MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED SUFFRAGE QUESTIONS

706 and 708 South Gay Street between the historical Bijou Theatre and Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville, Tennessee.

“Suffragettes” was a term coined by the British press and was generally viewed as a derisive term. The French suffix “ette” is a diminutive suffix connoting “smaller than” or” imitation of.” Hence, leatherette is not leather, a dinette is not a dining room table, etc. Some British suffragists seem to have embraced the term to weaken it like some women now have embraced the word “bitch,” to reduce the sting.

American suffragists preferred “suffragist”

The amazing 72 year, grassroots campaign to get women citizens the right to vote in a “democracy” that excluded them from that basic right.

It appears that the first public, organized meeting calling for women’s right to vote was in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. That is generally regarded as the beginning of the movement.

Certainly, some individuals called for more equitable treatment of women earlier and even some of the colonies allowed women to vote for a short period of time on limited subject matters, but those “rights” were not elevated to Constitutional rights and were fairly quickly taken away

Some of the most celebrated leaders include Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott who were the impetus for the Seneca Falls Convention and Susan B. Anthony who was the primary spokesperson for the movement. Thousands of other women and men (including people of color, immigrants, and native Americans) from all over the United States and even some foreign countries gave much of their lives to the effort.

The text of the 19^th Amendment reads:

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. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This Amendment established for women an enforceable right to participate in our democracy.

The right to have a voice in the laws we must obey is the single most fundamental right in a democracy. Ordinary citizens can participate in choosing the people who carry out the powers of government and can hold those people accountable in the next election if they fail to represent the people.

Women have always made up a little over half of the citizens in this country, but they were, with rare and limited exception, denied the right to vote for well over the first century of its existence.

Most of the arguments against suffrage were culture war arguments (attempts to impose personal, cultural or religious attitudes on the whole society). For example, many people of faith believed that because Eve reportedly gave in to temptation from the devil and then persuaded Adam to commit the sin of partaking of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil she was (and therefore all women were) guilty of introducing sin into the world. As a result, women were lesser people, not worthy of equal or fair treatment. The man was to be the “king” of his “castle” and she, the inferior one, was always to be his servant.

Some argued that women were intellectually inferior and too emotionally unstable to be rational.

Some argued that women would abandon their children and families and obsess about voting.

Some argued women would abandon their husbands or reverse the roles and make the husband inferior—assigning him all the childcare and domestic drudgery.

Many argued that women would be “strong minded” and cease obeying their husbands.

Most of the arguments reflected a fear of losing control of women.

The methods varied greatly from holding gatherings to discuss what their roles should be, to neighborhood teas and “parlor parties” where they put on little plays and read poems that exposed the injustices they lived. Eventually, they broke the mores of the time and held public meetings, protests, parades and even picketed the White House. In this country, their events were nonviolent (except for the violence taken against them). Only one shot is known to have been fired—by an anti— into the ceiling of the National Women’s Party’s Headquarters (no one was injured).

Virtually all the American citizens who became a part of the movement (1848-1920) grew up in a country deeply divided by race and class. When the movement began, slavery was legal and practiced in virtually all places in the United States and in many other countries of the world. Similarly, the attitudes that accompanied the divisions between the wealthy and the poor people were nearly universal—they were separated not only by economics, but consequently also by education, expectations, access to power and opportunities.

The early leaders of the abolition and suffrage movement (largely one movement until after the Civil War) were generally Quakers who were committed to social justice and nonviolence. They argued for better opportunities for all people, regardless of class or race. The high ideals of the movement could not cure the longstanding tensions based on race and class. They did, however, open the dialog, set the goals, and advance the causes. They stood steadfastly for the right to vote for ALL women, regardless of race or class.

“Suffragettes” was a term coined by the British press and was generally viewed as a derisive term. The French suffix “ette” is a diminutive suffix connoting “smaller than” or” imitation of.” Hence, leatherette is not leather, a dinette is not a dining room table, etc. Some British suffragists seem to have embraced the term to weaken it like some women now have embraced the word “bitch,” to reduce the sting.

American suffragists preferred “suffragist” which had no diminutive connotation.

No doubt the culture war that was waged on suffrage frightened countless men and women.

1. Wealthy women with little job experience or useful training feared being expected to take care of themselves—they could not risk upsetting their husbands/fathers. Poor women who could barely survive with a husband’s or father’s help, couldn’t see how they and their children could survive alone.
2. Women had very limited educational opportunities and what education they had did not prepare them to understand government, economics, world politics or even the voting process.
3. Women generally had no inheritance rights, not even rights to their own earnings. They often lacked economic know-how to manage a home, much less a state or country.
4. Religion often blamed women for bringing sin into the world. Many believed their subjugation was deserved.
5. Married women generally had no legal rights to their own children—husbands could give them away without their permission. If their husbands were against suffrage or wanted their wives to stay out of it, they had to choose between their children and the cause.
6. Voting by men has not cured the evils of the world, why should women bother?

Changing the Constitution requires that:

1. The Amendment must be approved by 2/3 of the Congressional House of Representatives and by 2/3 of the Senate, and
2. The Amendment must be ratified by 3/4of the States (in 1920 there were only 48 States, so 36 were required to fully ratify).
3. Some states granted women limited voting rights before the suffrage Amendment passed, some revoked those rights, but
   • Wyoming entered as a state with women voting in 1869,
   • Utah women could vote in 1875,
   • Colorado women could vote in 1893,
   • Washington women could vote in 1910,
   • Kansas, Oregon and Arizona women could vote in 1912, and
   • Illinois women could vote in 1911.

The states that allowed women to vote before the Constitutional Amendment were held up as proof that the dire consequences predicted were fiction.

• Women’s suffrage was single, largest change in our political history-the electorate more than doubled.
• Polling results suggest: “women are more likely than men to perform caretaking roles— like raising children—and both historically and today they are more likely than men to want stronger healthcare, housing, education, childcare and anti-poverty programs. These differences shape the “women’s vote.”
• Voter suppression tactics, like poll taxes and literacy tests disproportionately affected women, especially minority women.
• Since 1984 voter turnout for women has generally matched or exceeded the male turnout. The Gender gap in voting continues . . .
• Thanks to Smithsonian magazine: How Women Vote

As successor to the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the League of Women Voters formed on February 15, 1920—six months before Tennessee’s critical vote. The League focused on voter education and is best known today for its candidate forums.

The 19^th Amendment gave all women citizens the right to vote, but voter suppression efforts intensified after to passage of woman suffrage—many of which had the greatest impact on poor and minority women. Chinese women, immigrant women (non-naturalized women), and many Native American women were not considered citizens, therefore could not vote.

The central theme of suffrage was the fundamental notion that in a democracy, all citizens, including women, should have full and fair treatment. While voting alone cannot guarantee equality, voting is power to move our government toward equality.

Suffrage had its roots in abolition, its long struggle provided a training ground for other civil rights efforts and its philosophy often inspired civil rights advocates press on. The organizing skills, the tactics and the events of the civil rights effort often reflect the suffrage elements and playbook. Women, both Black and White, gave thousands of hours of effort and support to the civil rights movement in hopes of improving life for all citizens.

The most striking difference between suffrage and Civil Rights efforts has been the degree of violence involved in the Civil Rights movement. While women were on the receiving end of violence (shoving, pushing, force feeding, beatings, being hit with rotten vegetables, gun threats and the like) the American suffragists were nonviolent. Violence against Civil Rights workers, both White and Black, was common and all too often fatal.

Voter suppression is alive and well even today. Threats and intimidation occur with alarming frequency. Efforts to gerrymander to benefit one or the other political party are widespread.

The pending SAVE act may endanger millions of women’s votes if they do not have a passport. It requires that your ID name match your birth name. Tradition has been for women to assume a married name—husband’s last name usually—that likely will not match her birth certificate.

Most alarming are the calls to end women’s right to vote.

Why couldn't women vote? What does “suffrage” mean? What is one brave thing the suffragists did?

How can the history of women's suffrage be integrated into a modern curriculum? What resources are available for teaching about the movement?

How did the global suffrage movement influence the American movement? How did the Progressive Era and other social reforms intersect with the fight for the vote?