Reluctant Suffragettes: When Women Questioned Their Right to Vote

Report Read time:
Reluctant Suffragettes: When Women Questioned Their Right to Vote

Woman is a flower for the man to look after.... [She should not] spoil it and mingle in his affairs." — Mrs. Rehm, Douglas Park, Chicago, Ill., 1923.

In the year 1980, 59.4% of voting-age U.S. women cast ballots in that fall's presidential election. According to the Bureau of the Census, they were joined by 59.1% of voting-age men. That comparison is noteworthy because, 60 years after passage of the 19th Amendment granted them the franchise, it marked the first time in U.S. history that American women turned out in equal proportion to their male compatriots. What took them so long?

The Census Bureau didn't track voter turnout prior to 1964 so we don't really know the pace at which most women acquired the voting habit. But the recent serendipitous rediscovery of what was surely among the earliest survey-based analyses of voting-booth avoiders, makes it possible, with appropriate caveats, to examine the factors that made many female Americans slow to appreciate the fruits of the 70-year battle fought by U.S. suffragettes such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony.

Read the full commentary Reluctant Suffragettes: When Women Questioned Their Right to Vote on the Pew Research Center's Web site.

America’s Overdose Crisis
America’s Overdose Crisis

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
Quick View
America’s Overdose Crisis

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
Article June 13, 2023

37 Scientists Pioneering the Future of Biomedical Research

Quick View
Article June 13, 2023

Biomedical researchers are at the heart of nearly every medical advancement. From cutting-edge cancer treatments to breakthrough discoveries about emerging viruses, these scientists use creativity and ingenuity to explore new horizons in human health and medicine. And for nearly 40 years, The Pew Charitable Trusts has supported more than 1,000 early-career researchers committed to this work.

MORE FROM PEW

A man wearing a checkered, collared shirt leans in and touches the shoulder of a man in a blue collared shirt with lights in the background. The Power of Lived Experience in Suicide Prevention
A woman and her grandchildren on a sunny afternoon. Courts Can Do More to Help Families Seeking Guardianship
Sunlight streams into the blue waters of a vibrant coral reef. Yellow, black and blue, and orange fish swim near red, green and bright coral. To Save Biodiversity, Community Funds New Plan
Four yellow school buses emit smoke as they travel a road crowded with cars, construction vehicles, and scaffolding. States Race to Win Federal Clean School Bus Grants
Composite image of modern city network communication concept

Learn the Basics of Broadband from Our Limited Series

Sign up for our four-week email course on Broadband Basics
Quick View

How does broadband internet reach our homes, phones, and tablets? What kind of infrastructure connects us all together? What are the major barriers to broadband access for American communities?