Womenâs Suffrage In Europe. The first country to grant national-level voting rights to women was the self-governing British colony of New Zealand, which passed the Electoral Bill in September 1893.The British colony of South Australia granted full suffrage in 1894, giving women the right to vote and to stand for parliament.he suffrage movement in the United States gained prominence with the first womenâs rights convention in the world: the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848.