by Carlina

Created on: January 21, 2007   Last Updated: May 03, 2007

Women's suffrage 85 years of voting

Some endured public and personal humiliation. Many were jailed, starved or force-fed. Others survived food poisoning, train collisions, explosions and other near-tragedies.

But not doubt, each of the women who fought for suffrage would say it was worth the struggle.

Today marks the 85th anniversary of their victory. On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified, securing women's right to vote.

"What they went through was horrific," said Jeannette Cockroft, assistant professor of history and political science at Schreiner University. "These women ended up in jail, where they were force-fed and suffered all sorts of brutality. What happened to those women was on the extreme fringe of the women's movement, but that in no way diminishes what they did."

"I'm not sure I'd be sitting in this office today, doing this job, if it wasn't for those women," she added.

Cockroft said their plight was not simply about "The Vote." What suffragettes fought for was the recognition that women are individuals not simply wives and mothers. As individuals, she said, women deserved direct access to their government, just as men always had.

"The original women at Seneca Falls were not ultimately fixated on getting the vote," Cockroft said. "They sought recognition as separate individuals from men. (The right to vote) is a powerful acknowledgment that we are individuals. The vote is the recognition that women are separate individuals in recognition to the state. That's an enormous acknowledgement of equality."

Suffragettes weren't satisfied with the vote alone, Cockroft said. In the aftermath of suffrage, many of them took up other "rights-related" causes.

"Historians talk about the movement sort of shattering because there were some women who began to press for equal rights for all people, others who created nonpartisan educational entities like the League of Women Voters and still others on the state and national level who continued to advocate for women."

Former Kerrville City Councilwoman Ann Sullivan, who is one of only six female councilmembers in the city's history, said her experience on council proved to her that women bring a unique perspective to politics and decision making. Women's ability to "see threats" on the family, provide critical perspective to governing a community, she said.

"We take a different approach to issues than men," Sullivan said. "We tend to want to protect the family and care for children. There's probably not a woman in the world that wouldn't support education or caring for a child."

Lew Williams, spokeswoman for the Republican Women of Kerr County, agreed that women often share interests and are motivated by the same causes family, health and security but their opinions on those topics often vary.

"We're all women, but that doesn't mean we all think and vote alike," Williams said. "I think politicians are wrong if they think they can dump us all together," she said. "That doesn't mean we don't have some common interest," Williams said.

Williams said she fears that the details of that long struggle often are overlooked or taken for granted.

"I didn't know much about the big women's rights meeting until the '70s, and it was enlightening to me to realize it took those women 78 years to win the vote " Williams said. "Those women had a lot of vision and courage."

"I don't think (women's suffrage) is taught a lot in school, and I worry that my granddaughters won't take the privilege seriously," she added.

Cockroft concurred.

"If people knew how hard it was to get the vote, I think it would be much harder for them to blow it off on election day," Cockroft said. "People suffered and died, and it is not an insignificant responsibility."

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