Women In Power

                 Susanna Salter

Madame Mayor

Women in politics have traveled a rocky road, taking one step forward and three steps back. However, they never quit and never allowed the flame of public service to completely die.

Back in 1860 a child was born in Ohio who would become the nation's first mayor. Susanna Madore Salter lived in Kansas and when women gained the right to vote, she not only voted, she ran for mayor and won. Madame Mayor of Argonia, Kansas. She was married to Lewis Salter and she met him while attending Kansas State Agricultural College. She joined the Women's Christian Temperance Union, showing an interest in politics early.

Several men got together and thought it would be hilarious to put a woman on the mayoral ballot. Tongue-in-cheek, they nominated her on the Prohibition Party ticket. They weren't laughing when she received two-thirds of the votes. Susan was elected April 4, 1887 at the age of 27. Kansas women had won the right to vote only a few weeks before the election and they made sure their voice was heard.

As it happens, Susan knew quite a bit about the political life. Her father had been the town's first mayor and her father-in-law was a former Kansas lieutenant governor.

Although Susan did an admiral job as mayor, she didn't run for reelection. A few years later, she and her family moved to Oklahoma, but she had already secured her place in history.

Also making historic moves were six women who comprised the first all-woman town government. Again, Kansas was the place. Oskaloosa to be exact in the year 1888. In 1887, voters in Syracuse had placed women in all five council seats but had elected a man as mayor. Oskaloosa bested that. Mayor Mary D. Lowman presided over councilwomen Carrie Johnson, Sadie Balsley, Hanna Morse, Emma Hamilton, and Mittie Golden.

Victoria Woodhull was the first female to run for president in 1872. She was nominated by the Equal Rights Party and supported women's suffrage and equal rights. She was also an advocate of "free love," believing that people should have the right to marry, divorce, or have children without government approval or interference. She was soundly defeated.

In 1873 Susan B. Anthony went on trial for voting, for which she was jailed. She was ordered to pay a $100 fine for casting a vote after being denied a trial by jury. She never paid it and she didn't live long enough to witness women earning the right to vote.  Because married women couldn't own property -- this was allowed only by widows and unmarried women -- Susan B. Anthony and several other suffragettes never married.

Before these milestones, women made some progress only to be stymied time and again. Because they weren't allowed to own property, they were denied their right to vote. Then New Jersey stepped up and said women could vote, but in 1807 that was taken away from them. In 1838 women who were the heads of their households in Kentucky were allowed to vote in certain categories, such as school

taxes.

The battle to vote continued into the 1900s. In 1920 women were finally successful and a constitutional amendment sealed the deal. Women kept battling for equality in other facets of their lives. In 1974 unmarried women were finally allowed to have credit cards. In 1978 women could not be denied employment because they were pregnant. In the 1970s and 1980s laws were passed to allow women to hold certain jobs and receive equal pay. However, women still earn less money than men on average.

So, the fight continues, although "we've come a long way, baby." Just not long enough. It's good to look back, though, and see the progress we've made and to recognize the women who refused to back down, who refused to accept less. History is full of these beautifully stubborn women with backbones of steel. They knew what we have come to accept -- when it comes to equality, a woman's work is never done.

The 19th Amendment: Women’s Right To Vote

 

By Kristy McCaffrey

The 19^th Amendment was passed into law on August 26, 1920, when the U.S. Secretary of State certified that it had been ratified by the required 36 states.

It stated: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. 

The true meaning of this amendment, however, was less clear. Laws reserving the ballot for men became unconstitutional rather than guaranteeing any woman the vote.

When women appeared in the fall of 1920 to register to vote they faced many obstacles, racism being the biggest. Although the 15^th Amendment prohibited states from denying the vote based on race, by 1920 such practices as poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses had kept many Black men from casting their ballots. Added to that were the less obvious tactics of intimidation and threats of lynching.

Still, many Black women showed up to vote in 1920, but were turned away when they “failed to comply with the constitutional tests.” In some places such as Savannah, Georgia, officials enforced a rule that women couldn’t vote because they were not “entitled … because of state law which requires registration six months before an election.” This ruling meant that no women in the state of Georgia could vote in the 1920 election, Black or white.

But there were successes. In St. Louis, Missouri, a teacher named Fannie Williams set up a “suffrage school” where women could teach one another how to pay poll taxes and pass literacy tests. It was reported that nearly every woman in the city, Black or white, registered to vote that season. In California, Illinois, and New York, where women’s suffrage had become law before the 19^th Amendment was ratified, many Black women were able to cast their vote.

Today, however, despite the 15^th and 19^th Amendments, many American women aren’t able to vote. A woman’s access to the polls is still largely determined by where she lives, and due to past segregation policies, this still affects lower income women of color.