Women Won the Right to Vote 95 Years Ago Today (26 august 1920)

[niyad]

Women Won the Right to Vote 95 Years Ago Today




Feminist_Suffrage_Parade_in_New_York_City,_1912

Twenty-six thousand, three hundred and thirty-four very long and difficult days ago, a small but brave band of suffrage pioneers declared: ” … that it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.” That day the Secretary of State proclaimed that the U.S. Constitution now would read:
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” and that “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

The battle to add those two simple sentences to the Constitution took so long that of the 300 who attended the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, 100 of whom signed the “Declaration of Sentiments” on July 20, 1848, only Charlotte Woodward Pierce was still living on that day (and eagerly looking forward to casting her first vote on November 2!)
. . . . .








But Alice Paul knew that winning the battle for suffrage was not the same as winning the war against all forms of sex discrimination. On August 18, the day Tennessee became the 36th and final state needed to complete the process of ratification, she said:
With their power to vote achieved, women will still have before them the task of supplementing political equality with equality in all other fields. In state and national legislation, as well as in other fields, women are not yet on an equal basis with men.

. . . . .

Though it would be impossible to predict what course the NWP would take in this new, post-suffrage era, Alice Paul and its other leaders recognized many years ago that the only way to eliminate all the laws mandating sex discrimination at the polls was through a Constitutional amendment. A new drive for a 20th Amendment to ensure totally equal rights for women and men would begin not too long after the end of the campaign for the 19th Amendment.
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http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/08/26/women-won-the-right-to-vote-95-years-ago-today/

[Laffy Kat]

1. Thanks for posting. nt

[CTyankee]

2. those were great women. they faced a lot of scorn and derision. they were actually

spat upon by men attending the parade.

Several years ago there was a nice series on PBS about women's suffrage in the UK entitled "Shoulder to Shoulder." I loved that series. It was wonderful.

[niyad]

6. amazingly enough, that series was never put on dvd. one can, however, watch the whole series

on youtube.

have you ever seen "iron-jawed angels", about the american suffrage movement?

[CTyankee]

11. not yet. thanks for reminding me.

[Beta Male]

3. Congrats!

Funny as I've heard nothing about it in the media.

[niyad]

7. welcome to du. a friend was just pointing out tonight that there was not a word about it

in the media--apparently, everything is ramping up for the coverage of katrina's tenth.

[Beta Male]

9. We can be jerks sometimes

Try not to die from the shock!

[Judi Lynn]

10. It really figures!Theirs has become a sloppy, low profession

since the right-wing owners bought all the big outlets.

Hard to believe the "news" business could be this shabby.

[appalachiablue]

4. K & R. Bravo! Thank you dear sisters!

[potone]

5. Sadly, I think there are some people today who are sorry that that ever happened.

I have never been so worried about the future of women's rights in this country as I am today. Some of these Republicans are so misogynistic that it is truly frightening, and what is worse, women keep getting told that we are exaggerating the risk. I don't think so.

[niyad]

8. there are actually pols who have openly stated that the 19th should be repealed--and they

`were not booed, or hissed, or pelted with rotten veggies.

[CTyankee]

12. I don't think that's going to happen.

In fact, politicians from both parties are seeing the handwriting on the wall re elections and the women's vote. They aren't getting away with anti-woman shit as much as they'd like, because they know the power of women voting.

[niyad]

13. the very fact that a pol could speak this openly, without being roundly booed, does not bode

well. look at all the woman-hating legislation these people are passing, on a nearly daily basis.

[CTyankee]

14. there comes a point, tho. The women's vote is not to be taken lightly...

[niyad]

15. one does hope.

[CTyankee]

16. All it will take is a Dem saying to an audience "hey, women, do you want your vote taken from you?"

that is not going to happen.