enfranchisement
Granting voting rights
Enfranchisement is the granting of rights, especially voting rights.
The term appears most often in historical contexts—the enfranchisement of women, the enfranchisement of formerly enslaved people.
More broadly, it can mean liberation from any form of restriction or servitude: The movement sought the enfranchisement of the working class.
The opposite is disenfranchisement.
Voting document
- voteFormal choice expression
- pollingSystematic opinion gathering
- electorateEligible voting body
- referendumDirect vote on legislation
voter · registration · constituency · turnout · plebiscite · absentee · precinct · poll-tax
Release from legal bondage
- freedomAbsence of constraint
- manumissionFormal freeing of enslaved
- abolitionFormal discontinuation of practice
- deliveranceRescue from bondage
unshackle · unfetter · liberate · bondage · slavery · jubilee · freedman · antislavery
Power to act
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- representationDepiction or likeness
- voiceSound from throat
participation · inclusion · stake · access · uplift · advancement · mobilization · engagement
Same status for all
- desegregationEnding enforced group separation
- integrationCombining into a whole
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
- civil-libertiesPersonal rights limiting government
activism · legislation · reform · advocacy · march · amendment · landmark · injustice
Legal path to belonging
- nationalityLegal belonging to country
- passportGovernment-issued travel credential
- immigrantOne who resettles abroad
- residentOne who inhabits
birthright · allegiance · denizen · repatriation · assimilation · expatriate · statehood · belonging
ballot
Voting document
- voteFormal choice expression
- pollingSystematic opinion gathering
- electorateEligible voting body
referendum · voter · registration · constituency · turnout · plebiscite · absentee · precinct · poll-tax · electoral
emancipation
Release from legal bondage
- freedomAbsence of constraint
- manumissionFormal freeing of enslaved
- abolitionFormal discontinuation of practice
deliverance · unshackle · unfetter · liberate · bondage · slavery · jubilee · freedman · antislavery · abolitionist
agency
Power to act
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- representationDepiction or likeness
voice · participation · inclusion · stake · access · uplift · advancement · mobilization · engagement
equality
Same status for all
- desegregationEnding enforced group separation
- integrationCombining into a whole
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
civil-liberties · activism · legislation · reform · advocacy · march · amendment · landmark · injustice
naturalization
Legal path to belonging
- nationalityLegal belonging to country
- passportGovernment-issued travel credential
- immigrantOne who resettles abroad
resident · birthright · allegiance · denizen · repatriation · assimilation · expatriate · statehood · belonging · membership
- democracyvote, voting, election, elections, ballot
- freedomfreedom of choice, freedom of will, expression, speech, political liberty
- rentingtenant, landlord, rent, rental, renter
- votingballot, vote, voters, ballots, voter
- civil rightsequal protection, equal rights, Civil Rights Act, right to life, Voting Rights Act
- UK PoliticsHouse of Commons, House of Lords, MP, Tory, Downing Street
enfranchisementdisenfranchisement
Removal of voting rights
disfranchisement · voter suppression · disenfranchising · disqualification · marginalization
enfranchisementenslavement
Forced human ownership
slavery · bondage · subjugation · servitude · thralldom
enfranchisementdisenfranchisement
Removal of voting rights
marginalization · exclusion · disempowerment · silencing · voicelessness