Slovakia Marks Centenary of Women's Right to Vote during 2020 Election

Bratislava, February 29 (TASR) - Saturday marks 100 years since Czech and Slovak women gained the right to vote, Institute for Labour and Family Research (IVPR) communications manager Viera Bottcher has told TASR. This means that Slovakia during its 2020 general election is also commemorating the moment when women in Czechoslovakia were allowed to vote and to be elected for the first time, noted Bottcher. " The new Czechoslovak Republic endorsed the values of democracy and equality for all citizens, including females. It also reflected the experience that Czechs and Slovaks had had with national oppression and declared in its constitution political and cultural rights for all minorities living on the territory of the new state. This wasn't a matter of course at that time," said IVPR director Silvia Porubanova. According to Bottcher, IVPR will mark this anniversary over the whole year with a series of educational events and a campaign via social media called 'The Centenary of Election'. The aim is not only to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote, but also to highlight the results of the work of many women who fought for this right and were engaged as civil activists, pioneers, teachers, journalists, writers, scientists or politicians. "They were not only courageous women who stood up for their rights; they were mainly educated women who wanted a different future for their daughters - a future in which people wouldn't be treated differently based on their gender, but solely based on the value of human dignity," said historian and IVPR analyst Jana Jablonicka-Zezulova. ko/df