Women’s Suffrage: How Women Fought for the Right to Vote

Sleepy History

This episode explores the global history of women's suffrage, tracing the struggles and triumphs of activists who fought for women's right to vote across centuries and

Key takeaways

• Women's suffrage has been a gradual global process, with significant milestones occurring only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Early examples of women voting were rare and often limited to specific groups or regions, such as taxpaying women in Sweden or female chieftains in Iroquois society.

Main topics

• Women's suffrage history
• Global political movements

Notable quotes

There shall never be another season of silence until women have the same rights men have on this green earth.

Conclusion

While the fight for women's suffrage has achieved major victories, including the U.S. 19th Amendment and

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) In the modern era, the concept of democracy is familiar, but its details are often complicated. Even in a society where leaders are elected, there are still disagreements over which people may cast votes and under what conditions. One of the most universal has been whether or not women should be included. Speaker 1 (0:29) Tonight, we'll follow the footsteps of the activists who campaigned so bravely for women's suffrage and lived by the words of Susan B. Anthony, who said, There shall never be another season of silence until women have the same rights men have on this green earth. So just relax and let your mind drift as we explore the sleepy history of women's suffrage. Merriam-Webster defines democracy as government by the people or a rule of the majority. To most people, that explanation rings true, but what we tend to gloss over is the question of who the people in that definition are or were at any given time. The truth is that the universal right to vote is surprisingly recent in history, with a handful of democracies only reaching that landmark as late as the turn of the 21st century. Speaker 1 (1:59) Historically, all democracies have gone through significant periods where only certain members of societies counted as voters. These privileges have been restricted due to factors such as race, financial resources, and gender. At the end of the Industrial Revolution, women in many countries began to challenge the idea that only men could vote. Speaker 1 (2:31) Prior to that time, there were only a handful of exceptions to the rule that men, and men alone, had a say in elections. For example, looking back as far as ancient Greece, which is often cited as the birthplace of democracy, women led intensely private lives. Speaker 1 (2:57) They were not allowed to attend most public assemblies, let alone vote or hold office. The women of Sparta famously enjoyed a greater level of privileges than their sisters in other city-states, but even they were not allowed to participate in government or attend political meetings. Speaker 1 (3:23) Any influence they may have exerted in that sphere would have been that of private persuasion. The women of Rome fared no better. The less wealthy among them did leave the home in order to work in public. However, no women were allowed to attend political meetings or vote. Speaker 1 (3:49) Modern culture is rife with movies and books that portray the wealthy women of Rome as crafty, behind-the-scenes influencers who manipulated politics from the shadows. Perhaps that is true, because they certainly weren't able to campaign openly. And what of the great women of Egypt? it's important to point out that their political structure didn't actually include voting. With that said, women did enjoy a much greater degree of autonomy in ancient Egyptian society than they did in Greece or Rome. Women were able to own property, for example, and conduct business. The select few women such as Hatshepsut and Cleopatra actually became powerful pharaohs. Those positions were gained due to inheritance, and the rights of all Egyptian women were still more fragile than those of their male counterparts. For example, they could have their privileges limited over an adulterous affair. Speaker 1 (5:14) However, they were definitely in a position of greater influence than women in countless other ancient societies. There are many other cultures we could refer to in service of the point that women have long had the short end of the stick when it comes to governance. Speaker 1 (5:37) In fact, the exceptions are so few that it's worth simply pointing out some of these rare anomalies in history. There were a handful of notable times and places where women were briefly able to cast a ballot in the broad sense. In the Middle Ages, powerful Catholic and Protestant abbesses were allowed to sit and vote in national assemblies. Speaker 1 (6:10) And those abbesses were, themselves, elected by their own sisters. So, in a way, the voices of the less powerful women were receiving representation at a higher level. But this is a rare exception for the rights of women in the era. A French nun named Marie Gouillard wrote of her experiences in Canada in 1654. Speaker 1 (6:43) marveling at the powerful role of the women in the Iroquois society. She noted, female chieftains have a deciding vote in the councils. They make decisions there like their male counterparts. She was further impressed that these same women were even the first ambassadors to discuss peace when negotiations were required. Speaker 1 (7:14) But the first country to really introduce women's suffrage was arguably Sweden. As part of their 18th century Age of Liberty, during which the country shifted from a monarchical to a parliamentary system, some women were afforded the right to vote for a time. Speaker 1 (7:39) In 1718, the vote was extended to female taxpaying members of city guilds. That right was rescinded in 1772. Later, in 1734, taxpaying women were able to vote in countryside elections. Speaker 1 (8:02) people without property were excluded from voting and even lower class property owners had less influence than wealthy people. But it was a notable step for women's rights in politics. Meanwhile, across the continent in the short-lived Corsican Republic, women who were heads of their families were briefly allowed to vote as of 1755. Speaker 1 (8:34) When the island was annexed by France in 1770, the privilege was summarily retracted. At about the same time in 1756, Lydia Taft seems to have had the honor of being the first woman in the American colonies to vote, albeit just in a town election. Speaker 1 (9:02) As the widow of a wealthy farmer, she was given the privilege by proxy because she was the largest landowner in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Even so, had her oldest living son been of age, it might never have happened. Speaker 1 (9:23) The state of New Jersey got in on the action in 1776. Their first state constitution allowed women landowners to vote. Ironically, new and more progressive rules were established in 1807 that boosted the number of eligible voters by abolishing the property requirement. Speaker 1 (9:51) However, it also explicitly barred women and black people from voting at the same time. Unsurprisingly, many of the most influential abolitionists and women's suffrage activists who emerged hailed from New Jersey. As time progressed, there were isolated examples of other places that allowed women to vote. Speaker 1 (10:21) One special note was the universal suffrage with no mention of sex implemented by the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1840. This continued until 1852 when limitations were placed on voting for anyone who wasn't a male property owner. Speaker 1 (10:46) Other instances of women's suffrage popped up during the 19th century. Often this seemed to happen in territories or provinces, speaking perhaps