Which amendment granted women nationwide constitutional voting rights in the United States?

The Nineteenth Amendment granted women nationwide constitutional voting rights in the United States. It states that voting rights cannot be denied by the United States or a state on account of sex.

Congress approved the amendment in June 1919, and Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to ratify it on August 18, 1920. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the amendment on August 26, now commemorated as Women’s Equality Day.

The amendment capped a campaign that included the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, decades of organizing, and strategic state-level victories. It did not produce equal access for every woman immediately; discriminatory laws and practices continued to suppress many Black, Native, Asian American and Latina voters.

The Nineteenth Amendment also did not use the word “women.” Its text prohibits sex-based denial of voting rights, leaving enforcement to later civil-rights laws and court decisions.