Comments on: What Every Woman Should Know About the 19th Amendment

By: Mara Belden

Mara Belden — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 18:28:08 +0000

Great post!

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:10:15 +0000

You are right Cynthia. We have been creeping forward during the past 90 years, but I think the time has come for a leap. Picking apart every issue as to whether a female candidate is “feminist enough” or not is only going to divide our cause. Let’s get women elected first, then apply pressure if and when it is needed.
We can’t wait around forever for “perfect” female candidates. Besides, I happen to think we might be surprised how bold some of these women will become on our behalf when they are liberated from having to play by the rules of the male politicians. Let’s have faith in our sisters!

By: Cynthia Ruccia

Cynthia Ruccia — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:39:35 +0000

Tears here too. Wow!! What a story.

I kept thinking as I read it of how so many women think that if we just put up the “right” kind of women, more women will get elected. In the end, we will have to do more than that to achieve parity. Read my post for tomorrow “Why Women Don’t Run For Office,” and you will see that we will need to do more than just hope for the best. We need to be deadly smart and as daring as Alice Paul to achieve our ends. Why do we need to do it? It’s simple—–we need to continue paying it forward for future generations….

Won’t it be wonderful to listen to young women 20 years from now talk about the bad old days when women weren’t in parity in government, didn’t get paid as well as men, and didn’t ever have a female president to look up to. For them it will be like the dark ages—–but only if we pay it forward.

By: Ali

Ali — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:59:06 +0000

Marille,

Thanks for sharing all the materials that you have found. That is really interest about Michelle Bachman. I will tell my friend from Minnesota!

Anna Belle,

Knowledge of women’s history… It gets even worse than you may think. I didn’t even know who Elizabeth Cady Stanton was before coming to New Agenda. And I haven’t quizzed all my friends and family like I have with Alice Paul but I can say that I have asked a few and who do not know Elizabeth Cady Stanton, either. The only suffragette I had ever heard of was Susan B.

By: Adrienne Grey

Adrienne Grey — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:31:13 +0000

“The young women of today-free to study, to speak, to write, to choose their occupation–should remember that every inch of this freedom was bought for them at a great price… the debt that each generation owes to the past, it must pay to the future.
~ Abigail Scott Dunaway”

Amen. Sadly, this old saying can be applied to many young women:
They were born on third base and think they hit a triple.

*****A

By: Anna Belle

Anna Belle — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:23:07 +0000

Marille, I’ve noticed your comments on other posts as well, and it always brings a smile to me when I see you talking about sharing this interest with your daughter. That is the way, I swear it! Teach the children, start them young, and they will change the world for us. I believe that with every fiber of my being.

By: marille

marille — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:10:54 +0000

Hi Ali and Anna Belle, I love Anna Bell’s series too.
We (me and my daughter ) cried too, when we say “iron jawed angles”.
The story is clearly undertold, without Alice Paul brilliant strategical thinking and sacrifice and Lucy Burns support I don’t think we would have the vote today.
Alice Paul is clearly my favorite. Inez Mulholland my daughter’s. The beautiful lady on the horse representing Columbia and giving her life for the cause.
Re children books. I bought my daughter “remember the ladies” by Cheryl Harness published in 2001 by Harper Collins.
Alice Paul and the hunger strike is mentioned briefly.
We also watched the PBS movies “not just or ourselves” on E. Cady Stenton and Susan B. Anthony (very nicely done) and “one woman one vote” which also includes the final push, but I think, does not give enough credit to Alice Paul.
there is a “scholastic” issue with a play in womens history on Alice Paul. I don’t know in which grade and which schools use it.
Also there is a republican congress woman Michelle Bachman from Minnesota, who tried to get a congressional medal for Alice Paul, but was voted down.

the scene from the movie where Alice Paul very sick is interviewed by the psychiatrist and asked for a reason for protest is always bringing me to tears. with a fading voice she explains how she is in so many ways just like the man interviewing her, she has a heart , a brain , needs freedom …
she does not say we need the vote because with women in congress the world would be better like so many others did and linking our cause to prohibition. which brought the alcohol mafia to finance the opposition. later on she thought the fight for the ERA should not be linked to anything. i fear it has been linked to abortion rights, GLBT rights and of course we have the right financing the opposition. to use the word sex instead of gender in the ERA is really unfortunate.

By: Anna Belle

Anna Belle — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:09:30 +0000

Thanks, Ali. This story never has gotten the airplay it’s needed. If people knew this story, they could clearly draw paralells with what they already understand to be injustice. But nobody cares about it for some reason. In all my years in WH, people just love love love EC Stanton and Anthony, but Alice Paul, eh, not so much. I was pretty surprised and thrlled when Iron Jawed Angels came out.

Thanks for the compliment on the series. I’m glad you’re liking it.

By: Ali

Ali — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:52:25 +0000

Anna Belle, I cried yet again while reading this. It’s hard not to!

Before learning about Alice Paul the events that led to the 19th amendment (I learned about this from you and “Iron Jawed Angels”), I think I had imagined that women gained the right to vote because society was ready for it. I could not have imagined the drama and sacrifice… We owe these women a lot.

Just the other day I purchased an “A to Z” picture book about important women. I was annoyed that “A” was for “Amelia” versus Alice Paul. There was not one suffragette in the book. I’m not saying it’s not a nice book…. but still, this story of the 19th amendment is under told.

Thank you for your inspiring essays, Anna Belle. Your series are a favorite of mine on this blog.