Women's War on Women

The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1920 prohibiting any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex.  Prior to this the U.S. was still considered to have one of the most contemporary political systems in terms of allowing women to vote.  Several colonies allowed women to vote prior to 1776, and women in New Jersey continued to vote from 1787 to 1807.  For many reasons such as their inability to lead, handle war, strong emotions, and disinterest in politics, women were considered unfit to vote.  

Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John Adams, “...remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”

It has been many years since women have attained the right to vote in 1920 and interesting to reflect that it is single women voters who determine many of the recent presidential and local elections.  Nearly a quarter of the votes in the last presidential election were determined by single women.  "Unmarried women make up almost 40% of the African American population, nearly 30% of the Latino population, and about a third of all young voters, or 32.7%. They are divorced, separated, widowed, or have never married."

The political arena which originally forbade women from voting altogether and especially young, single, minority women, is now largely focused on these populations.  The issues labeled under "the war on women" in recent campaigns include equal pay, birth control, and abortion.  These personal and social issues ironically enough could be categorized as "emotional" in the political sphere, which was originally one of the main criticisms of women's suffrage.  

I am brought back to a quote by Victoria Claflin Woodhull, who said “If Congress refuse to listen to and grant what women ask, there is but one course left then to pursue. What is there left for women to do but to become the mothers of the future government?”  What a different time it was when women planned to make a difference through the education and upbringing of their children.  The mothers of the women's suffrage movement fought on the platform that women bring a unique and equally important quality to the political stage that is not self-serving or sheltered, but rather concerned with the greater good of humanity.   

Today the largest collective political voice is unmarried women without children whose focus is on issues that determine personal rights.  The "war on women" at one time denied them the vote because of their sex, and at this time garners their vote based on 'controlling' their reproductive systems.  The power of women which at one time rested in raising a better generation is now sought in controlling the genesis of that next generation.