OTD 19th Amendment

101 Years Ago Today

Congress Guaranteed Women The Right To Vote

Today, more women than men vote in U.S. elections.

The Fight To Vote

• The women’s voting (aka “women’s suffrage) movement began in the 1800s.
• 41 years after it was first introduced, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote.
• One year, two months & two weeks later, the necessary three-fourths of the states ratified the 19th Amendment.
• Wyoming was first to ratify, Tennessee was the last.

“When we shall have our amendment [for woman suffrage] . . . everybody will think it was always so . . . They have no idea of how every single inch of ground that she stands upon today has been gained by the hard work of some little handful of women of the past.”

American activist and women’s suffrage pioneer Susan B. Anthony in 1894.

The Female Vote

• Women have voted at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1980 & every midterm election since 1998.
• 56% of women (vs. 44% of men) identify with, or lean toward, the Democratic Party.
• 2016: Hillary Clinton won more female voters, but Pres. Trump won the white female vote – the largest female voting block, helping to secure his victory.

While the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote in 1920, The Voters Rights act, ending discriminatory practices (ex: literacy tests) that discouraged or prevented Black Americans from voting, wasn’t passed until 1965