franchise \FRAN-chahyz\,
noun:
1. The right to vote.
2. A privilege of a public nature conferred on an individual,group, or company by a government.
One factor in the early mobilization of feminism was the 1832 Reform Act, through which women's exclusion from the franchise was formalized.
-- Angélique Richardson, Chris Willis, The new woman in fiction and in fact: fin-de-siècle feminisms
The national referendum of 1963 reflected general support for the six-point reform program, which included land reform and the franchise for women.
-- Robin Morgan, Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology -
Franchise derives from the Old French word for "freedom," which shares a root with the English frank.
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