The historic event that the term "suffrage" refers to is the movement for women's voting rights, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Suffrage advocates fought for the legal right of women to vote in elections, asserting that political participation is a fundamental democratic right. The suffrage movement gained momentum in many countries, spearheaded by figures such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the United States, and Emmeline Pankhurst in the United Kingdom. The culmination of these efforts led to significant legislative changes, such as the 19th Amendment in the U.S. in 1920, granting women the right to vote, symbolizing a major step toward gender equality.