I was recently asked to speak at a Women's Equality Day luncheon. Below
are my abbreviated remarks!
Adventures in the Statehouse
Volume 2012, Issue 21
Kansas and the 19th Amendment
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.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
That is the entire 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States of America, just two sentences. It was adopted in 1920, 131
years after the constitution was ratified in 1789 and over 40 years
after it was drafted and first introduced to Congress in 1878.
The actual author of the two sentence amendment, Susan B. Anthony, had
ties to Leavenworth and Kansas because her brother, who was an editor
and anti-slavery activist, lived here. Susan B. Anthony maintained the
simple argument that "It was we, the people; not we, the white male
citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who
formed the Union."
When Susan B. Anthony joined her brother in Kansas in 1867, Kansas was a
highly progressive state. The question of whether Kansas women should
have the right to vote was first debated at the Wyandotte Constitutional
Convention in 1859. Three women were allowed to attend the convention,
and although they were not allowed to speak, they were granted the
unprecedented right to acquire and possess property and to retain the
equal custody of their children. With the passage of that constitution
and Kansas' admission to the Union as a state, women were also given the
right to vote in school elections in 1861. Thus Kansas recognized the
importance of education and recognized the integral role of women in
shaping our future generations by allowing women to vote in school board
elections.
When Susan B. Anthony campaigned for women's suffrage in Kansas in
1867, suffrage – or the right to vote -- became a statewide
controversy. An amendment was submitted to the Kansas voters to allow
white women the vote in Kansas, and although it was defeated, it made
Kansas the first state in the union to even consider women's suffrage.
In 1887, municipal suffrage was passed in Kansas which allowed women to
run for office in all city elections. On April 4th that year, Susannah
Medora Salter was elected mayor in the city of Argonia in Sumner County.
She was the first woman mayor in the nation.
14 more women were elected mayor in Kansas counties before the women's
suffrage amendment was resubmitted to the Kansas legislature in 1911 and
passed by 94 to 28. Governor Walter R. Stubbs signed it into law on
February 12, 1911. This was 9 years before the women's suffrage was
adopted for the entire nation in 1920.
In a special session of congress, called by President Woodrow Wilson,
the 19th amendment passed the House on May 21st, 1919 and then the
Senate on June 4th. It then required 36 states to ratify it to become
law. Three states ratified it by June 10th, and 3 more by June 16th
– which included Kansas. The 36th state ratified it on August 18th,
1920.
Unfortunately, Susan B. Anthony had passed away 14 years earlier, so she
never saw the women's equality that she fought for, but her words
still ring true today: "There never will be complete equality until
women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers."
When I think of the progress made, I look at what women are doing today.
They are in every profession and have held almost every leadership
office in the nation. They are talented athletes in every sport. They
serve in every branch of the military and almost every specialty and I
personally witnessed that change. Just over 20 year ago, when I was
contemplating which branch of service to join, women were much more
limited in the roles they could fill.
I will always remember a conversation I had with a friend I ran into
while serving in Tallil, Iraq. She was passing through and was stuck
overnight because Tallil was notorious for its upper atmosphere dust
clouds that regularly shut down all flights coming in or going out. She
was there on a battlefield circulation tour of her Military Intelligence
Battalion assets, which were stationed throughout all of Iraq.
As we caught up what we had been up to over the 10 years since we had
served together in Korea, she told me in a hushed voice that her
Battalion was run almost entirely by women, something unheard of when
we were lieutenants. She was the commander, her senior staff – the
Operations and Executive Officers – were both women and 6 of her 9
companies were commanded by women. As female lieutenants interviewing
for battery executive officer positions 20 years ago, we were actually
told that we were not eligible for some positions - not because the
positions were coded "male only" but because, as in one case, the
commander was an unmarried male so the XO had to be a married man with a
wife that could run the wives' group. In another case, the commander
was female and "....you know how females can't get along." Can
you imagine how that would go over today?
But that quote of Susan B. Anthony still haunts me, "There never will
be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect
lawmakers."
In the Kansas legislature last session, we had 32 women in the House of
Representatives and 12 women in the Senate. That is about 25% of the
legislature. In the US Congress, women make up 20% of the
Representatives and Senators. Here in Leavenworth County, we currently
have 4 state representatives and 2 state senators. Three of the 4 Reps
and one of the Senators are women. I like those figures better as there
are more women in the world than men, but unfortunately voter turnout is
decreasing in Kansas and across the nation.
If you saw the movie, "Iron Jawed Angels," you know that the lessons
we learned in our US History classes did not even come close to
describing what the progressive women who fought for the 19th amendment
went through. Alice Paul and the women of the 1918 Women's Suffrage
movement sacrificed their health, marriages and the limited amount of
freedom they had in the fight for future generations of women to have
the right to vote and run for office. The women were imprisoned and
force fed after picketing and hunger-striking; but survived to see the
results of their efforts.
After all of this conflict and struggle over allowing women the right to
vote, you would think it would be a valued right in our society. In my
district in 2010, I had over 22,000 citizens eligible to vote, but only
8000 were registered and only 3400 actually voted. That is only 15% of
the people – and that year we did not only vote on elected officials,
there was an amendment to the Kansas constitution and a local
referendum.
As you think of the trials and tribulations of the women depicted in,
"Iron Jawed Angels," you should join me in bafflement over this
trend of non-participation, especially in women. Add in the fact that
while we send our military to stand up for other nations and their right
to self determination and to vote, the United States voter seems to grow
ever more apathetic. The ideals our Nation is founded on demand
participation by the citizenry. Susan B. Anthony had the right idea, it
is "we the people" who form this nation. I encourage you all to use
your right to vote. I encourage all the women out there to stay
involved and use this right that we have only had for 92 years.
