“Liechtenstein Was the Last Country in Europe to Grant Women the Vote — in 1984”
Liechtenstein did not grant women the right to vote at the national level until July 1, 1984, making it the last country in Europe to do so. The right was approved by a male-only referendum with just 51.3% in favour — a margin of only 119 votes.
A tiny principality's last-place finish
Liechtenstein, a tiny Alpine principality of fewer than 40,000 people wedged between Switzerland and Austria, held the dubious distinction of being the last country in Europe to grant women the right to vote — and it didn't happen until 1984. The road there was painfully slow. A first male-only referendum in 1971 rejected suffrage by just 81 votes; a second in 1973 rejected it more decisively, with 55.9% opposed. One of the main fears driving opposition was that foreign women who married Liechtenstein citizens would dilute the electorate, since at the time such women automatically gained citizenship.
1973
1984
1984
Activists push the cause forward
Activist groups like 'Aktion Dornröschen' (Operation Sleeping Beauty), led by women such as Melitta Marxer, waged a tireless campaign across Europe — including a visit to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in 1983 — to shame the principality into action. Meanwhile, some municipalities began granting local suffrage, starting with Vaduz in 1976.
The 1984 vote and its aftermath
Finally, in the summer of 1984 — a year when Margaret Thatcher was already five years into her tenure as UK Prime Minister — Liechtenstein men voted yes, by a razor-thin margin of 2,370 to 2,251 (just 119 votes). Even so, the fight was not over: formal constitutional equality between men and women wasn't enshrined until 1992, and a full equality law was not passed until 1999.
Where the story gets it wrong
Some assume Liechtenstein granted women the vote around the same time as Switzerland in 1971. In fact, Liechtenstein lagged 13 years behind Switzerland, not granting national suffrage until 1984 — making it the last country in Europe to do so.
It might seem the 1984 referendum itself included women, since it decided their voting rights. In fact, only men were allowed to vote in that referendum — women had no direct say in their own enfranchisement.
Because some municipalities granted local suffrage starting in 1976, it's easy to assume women could vote everywhere in Liechtenstein before 1984. In fact, national suffrage came only in 1984, and the last municipality did not adopt local female suffrage until 1986.
Article 29, paragraph 2 of the Liechtenstein Constitution was amended in 1984 to grant all Liechtenstein citizens — regardless of sex — the right to vote and stand for election. The amendment was approved via national referendum on 1 July 1984 (with voting also held on 29 June 1984), following passage of the constitutional law by the state parliament (Landtag) on 11 April 1984.
- Current status
- Repealed
- Enacted
- July 1, 1984
- Penalty
- N/A — This is a constitutional voting rights provision, not a penal statute. The historical restriction (exclusion of women from voting) was the law itself; no criminal penalty applied to women who did not vote.
- Jurisdiction
- National (state/federal level) — Principality of Liechtenstein. Some municipalities had granted local women's suffrage as early as 1976, but national-level suffrage came only in 1984.