The women of the earstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics got the right following the success of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Gradually the right to vote was achieved by the women of England, USA, Germany and other States. The women of France got the right late in 1944 with the coming to power of a Communist Coalition in France.

In India the women got the right first in 1935, though in a limited way. It was in the first General Elections in 1952 in independent India that the right was granted on the basis of universal adult suffrage.

But in spite of the right to vote, the women of India are still far behind so far as the right to political representation is concerned. The following Annexure published with "The World Women: Trends and Statistics" would show the position of women in this regard in the year 1915. The percentage of representation of the women in elected legislatures of some countries as follows:

Australia – 9, Austria-21, Chili-8, the Czeck Republic-10 (30% prior to the recent change), Bangladesh-10, Belgium-9, Germany-21(35 in earstwhile G.D.R. in 1987), France –06, India-06, Japan-03, Poland-13(20 in 1987), Sweden-34, Thailand-04, US Senate –09, US House of Representatives-11, Denmark-33, Finland-39, Mexico-08, Netherlands-31, New Zealand –21, Norway –39, Russian Federation –10 (33 in 1987), Turkey –24, Great Britan-09.

In India the movement for the right to vote for women began gaining momentum since 1917. On December 18, 1917 a memorandum demanding the right was placed before the Montague-Chelmsford Commission by Sm. Sarojini Naidu and Marget Cousins. The demands was refused. Under the leadership of Anni Besant the memorandum was backed by the Indian National Congress. Subsequently, the demand was placed before Southborough Commission. The Commission referred the matter to the Provincial legislatures which came forward and granted limited right to vote to the women along with men in most of the provinces.

Following independence, the new rulers of India guaranteed universal adult franchise in the new Constitution of India. In spite of that the percentage of women representatives in the Lok Sabha (lower House of Parliament) since 1952 never crossed the 8 per cent limit. Unfortunately, the fact of millions of women taking part in the freedom movement in India has never found proper reflection in the percentage of women getting elected in the parliament. The following data would explain the point.

The percentage of women members in the Parliament since 1952: 1952-2.8, 1957-3.6, 1962-6.0, 1967-6.0,1971-3.8,1977-3.5, 1980-5.3, 1984-7.7,1989-4.4,1991-7.2, 1996-6.4, 1998-6.2.