Women and suffrage: controversies over politics and representation in South America, 1860s–80s

Abstract

This article examines arguments for and against women’s suffrage that circulated in Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina between 1860 and 1890. It analyses constitutional law books, press articles, university textbooks, and dissertations, that discussed women’s political rights within the context of a broader debate about the performance of representative systems in the region. Rather than assess the impact of these writings on the later attainment of women’s suffrage in the twentieth century, the focus of the article is in establishing the channels of circulation of these arguments and their connection to the discussion on electoral reforms at the time.