Switzerland Woman Voting Rights, 1957 (b/w photo)

Katharina Zenhaeusern, the wife of Paul Zenhaeusern, teacher and president of the commune, placed flowers between the two urns in Unterbaech in the canton of Valais on March 3, 1957, before she was the first woman to put her ballot paper to the vote on the obligatory civil defence for women in the ballot box. The local council had decided to let also the women participate. There was a separate urn for her. However, the vote was cancelled by the canton of Valais and the federal government for this municipality. The majority of cantons introduced women's voting rights at cantonal and communal level in 1971.