Women's vote achieved: We need faster progress

Universal adult suffrage became a reality in 2023 after Vatican City gave women voting rights. Yet, patriarchal politics thrives. A real voice for all must not take another century

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In October 2023, Pope Francis allowed women to vote at the Synod of Bishops for the first time. Allowed to attend only as observers in the past, five religious sisters were allowed to vote at the Papal advisory body in a momentous shift for the Roman Catholic Church, which has been male-dominated for centuries. With this historic move, Vatican City became the last country in the world to give its women the right to vote. In an important way, the addition of a state housing 764 people on a 0.44-sq-km patch of land to the world’s adult-franchise map marks the culmination of a democratic quest for justice that dates back more than a century. In that sense, the last piece being snapped into the puzzle should make us look back at this year with some satisfaction. Religious institutions tend to take the longest to reform, but they too can and do. It is nobody’s case that democracy has finally gone global. It’s evident that much of the world is under some form of autocracy. Yet, wherever elections of any kind are held, to whatever end, it is vital that no gender