Rock my Vote

It is Super Tuesday... a big day in the primary election. However, I am not going to get all political. I do not want to know what party you are for or which candidate you feel is best. And I am not about to share my views either. Whew... a collective sigh of relief! 

So, why the heck am I posting about voting?

Voting is a right. It was not a given. Not for African American Men (15th Amendment, 1870) or for Women (19th Amendment, 1920). Please notice those years... women were LAST to get the right to vote and it was in 1920... and 1920 was not that long ago.

This privilege of voting I have is because many women, long before me, fought for... suffered for... my opportunity to check whatever box I want. If you are a woman, parent of a girl, or know a woman then it's important to understand why her vote matters. 

It goes beyond who you vote for, it is the fact you can vote. There are so many important women, from Addams, Anthony, Blackwell, Burns, Cary, Catt, Mott, Paul, Shaw, Stanton, to Woodhull... and so many more.

Alice Paul, even has a movie

based on her, Iron Jawed Angels

Before I existed there were people fighting, picketing, & suffering so that I could have this right. It is hard to imagine, but in the early 1800s women were second-class citizens. Women were limited to home and family. Education and careers were considered pointless. Their place was as a wife and once married they didn't have rights to their property or wages. And they definitely could not vote.

  

It took DECADES for women to get the right to vote. Woman suffragists endured intense political activity and protesting to finally win that right for me (possibly you, your mother, your daughter, or any woman you know). It was a huge political movement, full of press, fundraisers, organizers, lobbyists, and more. Many women fought hard so I could walk into my polling place and cast my vote, to make my voice count!

 

In honor of them, I will teach my daughter that she matters. Her opinion is important and should count. No matter what she believes, no matter which party she votes for... she has that right to vote because other women have ensured that opportunity for her.

Today, she helped me Rock My Vote!

Educational Sites on Woman Suffrage Movement:

Scholastic
National Woman's History Museum
History for Kids
Time for Kids