First lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will become Argentina’s first elected woman leader after universal women’s suffrage introduced in 1947. The country’s 27.1 million registered voters are obliged to vote, ensuring massive turnout, but the campaign was marred by widespread apathy which gave no sense that the first election of a female president was historic. Mrs Kirchner will be the most powerful woman in Latin America since Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, the region’s only other female head of state, is at the helm of a much smaller economy.

Universal suffrage (also general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of the right to vote to all adults, without distinction as to race, sex, belief, intelligence, or economic or social status.

Universal suffrage by country/state in chronological order :

1755 - 1769 Corsica First self-governing nation to give suffrage to women (if unmarried or widowed). Annexed by France in 1769.
1776 - 1807 New Jersey, USA First state to include both women and blacks. There was a property requirement; but its enforcement was and is disputed. New Jersey was independent until 1789.
1792 Principality of Liège Universal suffrage (all inhabitants over 18, without distinction) in the state of Liège to elect all the members of the National Convention.
1864 Greece The first European state to institute direct, secret, universal male suffrage.
1869 Wyoming, USA The first U.S. territory to allow women to run for the legislature. Upon the state’s admission into the Union in 1890, Wyoming was the first U.S. state to grant women the voting franchise. Other Western states also had universal suffrage before 1920.
1879 - 1887 Franceville First self-governing nation after New Jersey to practice universal suffrage without distinction of sex or race; however, only whites could hold office. After 1887 it was jointly ruled by France and Britain and is now part of Vanuatu.
1886 - 1899 Tavolara During its republican period 1886-1899, this small island country near Sardinia practiced universal suffrage. Later it became a part of Italy.
1893 New Zealand With the inclusion of women becomes the first major nation to grant universal suffrage; however, women were not eligible to stand for parliament until 1919.
1894 South Australia Women’s suffrage, but not universal. First state to also allow women as candidates for parliament. Other Australian states followed 1899-1908. Aborigines of Australia were allowed to vote, but this right was taken away at the time of Federation in 1901 and they were not allowed to vote in South Australia again until 1963.
1901 Australia Women’s suffrage, but not universal; the first federal election in Australia. In 1902 restrictions were imposed on Chinese, Indians, Polynesians (except Māori) and Indigenous Australians amongst others and some of these persisted until 1965.
1906 Grand Duchy of Finland As an autonomous Grand Duchy. including women, first nation to also allow women as candidates. This was the first time when women were actually elected (19 of 200 MPs). Finland became independent with same the Universal Suffrage in 1917.
1913 Norway Including women, first independent nation to also allow women as candidates.
1915 Denmark First voting rights to anyone came in 1849, and the rules was changed a number of times. But it was not until the change of the constitution in 1915 that all men and women had influence on all chambers.
1918 Canada Last province to enact women’s suffrage was Quebec in 1940; status Indians gained the right to vote in 1960.
1918 Estonia
1918 United Kingdom Women over 30 had been given the vote in 1918 with some property restrictions and in 1928 universal suffrage for all.
1918 Soviet Union With the 1918 Soviet Constitution, although direct voting and the lifting of some political restrictions not until the 1936 Soviet Constitution.
1918 Austria After the Central Powers’ defeat in World War I.
1918 Czechoslovakia After the Central Powers’ defeat in World War I
1918 Germany After the Central Powers’ defeat in World War I. Revoked during 1935-1945 by the Nuremberg Laws. The restrictions applied also to the territories occupied by the Nazis during World War II
1918 Hungary After the Central Powers’ defeat in World War I
1919 Democratic Republic of Armenia became part of the Soviet Union in 1920
1919 Azerbaijan Democratic Republic became part of the Soviet Union in 1920
1919 Democratic Republic of Georgia became part of the Soviet Union in 1921
1919 Poland
1919 Luxembourg
1919 The Netherlands universal male suffrage in 1917
1920 United States After the Civil War, Male Blacks and other minorities were guaranteed suffrage in the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, de jure. However, it was not enforced in the South, and some parts of the North, until the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
1921 Sweden universal male suffrage 1909, female suffrage 1921
1922 Lithuania
1922 Republic of Ireland As the Irish Free State in 1922, law adopted from British law having been part of the United Kingdom. Law subsequently carried over during changes in constitutional status in 1937 and 1949.
1923 Romania
1931 Sri Lanka (as Ceylon) Indian Tamils disenfranchised 1949
1931 Spain Male suffrage over 23. In 1933: Universal (for both Male and Female) suffrage. Revoked during Franco era, 1939-1975
1932 Brazil Replaced the previous system of male suffrage, from 1891, which excluded homeless, women, priests, the military and illiterates.
1933 Turkey
1935 Burma Last free elections held in 1990. [4]
1944 France Universal male suffrage used in 1792, for the National Convention, enacted in 1793 and 1848, but restricted with length of residence in 1851; reintroduced in 1852.
1945 Italy Universal male suffrage 1912 for people 30 or older, 1918 for people 21 or older
1945 Japan Universal male suffrage 1926
1947 Republic of China (now on Taiwan) Universal suffrage under the Constitution of the Republic of China
1948 United Nations Provision of “universal and equal suffrage” in Universal Declaration of Human Rights [Article 21(3)]
1948 Israel Universal suffrage since independence.
1948 South Korea
1948 Belgium
1950 India As part of Constitution of India.
1951 Argentina Universal male suffrage granted in 1912; universal women’s suffrage introduced in 1947.
1952 Greece Universal male suffrage 1864; women permitted to vote in local elections 1930.
1955 Malaysia The victory of Union Party convinces the British to grant Malaysia’s Independence in 1957.
1956 Colombia
1963 Iran Reforms under Shah’s “White Revolution”
1964 Afghanistan Constitution transformed Afghanistan into a modern democracy. [5]
1965 Australia A murky constitutional history regarding the voting rights of Aboriginals of Australia was clarified and ratified at the federal government level and in subsequent state governments in the following years - see Human rights in Australia for more.
1971 Switzerland Introduction of women’s suffrage at the federal level; for cantonal elections this was not completed until 1990.
1976 Portugal
1979 European Community (now European Union)
1984 Liechtenstein
1990 Samoa
1994 South Africa White women’s suffrage in 1930.
2002 Bahrain Universal male suffrage in 1973, although parliament was suspended and dissolved in 1975 for approximately 30 years.
2003 Oman
2005 Kuwait Universal adult male suffrage since 1962, for citizens who are 21 or older, with the exception of those who, at the time of elections, serve in the armed forces and, citizens who have been naturalized for fewer than 30 years. Note: As of 2005, women who satisfy the age and citizenship requirements are allowed to vote provided both men and women vote in separate polling locations.
2006 - 2010 U.A.E. Limited, will be fully expanded by 2010.[6]

María Eva Duarte de Perón (May 7, 1919 – July 26, 1952) was the second wife of Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón (1895–1974) and the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is often referred to as simply Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita, which literally translates into English as “Little Eva”.

Eva Perón also created the Female Peronist Party, which was the first large female political party in the nation. Navarro and Fraser write that by 1952, the party had 500,000 members and 3,600 headquarters across the country. In the election of 1952, this base of support won Perón the election by sixty-three percent.