Hard to believe, but yesterday was the 90th anniversary of women in the United States having the right to vote. The word suffrage means the right to vote and has an ecclesiastical meaning as well: an intercessory prayer. Hmmm.
What does women getting the vote have to do with conversation? Plenty. If you don't vote, you don't have a voice in matters that count. You aren't in the conversation.
As important as this is, voting is a right that most women in the U.S. pretty much take for granted, giving little thought to the fact that less than a century ago, this right was not theirs. In the last Presidential election nearly a third of eligible female voters didn't get to the polls. They didn't exercise the right their grandmothers worked so hard to secure for them. That effort less than a century ago was a major fight. It didn't just evolve over time. Women fought for it, were jailed for it, were severely punished, even beaten because of their outspoken efforts to get the right to vote. Hard to believe, no?
I confess that until I read a couple of notes sent to me yesterday on the subject, I had gotten pretty lax in taking this seriously. I had forgotten that our grandmothers and great grandmothers made this happen...only 90 years ago! 1920 isn't all that long ago. At one point in 1917 when women picketed the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote,33 of them were arrested for "obstructing sidewalk traffic" and jailed in Virginia, where the warden ordered his forty guards to teach the women a lesson which resulted in their being beaten, given only water to drink out of an open pail. One of the women, Alice Paul, went on a hunger strike so she was tied to a chair, a feeding tube forced down her throat until she vomited. It took weeks of this before the press got word of it.
I'm told HBO released a documentary called Iron Jawed Angels several years ago starring Oscar winner Hillary Swank, depicting the battle women waged so you and I and others could have our say in how our country, our states, our communities are run. Sounds like it's worth viewing. Probably more than once. Yet I never heard about it. Gotta check out netflix for this.
As my friend Stephani Cook wrote to me yesterday, "Refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because...why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?"
Let's make sure every woman you know exercises her right to vote. And that she casts an informed opinion. You can't be part of the conversation unless you make your voice heard.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
I have my great aunt's diary from 1920 in which she describes her first voting experience, in a small town in New Hampshire. The town gathered, and everyone voted aloud. She cast the lone vote for her candidate. I imagine the conviction and strength that must have taken, and am so proud of her, 90 years later.
Posted by: Kris Manos | August 29, 2010 at 06:52 PM
That is what i call pure liberty!
Posted by: utah cabins | November 01, 2011 at 09:09 AM