15 March 2007
Expert Discusses How American Women Fought to Vote
USINFO Webchat transcript, March 15
Author Robert P. J. Cooney Jr., who has studied for more than 15 years the history of the fight for the right of women in the United States to vote, answered questions on the woman suffrage movement in a March 15 USINFO webchat.
Following is the transcript:
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of International Information Programs
USINFO Webchat transcript
Celebrating Women's History Month: How American Women Fought for the Vote
Guest: Robert Cooney
Date: March 15, 2007
Time: 11:00 a.m. EST (1500 GMT)
IIP Moderator: Welcome to our second webchat in honor of Women's History Month. Our webchat will take place today at 1500 GMT.
We'll be getting started shortly. Thank you for your questions.
Robert Cooney: Hello. Thank you for joining us. I am a writer, activist, and independent scholar here in Santa Cruz, California, just south of San Francisco. I’ve run my own graphic design business for the past 30 years.
I became interested in the woman suffrage movement because it was part of the long and honorable history of nonviolent social change in the U.S. My thrust has been to place women visibly in history as participants and as patriots fighting valiantly, and successfully, for their own political freedom.
The recent U.S. State Department Poster Show, “The Road to Equality,” (based on my book, “Winning the Vote” The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement”) focuses on this early, successful civil rights movement and shows some of its dynamic complexity. It’s a topic I’m delighted to talk about so let’s begin.
Question [Lominda]: What was the reason as to why women were not allowed to vote?
Answer [Robert Cooney]: I would say age-old prejudice. Many men at the time believed that women were not capable of participating in politics, that it would degrade them and lead to the disintegration of the family.
In terms of power, those in power rarely give up their power easily and there were definite interests that felt threatened by women's potential voting power, particularly the liquor industry at the time which feared prohibition, but also corrupt local and state politicians.
Q [Lominda]: What then convinced the men to allow women participate in voting?
A [Robert Cooney]: Women convinced men to pass equal suffrage, and that is the key achievement of the women's rights movement. Lobbying, campaigning, demonstrating and persuading were all necessary, sometimes for decades. The suffragists appealed to both men and women (to get to the men) and tried to persuade both make voters, state by state, and male politicians, in the states and
Q [Abraham_Lincoln]: In some societies such as Moslem societies, women are supposed to play only domestic household roles and they believe that is essential for their happiness for their feminine nature. May I ask what would be your advice to them? How could we persuade and encourage them to participate into politics?
A [Robert Cooney]: Many women in 19th century America seemed to have felt the same way. In fact, suffragists had to fight hardest against such an attitude, convincing women of the need for personal involvement in larger concerns outside the home since so much affecting the home is decided in the halls of government. But personal happiness is one of the key motivators and some women here still believe in the traditional domestic role for women.
Susan B. Anthony felt that individual women should pursue everything they wanted because then they would personally encounter the prejudices that she was talking about in the larger society and would have to act.
Q [Jaona]: My name is Germain Radesa. I am an English teacher in Antananarivo, Madagascar. My question is how do Muslims think about the women's vote? As far as I know women don’t have a place in the society. How does minority deal with this issue? Thank you very much.
A [Robert Cooney]: I am afraid that prejudice against women has been a worldwide problem and still undermines true equality today. Christians and Muslims alike have delegated women to a second class status that women are still fighting to correct.
Women everywhere have a central place in society. It should be recognized and expanded when it is an inferior place to men's. This is the challenge the suffragists faced, and they attacked it both politically and culturally by breaking through those barriers.
IIP Moderator: Participants in today's chat may be interested in our webchat held on March 8 marking women's history month and International Women's Day.
Q [Jaona]: Hello, my name is Mirana Razfindramboa. I'm an executive manager of a travel agency in the Mainland of Madagascar. Well, I'd like to know what were the strategic backgrounds used by the American women to reach their rights for the vote? It's always important to know how they act upon this, because in certain area of the world, we can still meet women who cannot use their right of vote.
A [Robert Cooney]: The strategies used by the suffragists were key to their success. They began small, in individual state and territorial legislatures seeking the right to vote locally. This expanded to a demand for a national Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women this right, since not every state could ever be won.
Besides lobbying and talking with legislators, suffragists also took direct action - voting even though it was illegal, picketing the White House to win public support, holding massive parades and electoral campaigns that made their cause exciting and popular. As they won elections, they created their own momentum, and learned the art of politics.
Q [cario irc]: Dear Mr. Robert Cooney, Good morning from Egypt. Women’s issues affect not only women they have profound implications for all humankind. What about the role of American women’s in shaping the global politics?
A [Robert Cooney]: I know how important international affairs were to the early suffragists and their efforts in the US, and abroad, helped to spread the word and encourage women in many countries to work for full equality. This led to other countries passing equal suffrage before the US did in 1920 and helped encourage women to organize internationally and take on issues as large as World War I.
We see the results today here with women in higher governmental positions as well as corporate and educational institutions.
Q [qarabaqi]: Hello Robert, do you think woman suffrage is the most important right for women? Well, in Iran, our women have such a right. But culture of the society is something else. It changes step by step. Do you think in American culture, women are really equal to men?
A [Robert Cooney]: This is a key question. Women are not treated equally with men throughout the US. There is still an underlying prejudice and they are judged differently than men in many cases. But this is an ongoing struggle.
Without political power, the right to vote, suffragists knew that women didn't have a chance. But winning the vote did not guarantee full equality. After the suffrage Constitutional amendment was ratified in 1920, Alice Paul wrote the Equal Rights Amendment to address other ways that women faced discrimination. This bill has been debated for 80 years and still has not been passed.
Q [Jaona]: Hello Robert. This question is from Lydie Harinirina, IRC in Madagascar. What was or were the reason(s) for which, women weren't allowed to vote? Winning the right to vote is an outstanding achievement but why are there few women to be voted for (I mean as candidates for various election)? Thanks a lot.
A [Robert Cooney]: I've always drawn a distinction between women winning the right to vote and what happened afterwards. Winning equal voting rights paved the way for other changes and for women's political power, but it didn't guarantee women's acceptance by voters - now female voters as well as male.
It has taken generations for women to make a mark in electoral politics, probably for the same reasons they were ostracized for so long. But with education and experience, women are rising through universities, corporations, foundations and local government to be able to play similar leadership roles as men. This progress is built on the success of the woman suffrage movement and its visionary leaders.
Q [cario irc]: What is the relationship between citizenship and democracy? Ali Eid, PH.D student. Greetings from Egypt.
A [Robert Cooney]: This is a question suffragists asked repeatedly. How can a democracy not include all its citizens? Suffragists fought for the legal recognition as citizens, then for the right of all citizens to vote. Without that right, they asked "Are we really citizens?" and their own answer was, apparently, no - even though they were taxed and ruled by man-made laws.
They struggled to link citizenship with the right to vote when these two concepts were not necessarily connected. This was one of the appeals they took to Congress and male legislators. It is also a situation most Americans forget: that for the first 150 years of our country's history we were not a true democracy.
Q [cario irc]: What about the American women's international NGOs? How American women's international NGOs co-operation with UN organizations?
A [Robert Cooney]: The NGOs give women another opportunity to affect global policy, sidestepping in some cases governments where they have less opportunities to participate. Suffragists also operated independently on the international level, forming the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in the early 20th century, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and many other groups to create a way for women to be involved in larger issues even when they were kept from official roles in their own country.
Q [cario irc]: Mr.Cooney, how can we enhance women’s roles at the international level?
A [Robert Cooney]: I think that by elevating women anywhere we enhance women's role at the international level. When women show their ability - as a representative, prime minister, secretary of state or whatever - they show those who doubt them that women are capable and prepared to meet modern challenges. I wanted to establish a past where women were seen as active organizers of their own progress and to show how what is happening to day comes from an admirable and active past.
International women's meetings also enhance women's roles and make the great progress of the 20th century visible worldwide. Participation in public affairs - even speaking up in class - is key to winning respect and gaining necessary experience.
Q [Chat Participant]: Women and "suffragists" made a huge impact on US society....what group of women is making a huge impact on US society presently?
A [Robert Cooney]: Individual women as well as groups are making an importance difference today. Some women in public roles do not identify with women's groups and sometimes do not even call themselves feminists. They work through political parties, corporations and other bodies striving not to make their gender the focus of their identity. But in terms of groups, such organizations as the National Organization for Women help define women's issues today and create political pressure to address them.
The League of Women Voters was created by suffragists in 1920 after suffrage was won and it continues today to be a very important national educational and lobbying organization. There are also a myriad of other groups - academic, religious, professional, university women, women in various professions, etc - which help women define themselves in relation to modern society, and become effective advocates for equality.
IIP Moderator: Participants in today's chat may also be interested in looking at IIP's publication entitled, "Women of Influence". This publication offers a glimpse at how women in the United States have helped shape their society. Click here to view the publication.
Q [qarabaqi]: Dear Robert Cooney, it was a very good chat. But unfortunately it seems that we had some technical problems. I expect you to have another chat in coming days, because women's right is very important and essential for all the world and you are an experienced man in this movement. Thank you and happy NowRooz (Iranian New Year which begins 6 days later).
A [Robert Cooney]: Suffragists had to contend with tremendous international violence in their day, and the terrible times spurred them on in their quest for political power. Women met together over common issues even when they were from warring countries. They knew that the war would eventually end and that there would be a tremendous need for them then. In some ways the world hasn't changed much in 100 years. May you and your neighbors enjoy a happy NowRooz as well.
Robert Cooney: I really appreciate all your questions and interest. I want to encourage everyone to take a new look at the achievement of the American woman suffrage movement, which I am sure will lead to greater respect for what women did 90 years ago and what women worldwide are still trying to accomplish today.
The U.S. suffrage movement has been somewhat overlooked historically, but it is a rich, inspiring, and politically empowering story that should be better known and more closely studied for lessons useful around the world. I enjoyed sharing this common interest and I can be reached through my email address, agp@ebold.com. My book is featured at www.AmericanGraphicPress.com. Thank you.
IIP Moderator: We wish to thank Mr. Robert Cooney for joining us today. The webchat is now closed. Please visit our USINFO's webchat station homepage for more information on upcoming events.
(Guests are chosen for their expertise. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State.)
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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
