Suffrage Centennial
Thousands of women will stream into their polling places Tuesday, and no one will think a thing of it.
One hundred years ago, women had just won the right to cast their ballots after a 72-year fight.
The first Women's Rights Convention was held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, N.Y., where the Declaration of Sentiments was adopted that called for equality for women and included a resolution that women seek the right to vote.
Fast forward to 1920, when women spent the summer and autumn on pins and needles waiting to see if the required 36 states would ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment in time for women to vote in the November election.
To their delight, women indeed were able to cast their ballots that year for Republican Warren G. Harding or Democrat James M. Cox, marking the first election in the United States allowing all women to vote.
Today, it is difficult to imagine a line at the polls comprised of men only.
“I can't imagine us not being able to all go and have our 2 cents heard,” said Joyce Cully, controller at United Plate Glass in Connoquenessing Township. “It's hard to even imagine a day when women couldn't do that.”
She is also incredulous that the opinions and ideals of American women were stifled for the first half of the country's history.
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