Women’s Vote in the United States: A Historic Struggle

The presence of women in politics has been challenging over the years. With the presidential nomination of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, it highlights a historic and ongoing struggle for the right to vote and be elected. The United States became one of the first countries to approve women’s suffrage worldwide.

Women’s voting rights in the U.S. are the result of a long process of fighting for equality, driven primarily by the women’s suffrage movement. This movement gained momentum in the 1840s when women activists began organizing to demand rights that had been denied to them for centuries.

One of the first significant demonstrations of this movement was the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, considered the formal birth of the women’s rights struggle. During this historic event, leaders like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, a document inspired by the Declaration of Independence that demanded equality for women, including the right to vote.

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Throughout the 19th century, the suffrage movement expanded, particularly among white women, who began linking their cause with other social movements such as abolitionism and temperance.

Despite the challenges, states like Wyoming and Utah became pioneers, granting women the right to vote in the 1870s and 1890s. However, the true victory came in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guaranteed women the right to vote at the national level.

This achievement was the result of decades of hard work by key figures such as Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, who led organizations like the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and the National Woman’s Party (NWP).

However, while the 19th Amendment was a significant step forward, the reality was that many women, particularly Black, Native American, and Asian women, continued to face barriers to fully exercising their right to vote for much of the 20th century.

The suffrage movement not only changed the political landscape of the United States but also laid the groundwork for the civil rights and feminist movements that would follow, marking a turning point in the history of the fight for gender equality.

Today, the struggle for the White House remains a challenge for women. In the entire history of the United States, there has never been a female President. Although several women have come close, such as Shirley Chisholm, Geraldine Ferraro, Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and now Kamala Harris’s nomination, the position remains occupied by men.

Contenido publicado originalmente en El Heraldo de México.