On August 18, 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified here the United States, giving women the right to vote, to add their opinion, voice and wisdom to our country's democratic process. There were many brave women here and in Britain that fought for this right and as it is the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote and the year of a most crucial presidential election I intend to highlight many of these #womenwonders this month.
"Courage calls to courage everywhere, and
its voice cannot be denied."
Millicent Fawcett
As the United States entered World War I in 1917, the
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) encouraged its supporters to join in the war effort. The organization argued women deserved the vote because they were patriots, caregivers, and mothers. Women’s expertise in maintaining the home and family would improve politics and society.
The Nineteenth Amendment states: “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 passed the amendment in June 1919. The NAWSA and NWP suffragists lobbied local and state representatives to ensure its subsequent ratification by the states.
After the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment on August 18, 1920, female activists continued to use politics to reform society. NAWSA became the League of Women Voters.
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett
GBE** (11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English political leader, activist, writer and feminist icon. Known as a campaigner for women's suffrage via legislative change, from 1897 until 1919 she led Britain's largest women's rights organisation, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
[1] She would write: "I cannot say I became a suffragist. I always was one, from the time I was old enough to think at all about the principles of Representative Government."
[2] Fawcett also tried to improve women's chances of higher education, serving as a governor of Bedford College, London (now Royal Holloway), and a co-founder of Newnham College, Cambridge, in 1875.
[3]
** The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service
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