1937 Philippine women's suffrage plebiscite
A plebiscite was held in the Philippines on April 30, 1937, to decide whether or not women could vote. Multiple women's movements started in 1910, which led to the plebiscite in 1937, where women voted for or against women's suffrage rights. Filipino women worked hard to mobilize and fight for women's suffrage in the early 1900s and gained victory after 447,725 out of 500,000 votes affirmed women's right to vote.
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| Voting system | The proposal is approved if there are at least 300,000 votes in favor and if the number of votes against it is fewer than those in favor. | |||||||||||||||
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Counterarguments against women gaining the right to vote in the Philippines were stated due to the fact that it would ruin family unity, giving less power to the husband or man of the house in the family.
Prior to the plebiscite, electors voted on the approval of the new Philippine constitution. Approximately 1,213,934 of the electors voted in favor of the new constitution, while 42,690 voted against it. The new constitution, which contains a provision for the mechanism of extending the right to vote to women, was also the shortest constitution that was ratified during modern times. This new constitution contained only a small number of articles.
Before women gained the right to vote, they had no legal rights during that time period. Even with the proper consent from their husbands, women still could not obtain any legal rights. Governor General Dwight F. Davis made it legal for women to have some legal rights when it came to the disposition of property. This allowed women to own personal items within their marriage.