Women's suffrage in the Philippines

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A movement to fight for women's right to vote in the Philippines started as early as the 1890s during the Philippine Revolution and persisted during the United States administration of the islands.

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Women's suffrage was first granted in 1933 through Act No. 4112 but was revoked with the adoption of the 1935 Constitution. Women were not able to practice their right to vote from 1933 to 1935.

The women's suffrage movement succeeded after Filipina women granted it to themselves in a 1937 national plebiscite.

History

Early efforts

Filipino revolutionaries wrote a constitution for the Philippines during the Malolos Congress from 1898 to 1899. Apolinario Mabini in particular included a provision to grant women right to vote in his draft. However the Malolos Constitution as adopted did not include this provision. [1]

Under the United States administration of the Philippines, the question of women's suffrage for Filipina women continued. Suffragist Pura Villanueva Kalaw credits Cebu Congressman Filemon Sotto as the first politician to file a bill for women's suffrage in 1907 during the First Philippine Assembly. [2] It did not pass and opposition was concerned that it might be detrimental to "family values". [3]

According to historian Encarnacion Alzona it was Melecio Severino in the Third Philippine Assembly who filed the first bill in 1912. [2]

It was upper and middle class Filipina women who led the campaign for women's suffrage in the Philippines. They also had help from American suffragist women and sympathetic American colonial officials including Governor Generals Francis Burton Harrison, Leonard Wood, and Frank Murphy. [2]

The first bill was passed in the upper house in 1920. But no women's suffrage bill would become law until the 1930s. [2]

American Senator Charles L. Underhill of the Republican Party filed a bill granting women's suffrage in the Philippine islands. Rosa Sevilla de Alvero did not support the bill preferring women's suffrage will be granted via the Philippine legislature and was suspicious of American motives. [4]

Act No. 4112

It was only in 1933, when Act No. 4112, which ammended the Administrative Code to grant women's suffrage was passed by both chambers and became law. Despite women's suffrage being de jure granted it was never implemented under Act No. 4112. Women were still not allowed to vote in the 1934 Philippine Senate elections. [2]

1935 Constitution

In the 1934 Philippine Constitutional Convention, women's suffrage was a contentious topic during the drafting of a new Constitution of the Philippines. The provision for qualified voters read as "male citizens of the Philippines, unless disqualified by law, of 21 years of age and above, able to read and write are eligible for suffrage". The constitution draft was ratified in the 1935 plebiscite effectively repealing de jure women's suffrage granted by Act No. 4112. [2]

However, suffragists were able to add a potential pathway to regain women's suffrage. In the same 1935 Constitution, it allows for the granting of women's suffrage if at least 300,000 qualified women choose to affirmatively vote in a plebiscite to be held within two years after the adoption of the constitution. [2] [5]

The 1935 Constitution was the charter for the Commonwealth of the Philippines. The 1935 elections was solely participated by men. [5]

1937 suffrage plebiscite

The National Assembly passed Commonwealth Act No. 34 on September 30, 1936 which scheduled the women's suffrage plebiscite mentioned in the 1935 Constitution. [5]

During the 1937 women's suffrage plebiscite held on April 30, 1937, 447,725 women voted "yes" and therefore the women granted themselves suffrage since it satisfies the minimum 300,000 affirmative votes set in the 1935 Constitution. Only 44,307 voted "no". [6]

Views on women's suffrage

Opposition

The prospect of women's suffrage in the Philippines was opposed by conservatives. The most common argument was that women themselves allegedly do not want women's suffrage, a stance held by Manuel Quezon. Skepticism on women's ability to participate in politics was also a factor. [7]

Anti-suffragist also argued that granting women the right to vote would be detrimental to "family unity" since it would diminish the power of the husband in the social unit. [8]

Support

Women's suffrage organizations and male allies dispute the claim that women do not want suffrage. Senator Rafael Palma argued that women's suffrage is a moral right not unlike to women's right to education. [7]

Pilar Hidalgo-Lim says that women's suffrage is a prerequisite to Philippine independence. Josefa Llanes Escoda frames it as allowing women to fulfill their traditional roles as wives; that participating in elections is a valid method of helping their husbands. Maria Paz Mendoza Guanzon, a doctor by profession, pointed out how her male servants have the right to vote while she did not have at the time challenging the notion that men are inherently more qualified to vote than women. [9]

Women's suffragists

Individuals

Organizations

References

  1. ↑ Sanvictores, Benito Jr. "Mabini: the voice of the Philippines". UPDate Online. UP Diliman Information Office. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Alporha, Veronica C. (2021). "Manuel L. Quezon and the Filipino women's suffrage movement of 1937" (PDF). Plaridel. UP College of Mass Communication: 5-6. doi:10.52518/2021-08valpor . Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Umali, Justin (May 5, 2021). "Women's Suffrage: How the Filipina Won the Right to Vote". Esquire. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  4. ↑ Alporha 2021, p. 7–9.
  5. 1 2 3 Samonte, Severino (March 8, 2022). "Only men enjoyed the right of suffrage in PH until 1937". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
  6. 1 2 Alporha 2021, p. 20.
  7. 1 2 Alporha 2021, p. 9–10.
  8. ↑ "The Filipino women's suffrage rights and UPink fight". Cebu Daily News. Philippine Daily Inquirer. April 26, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  9. ↑ Alporha 2021, p. 11.
  10. 1 2 Rivera, Romayne Danielle (March 9, 2021). "A Short History on the Women's Suffrage in the Philippines". SunStar. SunStar Publishing Inc.
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