 - Aboriginal peoples guaranteed the right to vote in Commonwealth elections

History of suffrage in the Muslim world

History of suffrage in Japan

History of suffrage in India

Universal suffrage for all adults over 21 was achieved and became part of India’s 1950 Constitution.

Women achieved suffrage in independent India in 1950; however, during the British raj period in India, women had achieved suffrage through the Government of India Act of 1935

History of suffrage in the United Kingdom

King Henry VI of England established in 1432 that only male owners of property worth at least forty shillings, a significant sum, were entitled to vote in a county. The rules for boroughs were complex, but also restrictive. Changes were made to the details of the system, but there was no major reform until the Reform Act 1832. Suffrage in Scotland, an independent state until 1707, was also restricted. Suffrage in the United Kingdom was slowly changed over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries through the use of the Reform Acts and the Representation of the People Acts, culminating in universal suffrage, excluding children and convicted prisoners.

Reform Act 1832 - extended voting rights to adult males who rented propertied land of a certain value, so allowing 1 in 7 males in the UK voting rights

Reform Act 1867 - enfranchised all male householders, so increasing male suffrage to the United Kingdom

Representation of the People Act 1884 - amended the Reform Act of 1867 so that it would apply equally to the countryside; this brought the voting population to 5,500,000, although 40% of males were still disenfranchised, whilst women could not vote

Between 1885-1918 moves were made by the suffrage movement to ensure votes for women. However, the duration of the First World War stopped this reform movement. See also The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918.

Representation of the People Act 1918 - the consequences of World War I persuaded the government to expand the right to vote, not only for the many men who fought in the war who were disenfranchised, but also for the women who helped in the factories and elsewhere as part of the war effort. Property restrictions for voting were lifted for men, who could vote at 21; however women's votes were given with these property restrictions, and were limited to those over 30 years old. This raised the electorate from 7.7 million to 21.4 million with women making up 40% of the electorate. Seven percent of the electorate had more than one vote. The first election with this system was the United Kingdom general election, 1918

Representation of the People Act 1928 - this made women's voting rights equal with men, with voting possible at 21 with no property restrictions

Representation of the People Act 1948 - the act was passed to prevent plural voting

Representation of the People Act 1969 - extension of suffrage to those 18 and older

The Representation of the People Acts of 1983, 1985 and 2000 further modified voting

Electoral Administration Act 2006 - modified the ways in which people were able to vote and reduced the age of standing at a public election from 21 to 18.

History of suffrage in the United States

In the United States, suffrage is determined by the separate states, not federally (Wyoming being the first state to instill suffrage). However, the "right to vote" is expressly mentioned in five Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These five Amendments limit the basis upon which the right to vote may be abridged or denied:

14th Amendment (1868): Regarding apportionment of Representatives.

15th Amendment (1870): "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

19th Amendment (1920): "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

23rd Amendment (1961): provides that residents of the District of Columbia can vote for the President and Vice-President.

24th Amendment (1964): "The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax."

26th Amendment (1971): "The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age."

Etymology

The word ''suffrage'' comes from Latin ''suffragium'', meaning "vote", "political support", and ''the right to vote''. The etymology of the Latin word is uncertain, with some sources citing Latin ''suffragari'' "lend support, vote for someone", from ''sub'' "under" + ''fragor'' "crash, din, shouts (as of approval)", related to ''frangere'' "to break" (related to ''fraction''). Other sources say that attempts to connect ''suffragium'' with ''fragor'' cannot be taken seriously. Some etymologists think that it may be related to ''suffrago'' and may have originally meant an ankle bone or knuckle bone.

See also

Constituency

Democracy

Direct democracy

The Famous Five (Canada)

Voting age

Voting rights in the United States

Youth suffrage

References

Bibliography

Neill Atkinson, ''Adventures in Democracy: A History of the Vote in New Zealand'' (Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 2003).

Alexander Keyssar, ''The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States'' (New York: Basic Books, 2000). ISBN 0-465-02968-X

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: ''Reports on Voting'' (2005) ISBN 978-0837731032

"Smallest State in the World," ''New York Times'', June 19, 1896, p 6

A History of the Vote in Canada, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, 2007.

External links

National Youth Rights Association

Votes at 16 Campaign to Lower the Voting Age in the UK

Suffrage in Canada

Vote sizing is different from the suffrage (vote ''counting'') reform movements, in that each voter’s political voice can be altered; whereas vote counting usually maintains that each voter only gets one (or equal amounts) vote.

Women´s suffrage in Germany - january 19, 1919 - first suffrage (active and passive) for women in Germany

Category:Democratic rights Category:Elections Category:Youth rights Category:Feminism and society

ar:حق التصويت ca:Sufragi cs:Volební právo da:Valgret de:Wahlrecht et:Hääleõigus es:Sufragio eo:Balotrajto fr:Droit de vote fy:Kiesrjocht ko:참정권 hi:मताधिकार hr:Biračko pravo id:Hak suara is:Kosningaréttur it:Suffragio he:זכות בחירה hu:Választójog arz:حق التصويت nl:Stemrecht ja:参政権 no:Stemmerett nn:Røysterett pl:Czynne prawo wyborcze pt:Sufrágio ru:Активное избирательное право simple:Suffrage sl:Volilna pravica sh:Biračko pravo fi:Äänioikeus sv:Rösträtt tr:Seçme ve seçilme hakkı uk:Право голосу ur:حقوق راۓ zh:选举权

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
name	Alice Stokes Paul
birth date	January 11, 1885
birth place	Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey
death date	July 09, 1977
death place	Moorestown Township, New Jersey
occupation	Suffragist
parents	William Mickle Paul I (1850-1902) Tacie Parry
relatives	Siblings: Helen, Parry and Willam }}

Alice Stokes Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American suffragist and activist. Along with Lucy Burns and others, she led a successful campaign for women's suffrage that resulted in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.

Activism

thumb|right|uright|Alice Paul Alice Paul received her undergraduate education from Swarthmore College, and then earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Paul received her LL.B from the Washington College of Law in 1922. In 1927, she earned an LL.M, and in 1928, a Doctor in Civil Laws from American University. Since the Washington College of Law merged with American University more than twenty years after Paul's graduation in 1949, she had the distinction of receiving law degrees from both schools.

Women's Suffrage and the Nineteenth Amendment

Shortly after her graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, Paul joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and was appointed Chairwoman of their Congressional Committee in Washington, DC. After months of fundraising and raising awareness for the cause, membership numbers went up in 1913. Their focus was lobbying for a constitutional amendment to secure the right to vote for women. Such an amendment had originally been sought by suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton who tried securing the vote on a state-by-state basis.

Paul's methods began to create tension between her and the leader of NAWSA, who felt that a constitutional amendment was not practical for the times. When her lobbying efforts proved fruitless, Paul and her colleagues formed the National Woman's Party (NWP) in 1916 and began introducing some of the methods used by the suffrage movement in Britain. The National Woman's Party was funded by Alva Belmont who was a multi-millionaire socialite at the time. The NWP was accompanied by press coverage and the publication of the weekly ''Suffragist.''

In the US presidential election of 1916, Paul and the NWP campaigned against the continuing refusal of President Woodrow Wilson and other incumbent Democrats to support the Suffrage Amendment actively. In January 1917, the NWP staged the first political protest to picket the White House. The picketers, known as "Silent Sentinels," held banners demanding the right to vote. This was an example of a non-violent civil disobedience campaign. In July 1917, picketers were arrested on charges of "obstructing traffic." Many, including Paul, were convicted and incarcerated at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia (later the Lorton Correctional Complex) and the District of Columbia Jail.

In a protest of the conditions in Occoquan, Paul commenced a hunger strike, which led to her being moved to the prison’s psychiatric ward and force-fed raw eggs through a feeding tube. This, combined with the continuing demonstrations and attendant press coverage, kept pressure on the Wilson administration. In January, 1918, Wilson announced that women's suffrage was urgently needed as a "war measure", and strongly urged Congress to pass the legislation. In 1920, after coming down to one vote in the state of Tennessee, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution secured the vote for women.

Equal Rights Amendment

Paul was the original author of a proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution in 1923. The ERA would not find its way to the Senate until 1972 when it was approved by the Senate and submitted to the state legislatures for ratification. Approval by 38 states was required to ensure adoption of the amendment. Not enough states — only 35 — voted in favor in time for the deadline. However, efforts to pass the ERA passed by Congress in the 1970s are still afoot, as well as efforts to pass a new equality amendment, and almost half of the U.S. states have adopted the ERA into their state constitutions.

Death

Paul died at the age of 92 on July 9, 1977 at the Quaker Greenleaf Extension Home in Moorestown Township, New Jersey, near her family home of Paulsdale. Before that she had a stroke in 1974, which disabled her.

Legacy

Paul created a long legacy of woman’s rights. Her alma mater Swarthmore College named the Women's Center and a dormitory in her honor. Montclair State University in New Jersey has also named a building in her honor. Hilary Swank, in the HBO 2004 movie ''Iron Jawed Angels'', portrayed Paul during her struggle for passage of the 19th Amendment. Two countries have honored her by issuing a postage stamp: Great Britain in 1981 and the United States in 1995, issuing a 78¢ Great Americans series stamp.

Paul is also scheduled to appear on a United States half-ounce $10 gold coin in 2012, as part of the so-called "First Spouse" program. A provision in the Presidential $1 Coin Program (see ) directs that Presidential spouses be honored. As President Chester A. Arthur was a widower, Paul is representing Arthur's era.

In 1989, the Alice Paul Centennial Foundation was working to raise the funds needed to purchase the brick farmhouse in Mount Laurel Township where Paul was born.

See also

''Iron Jawed Angels'', 2004 film about Paul, Lucy Burns and their fight resulting in passage of the 19th Amendment.

List of civil rights leaders

List of suffragists and suffragettes

Paulsdale, birthplace and childhood home of Alice Paul in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey.

References

Adams, Katherine H. and Michael L. Keene. ''Alice Paul and the American Suffrage Campaign''. University of Illinois Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-252-07471-4

Walton, Mary. ''A Woman's Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot''. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. ISBN 978-0-230-61175-7

External links

(Westfield Friends Burial Ground, Cinnaminson, New Jersey)

The Alice Paul Institute

Alice Paul at Lakewood Public Library: Women In History

The Sewall-Belmont House & Museum—Home of the historic National Woman's Party

Biographical sketch at the University of Pennsylvania

Category:1885 births Category:1977 deaths Category:American Quakers Category:American suffragists Category:American feminists Category:American women's rights activists Category:American University alumni Category:Swarthmore College alumni Category:People from Moorestown Township, New Jersey Category:People from Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey Category:People from Ridgefield, Connecticut Category:Civil disobedience

de:Alice Paul fr:Alice Paul it:Alice Paul nl:Alice Paul pl:Alice Paul ru:Пол, Элис zh:艾麗斯·保爾

Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Anson Chan Fang On-sang陳方安生
honorific-suffix	GBM, GCMG, CBE, JP
nationality	Chinese (Hong Kong)
order	Chief Secretary for Administration
term	1 July 1997 – 30 April 2002
successor	Sir Donald Tsang
order1	Chief Secretary
term1	29 November 1993 – 30 June 1997
predecessor1	Sir David Robert Ford
order2	Member of the Legislative Council
term2	5 December 2007 – 30 September 2008
majority2	54.84%
predecessor2	Ma Lik
birth date	January 17, 1940
birth place	Shanghai, Republic of China
relations	Fang Shin-hau (father)Fang Zhaoling (mother)Harry Fang (uncle)
spouse	Archibald Chan Tai-wing
children	Chan Wai-lingChan Hong-wai
religion	Roman Catholic
alma mater	Sacred Heart Canossian College (1949–1957)St. Paul's Convent School (1957–1958)University of Hong Kong (1959–1962) }}

Anson Maria Elizabeth Chan Fang On-sang GBM GCMG (hon.)CBE JP(born 17 January 1940 in Shanghai) was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for Hong Kong Island, succeeding the late legislator Ma Lik.

Before running for LegCo, she served as the head of Hong Kong's civil service before and after the territory's handover to the People's Republic of China from British colonial rule. Noted for her poise and smile, she was the first woman and the first Chinese to hold the second-highest governmental position in Hong Kong. Since November 2005 she has identified herself with the pro-democracy camp, and won the December 2007 by-election for the Hong Kong Island seat in the Legislative Council, as an independent.

Biography

Born one of twins in Shanghai, China, Anson Chan was educated at Hong Kong's Sacred Heart Canossian College (formerly known as Italian Convent School and Sacred Heart School) and the University of Hong Kong. She also studied at Tufts University in Massachusetts in the United States.

Chan's father, Fang Shin-hau 方心誥, a textile manufacturer, moved the family to Hong Kong in 1948. Her mother Fang Zhaoling was a well-known painter. Her grandfather, Fang Zhenwu, was a Kuomintang general who fought against the Japanese invasion. Her uncle, Sir Harry Fang Sin-yang is a well-known orthopaedic surgeon. When she was only ten, Chan's father died suddenly aged 36, leaving her mother with eight young children: twins Anson and Ninson and six brothers. With the support of Chan's grandmother, her mother not only shouldered the responsibility of raising her children, but also tried to pursue her career as an artist. She took two of her sons to study in England, leaving Chan and her five other siblings in Hong Kong with their grandmother and Uncle Harry.

Under her grandmother's strict discipline and high expectations, Chan learned that she had a duty towards the family and the community and was expected to be upright, diligent and righteous. She put herself through university by working as a private tutor and for a year as a clerk at Queen Mary Hospital. In 1959, Chan entered the University of Hong Kong to study English literature. Along with studies, she was keen on amateur dramatics, and it was through this that she met her future husband, Archibald (Archie) Chan Tai-wing.

She began work on a social work diploma, but later changed her mind and joined the Civil Service in 1962, one of only two women to join the civil service at that time. The following year, she married Archie, who became a science teacher at St Joseph's College.

British administration career

Chan joined the civil service as an administrative service cadet in 1962. Her salary was reportedly one-quarter that paid to men of equivalent grade.

Afterwards, she progressed to the Economics Section of the Finance Branch in 1962, followed by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, then the Department of Commerce and Industry, and later back to Finance. In 1970, she became assistant financial secretary in the finance branch of the Colonial Secretary, the first woman to attain that post.

She became a senior administrative officer in 1970. During this period she helped set up the Association of Female Senior Government Officers to fight for better rights for women civil servants, notably pushing for wage parity with men.

Chan became the first female civil service director when appointed Director of Social Welfare in 1984. During her tenure, she was severely criticized by media for her handling of a child custody case in 1986, popularly known as the Daughter of Kwok-A Incident. An investigation by Unofficial members of the Executive Council found that Chan had "acted within the law" in respect of her extreme powers, but recommended changes to the law and to the Social Welfare Department's procedures to prevent re-occurrence of similar cases. She later admitted that the media pressure had made her "very upset" and this led to keep her distance from the press, at least for a few years.

From 1987 to 1993, she was Secretary for Economic Services, becoming the 30th and last Chief Secretary in 1993. She mainly oversaw the localisation of the civil service during her time in this position. From 1994, she headed the Airport Development Steering Committee overseeing the construction of the new Chek Lap Kok airport.

Chan was the first woman and the first ethnic Chinese to hold the second-highest governmental position in Hong Kong. The highest governmental position, the Governor, was always held by Britons before Hong Kong's handover to People's Republic of China.

Chan was often described during this era as an "Iron Lady", with "an iron fist in a velvet glove". Chan was lauded as the most powerful woman in Asia for her role as the deputy of British Governor Chris Patten, and later Tung Chee-hwa.

In the run-up to the Handover, she was often the 'face of Hong Kong', dispatched to reassure the wider world that the territory would not implode upon its return to China and that civil liberties would be upheld. Her confidence reassured many around the globe.

Within Hong Kong she had wide public support to be the first Chief Executive in the new administration but announced in October 1996 that she would not seek the role.

SAR administration career

After Hong Kong's handover to China on 1 July 1997, Chan stayed on as head of the civil service under then Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, a valuable sign of stability and continuity for the new administration. She was always highly regarded: one British-born civil servant said that "Nothing would work without her", also noting that "Tung needs her more than she needs him."

Chan was loyal in the main but her public utterances were occasionally at odds with Tung. It was enough to earn her a certain independence and the epithet of "Hong Kong's Conscience". In contrast to the more conservative Tung, Chan showed the greater support for democracy and freedom, and advocated a faster pace of democratisation.

Defense of press freedom

:When pro-government figures in Hong Kong attacked the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) for being too critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese governments, Chan flew to its defence. In the summer of 1999 RTHK became a platform for Taiwan-Mainland China discussions. A local member of the PRC's National People's Congress, Tsang Hin-chi, urged the government-owned radio station to exercise self-censorship and not to provide a platform that express the splitting of China; Xu Simin, a member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, urged RTHK to not allow Taiwan's president broadcasts.

On 12 April 2000 Wang Fengchao delivered a speech titled "The Principle of One China and the Taiwan Issue". Wang hinted that Article 23 should be enacted as quickly as possible in Hong Kong to protect China against treason and subversion. Chan spoke in a four hour speech after Wang on the importance of press freedom and publication, as she believed in genuine press freedom without external pressures.

The constant criticism of mainland officials and policies was perceived by many to be one of the main reasons for Beijing to view Chan as a malefactor in Hong Kong politics. In what the Hong Kong media saw as a dressing down for Chan, PRC Vice Premier Qian Qichen told her at a function in Beijing to "better support Tung", after there had been reports of disagreements between the two over the appointment of officials.

Criticism, retirement

In 1998, Chan was somewhat criticised for her role in the monitoring of the new Hong Kong International Airport construction at Chek Lap Kok. The airport had logistical difficulties upon its opening, and some blamed Chan for her lack of supervision.

Chan agreed in 1999 to delay her retirement until June 2002. However, Chan announced her resignation in January 2001, and officially stepped down in April of the same year.

Honours

In recognition of her 34 years of public service to the British Crown, Chan was awarded the Hong Kong Grand Bauhinia Medal in 1999.

She was then appointed by Queen Elizabeth II an honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George in 2002 in recognition of her service with the Hong Kong Government before the handover. Such award was usually given only to Governors of Hong Kong before the return of sovereignty.

Political career

In December 2005, Chan participated in the protest march for democracy, against Donald Tsang's constitutional reform package and has since participated in subsequent marches for universal suffrage.

In July 2006, she criticised the Commission on Strategic Development, chaired by Donald Tsang, for being "rather slow and unsatisfactory", and announced her intention to start a "Core Group" to push for taking forward the debate on Hong Kong’s constitutional reforms. It was later announced that the group would consist of:

Allen Lee, former Liberal Party chairman

Christine Loh, Convenor of the Civic Exchange

Elizabeth Bosher

Professor Johannes Chan

Chandran Nair

Lily Yam Kwan Pui-ying

On 23 September 2006, in a news conference, Chan proclaimed that she would not run for the position of Chief Executive in 2007.

Legislative Council

On 11 September 2007, Chan announced that she would run in the December 2007 by-election for the Hong Kong Island seat made vacant by the death of Ma Lik. During the campaign, she was criticized by Alex Tsui, a former ICAC official who accused Chan of obtaining a 100% mortgage to purchase a flat in 1993 when she was chief secretary, suggesting an abuse of power. A City University commentator said the issue marked the start of a smear campaign against Chan, although Chan did not engage in smear-free politics either, accusing her rival Regina Ip of being a "fake democrat".

In the early hours of 2 December 2007, Chan was elected in the by-election with 175,874 votes, securing about 55% of the vote. Regina Ip, Chan's main rival, had 137,550 votes.

For this election, Chan spent HK$1.81 million, $330,000 more than Ip. Her two main donors were Sir Quo-wei Lee and his wife, and Hong Kong Democratic Foundation chairman George Cautherly, who donated HK$250,000 each. Next Media chairman Jimmy Lai donated HK$200,000, and the Democratic Party gave HK$65,840 "for services".

On 6 July 2008, Chan announced that she would not be seeking re-election to the Legislative Council at the expiry of her term.

Personal

Among her seven siblings, twin sister Ninson ran a travel agency; one brother worked at the United Nations in Geneva. Another, David Fang Jin-sheng, was a former orthopaedics lecturer and head of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine; and another brother, John Fang Meng-sang, is a lawyer. In 2006, John became embroiled in a controversy over the death of his former lover in mysterious circumstances in a flat owned by him in 1995. A coroner's inquest unanimously ruled her death accidental or by misadventure.

She was married to Archibald ("Archie") Chan Tai-wing from 1963 until his death in 2010. Six years her senior, he was a director of Caltex Oil and taught science at St. Joseph's College, his alma mater. He was also in the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police from 1987 to 1996, when he retired as a commandant.

The couple had two children, son Andrew Chan Hung-wai and daughter Michelle Chan Wai-ling, and four grandchildren.

See also

List of graduates of University of Hong Kong

Handbag Party

* Lily Yam

* Denise Yue

* Carrie Lam

* Margaret Chan

* Yu Lai Ching-ping

* Carrie Yau

* Shelley Lee

* Sandra Lee (Hong Kong)

* Irene Yau

* Rita Lau

* Cheung Man Yee

References

External links

"Official Website of Anson Chan 2007 Legislative Council By-election (HKI)"

"Former Chief Secretary wants stronger push on universal suffrage" A vidcast of an interview between Anson Chan and Chris Yeung, ''South China Morning Post'', April 2007.

Mrs Anson Chan and her Core Group

Mrs Anson Chan's Chinese blog/column at Yahoo "陳方安生 「Anson信箱」"

C-SPAN Channel">Anson Chan's Appearances on C-SPAN Channel

|- {{S-ttl|title = Member of Legislative Council|district=Hong Kong Island constituency|years = 2007–2008 |alongside=Martin Lee, Yeung Sum, Choy So-yuk, Audrey Eu, Rita Fan}}

Category:1940 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Category:Chief Secretaries of Hong Kong Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Government officials of Hong Kong Category:Hong Kong democracy activists Category:Hong Kong Roman Catholics Category:People from Shanghai Category:Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal Category:Tufts University alumni Category:Twin people Category:Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Category:Hong Kong politicians Category:Honorary Dames Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George

ja:陳方安生 pl:Anson Chan sv:Anson Chan wuu:陈方安生 zh-yue:陳方安生 zh:陳方安生