When researching the 19th Amendment, I was reminded that many 19th/ 20th century women did not want the right to vote.
In Susan Goodier’s book, No Votes for Women: The New York State Anti-Suffrage Movement, suffragists were building support for the New York constitutional convention, where lawmakers would decide if “male” should be removed from the wording of the state constitution.
As the suffragist movement gained momentum, anti-suffragist women mobilized committees, circulated petitions, and created associations to oppose women’s right to vote in New York.
The anti-suffragist women generally came from elite, white families, and tended to be married to men in politics or law. They considered the right to vote unnecessary because state legislatures had passed laws protecting certain civil rights for women.
“We’ve got to do something or else we’re going to be stuck with the vote.” (Goodier)
Thankfully, their efforts would fail with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in August 1920. But the anti-suffragist women would become a nationwide force that would influence later generations of conservative women.
They claimed granting women the right to vote would lead to a disruption of the family, of a woman’s role as a wife and mother – themes that would parallel those of Phyllis Schlafly, the Republican activist who campaigned against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.
Anti-suffragists felt women could better achieve their aims through influencing their husbands and sons.
In a pamphlet by the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, the writer listed why they were opposed to a woman’s right to vote: “Because it means competition of women with men instead of co-operation. Because 80% of the women eligible to vote are married and can only double or annul their husbands’ votes. … Because in some States more voting women than voting men will place the government under petticoat rule.”
Goodier notes as well, “Leaders in the movement emphasized gender role reversals if women became voters. Images showed men holding grocery baskets, pushing baby stroller s, and washing clothes. If women began doing the work of men, they would become uglier, less feminine, less desirable to men.”
They were successful in demonizing suffragist feminists as being un-attractive man-haters, similar to today’s Trumpian attacks on Democratic women running for office.
They argued that women couldn’t possibly get involved with politics while also caring for their children and their home. An early postcard showed a woman trying to juggle a baby, a pan, a broom, and a paper with the word “suffrage.”
Suffragists were forced to counter these arguments by making the case that women could do everything that they’re “supposed” to do in the women’s sphere, and also vote.
In 1918, the worldwide flu pandemic spread among soldiers who returned from WWI and created a sudden shortage of men at work. As women surged into the U.S. workforce, unequal pay and poor working conditions galvanized their drive for equal rights and protections.
As we celebrate the 19th amendment, we need to remember that for minority women — African American, Hispanic, and Native-American women — the road has been long to ensure them the right to vote. Even with the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, Black and brown women still face a tough journey to achieve equal access to the voting booth.
Prior to the ratification of the 19th Amendment, southern politicians were terrified of Black women getting the right to vote, with one Mississippi senator reportedly saying, “That will be the end of white supremacy if Black women get the vote.”
Unfortunately, white suffragists succumbed to that pressure, and left out their sisters of color in order to rally support of “racist” white men and women.
And yet, on this 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920, Senator Kamala Harris’ spot on the Democratic ticket paves the way for black and brown girls everywhere to “see themselves in her” and demand equal access to the ballot box.
The 19th amendment heralded decades of advancements for women, in the workplace, in education, and in serving in public office.
With our democracy facing its gravest threat, from voter suppression to the sabotaging of the Postal Service, activist women are again battling to ensure fair elections for ALL.
Let us join with them in that work. We have Unfinished Business and lots of work to do!
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