Q 01/05

Which European country did not let women vote in national elections until a referendum in 1971?

A) Czechoslovakia

B) Austria

C) Switzerland

D) Luxembourg

Answer · why

C) Switzerland

Switzerland gave women the federal vote in February 1971, after its male voters approved the change. One canton, Appenzell Innerrhoden, kept women out...

Q 02/05

What everyday commodity did Mahatma Gandhi lead a 240-mile march to make in 1930, defying British tax law?

A) Salt

B) Sugar

C) Indigo

D) Tea

Answer · why

A) Salt

Salt was a British monopoly in colonial India, so gathering it from the shore was a crime. Gandhi's walk to the coast at Dandi took 24 days and set of...

Q 03/05

Which country in June 2018 became the last in the world to lift a legal ban on women driving?

A) Afghanistan

B) Turkmenistan

C) Pakistan

D) Saudi Arabia

Answer · why

D) Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia ended the ban on 24 June 2018, following a royal order from King Salman. Several of the women who had campaigned for the change were in d...

Q 04/05

Off the coast of Cape Town, where did Nelson Mandela spend 18 of his 27 years as a prisoner?

A) Dassen Island

B) Robben Island

C) Seal Island

D) Bird Island

Answer · why

B) Robben Island

Robben Island takes its name from the Dutch word for seals, and it had earlier been used as a leper colony. Two later South African presidents were al...

Q 05/05

Which Montgomery seamstress was arrested in December 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger?

A) Rosa Parks

B) Ella Baker

C) Claudette Colvin

D) Fannie Lou Hamer

Answer · why

A) Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was not the first to refuse: a 15-year-old student had been arrested on a city bus earlier that year. Her case was the one that set off a b...