Nearly a Century After Suffrage, Women’s Voting Rights Under Attack in the States « MomsRising Blog

Nearly a Century After Suffrage, Women’s Voting Rights Under Attack in the States « MomsRising Blog:

Nearly a Century After Suffrage, Women’s Voting Rights Under Attack in the States

by Cristina Francisco-McGuire

It has been more than 90 years since women fought their way to suffrage. In that period of time, we’ve experienced the Year of the Woman – when a record number of women ran and/or won congressional races in 1992 – and voter turnout rates for women that have consistently exceeded voter turnout rates for men since 1980. The gender gap that often gives Democrats the edge among female voters (except in 2010) and proved to be Ronald Reagan’s “woman problem” has forced all candidates to acknowledge the power of the female vote. Despite this growing clout, 2011 saw a barrage of state legislation that effectively moves women’s suffrage back in time and impedes access to the polls for millions of us.

The passage of voter ID legislation made headlines this year for its anticipated horrific effects on the electoral participation of minority, low-income, and young voters. However, its specific detrimental impact on women was less publicized. According to a survey sponsored by the Brennan Center, only 66% of voting-age women with

Beyond suffrage: How far have women come since?

by Rachel Roth

By Eve Weinbaum and Rachel Roth

Today we celebrate the anniversary of female suffrage, a victory that took more than 70 years of political struggle to achieve. After women won the right to vote in 1920, socialist feminist Crystal Eastman observed that suffrage was an important first step but that what women really wanted was freedom. In an essay titled “Now We Can Begin,” she laid out a plan toward this goal that is still relevant today.

Eastman outlined a four-point program: economic independence for women (including freedom to choose an occupation and equal pay), gender equality at home (raising “feminist sons” to share the responsibilities of family life), “voluntary motherhood” (reproductive freedom) and “motherhood endowment,” or financial support for child-