Women's Suffrage Turns 95

Ninety-five years ago, on August 18, 1920, Congress ratified the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote. This historical fact is hard for many to grasp, because it reveals a reality that most women today have never faced. Imagine not having the choice to walk around unescorted, or to earn a degree in higher education, or to work, or to vote—merely because you are a woman.

Then, a group of nineteenth-century women in the United States literally started a revolution,  with Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906), Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793–1890), and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902), at the helm. Following the ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments (in 1868 and 1870, respectively), which granted citizenship to black men and the right to vote to black men, the suffrage movement was led by relatable, dynamic speakers; brilliant, tireless organizers; and relentless, shrewd campaigners.

When the first wave of suffragettes died out, another equally dynamic group followed. In 1917, for example, a group of women known as the “Silent Sentinels” took turns picketing in front of the White House for months, holding signs like “Mr. President, How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty?”

Some of these women were arrested for “obstructing traffic,” and approximately ten of them served sixty days in jail. It was an unpleasant experience that included beatings, forced feeding, and unsanitary conditions. In society’s eyes, the Silent Sentinels were worthless nags, and although the picketers were truly daring rebels, President Woodrow Wilson did not welcome their confrontational behavior.

A more persuasive suffrage tactic was through strategies of partisanship. Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947) embraced World War I as an opportunity for women to earn the vote through displays of patriotism. In June 1920, Congress passed the amendment, which was ratified on August 18, 1920. Women had won the right to vote. Thank goodness!!

At this point, suffrage handed the baton to feminism. Most recently, feminism has expanded to rally men into the efforts. Emma Watson, the United Nations Women’s goodwill ambassador, introduced the idea in her #HeforShe campaign speech in September 2014 at U.N. Headquarters. Her speech made waves on social media when she proclaimed, pointedly, that she is a feminist, and encouraged men to campaign for women’s rights as well.

When she talked about feminism as an important issue today, for some reason a lot of people became angry with her. I suppose people were stunned that feminism remains relevant. Perhaps they see feminists as a twenty-first-century version of the Silent Sentinel, an annoyance in the form of a woman with a voice who targets complacency.

Yet like it or not, the problems, as Watson points out, are still there. First is in the movement itself. Straight white American feminists have been criticized for inadvertently silencing queer, black, and Latina women. Second is how the issue of pay inequality persists. Women in Hollywood and sports, and other women in the public eye, point out unequal pay by using themselves as examples. Women continue to be targets of misogynistic commentary, as revealed by the recent “Hollaback!” video of a young woman walking in New York City for ten hours.

Unsurprisingly, given a sometimes toxic social environment for women in the United States, the numbers of females in leadership positions is still very low. In 2013, the percentage of female officers in the active army at the rank of major and above was 14.6 percent. In 2014, only 26 percent of the college presidents in the United States were women. Currently, there are twenty-four women CEOs in the Fortune 500 and twenty-seven in the Fortune 1000. Given that women make up more than 50 percent of the population, the facts reveal that patriarchy continues to characterize many institutions across the United States and, indeed, across the globe.

- Kate C. Lemay, Historian, National Portrait Gallery