In last year’s post on this topic, I talked about coverture – how women basically ceased to exist legally once they were married. The argument against women’s suffrage seems to always come back to an opposition of women’s participation in public life. This pernicious and spurious argument was nothing new in western culture, having roots at least as far back as Ancient Greece.

The more that I learn about the woman suffrage movement, the more nuance I discover and the more fascinated I become. The fact that it took over SEVENTY years for something that seems to be inarguable to be ratified. The impact of the Reconstruction era on the movement. That five other amendments to the Constitution were ratified in the meantime. The part about how President Woodrow Wilson basically only got behind the movement in order to save face in the WWI peace process. There’s so much. In an attempt to keep this post at a reasonable length, I am going to focus on two key periods.

The Civil War and The Reconstruction Documents

The Civil War (1861-1865) had a huge impact on the woman suffrage movement. The movement had begun organizing in the 1840’s and established itself with the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848.  Prior to the Civil War suffragists and abolitionists collaborated on their common goal – the citizenship of and full legal status of their people. There was a sort of optimistic attitude that both Black people and women would gain the vote together. This did not happen, and I believe that excluding women from the vote through the reconstruction documents has exacerbated and entrenched gender/race rifts that we continue to experience.

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments are known as the reconstruction documents. While intended to establish citizenship and rights for Black people, these documents also serve to institutionalize the disenfranchisement of women.

The Thirteenth Amendment ostensibly abolishing slavery was ratified on December 6, 1865.

The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified on July 9, 1868. The citizenship clause of this amendment states that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” This establishes that women as well as Black people are citizens. However, the privileges and immunities clause states, “But when the right to vote … is denied to any male inhabitants …” – this is the first time that gender is mentioned in the constitution and by its specificity, it implies that the right to vote may be denied to women.

While the Fifteenth Amendment (ratified in 1870), states that the right to vote, “shall not be denied … on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,”  was intended to clarify the intent of the Fourteenth Amendment, it also specifically excludes sex as a criteria, serving to further institutionalize the disenfranchisement of women.

World War I and Votes for Women

World War I was a huge factor in the movement for women’s suffrage gaining some traction. With millions of American men being deployed overseas, women stepped into many of abandoned roles.  The suffragists took advantage of the PR opportunity.

President Woodrow Wilson had been opposed to suffrage. However, when justifying the U.S. participation in WWI on the grounds of making, “the world safe for democracy,” the hypocrisy of excluding half of the nation’s citizenry from participation in the political process could no longer be ignored. Wilson came to realize the necessity of enfranchising women if for no other reason than to save face on the world stage.

One way that we see the effect of reconstruction as an impediment to the woman suffrage movement during WWI is in the complete refusal of southern democrats to support the issue. In fact, the Nineteenth Amendment did not pass the Senate until after the democrats lost the majority in the 1918 election. It was finally able to pass the Senate in the summer of 1919 (it had passed the House five times). Then it was off to the states for ratification.  In the end, Tennessee held the deciding vote and on August 18, 1920, after multiple postponements, the Tennessee legislature voted for the amendment … by one vote.

Coda

In the 1920 presidential election, in which Republican Warren G. Harding defeated Democrat James M. Cox (Wilson had already served two terms), only one third of the women who were now eligible to vote did.

The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified one hundred years ago. But have women made advances in public life commiserate to their percentage of the population? Maybe not.  The pernicious bias against women’s participation in public life persists. Like Abigail Scott Duniway, I hope that women today realize that their ability to choose how they participate in public life was the result of a long, hard fought battle. I hope they realize that the war for equality has not been won and that they stay ever vigilant in asserting their rights as full-fledged members of the human race.

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I don’t know about you, but even with Netflix and Amazon and cable, I’ve almost completely quit watching TV. I have too many books to read and to many art/craft projects to make (and then there is all that writing that I haven’t been doing). Besides, there is so much yuck on television. Who needs the aggravation!

There have been a few programs on PBS recently that I’ve really enjoyed.  There was a Great Performances theater-in-the-round play about Gloria Steinem’s life (strange, but edifying); there was an American Masters about Toni Morrison (such an inspiration as a woman and as a writer); and there was a two-part American Experience about the women’s suffrage movement that I’m only half-way through and planning on watching again already.  But my most favorite of the bunch was this great POV documentary about a group called Radical Monarchs, which is like a social activist girl scouts.

Radical Monarchs was founded in 2014 in Oakland by the mother of a fourth-grade girl who was asking to join the girl scouts. Apparently when your mother’s job is being a community organizer, she might have some progressive ideas about what sort of curriculum a leadership development organization for young women should have.

I tell you, I wish I could join the Radical Monarchs. They are teaching these girls all about social justice issues and how to stand up for themselves and speak up for what they believe is right. And these girls have such poise and the most beautiful twinkle in their eyes.

The girls earned badges like Radical Beauty which has modules on boundary setting and accepting/appreciating your body for the way it is. They learned about racial injustice, LGBTQ rights, and issues for disabled people. They participated in their local Women’s March in 2017 and spoke at a city council meeting.

My favorite part of the film was when the girls went to Sacramento. They went to visit the capital with a list of issues that they wanted to advocate for such as rental protection. The girls met with various legislators and would each present their talking points about different topics. They were polite, prepared, and knew to say just enough to make their point, then stop. But don’t think for a second that they all weren’t prepared to explain their position in more detail if given the opportunity.

Of course, this one little group run by two moms started getting national attention including being disparaged by Fox News, but it was also inundated with requests to start chapters all over the country! They are currently up to four chapters (all in the Bay Area).

We Are The Radical Monarchs is streaming on all PBS platforms (pbs.org, the pbs app, pov.org) through August 19 (click on pbs.org to watch it now).

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I think the great thing about Earth Day is that there are so many ways that you can participate. This year, it would be really easy to make a point of not driving today.  You could plant a tree (or just tend to your garden). Maybe you’ve gotten lazy about recycling, today is a great day to recommit to it. Maybe make a point of using less electricity today by keeping the TV turned off.  Or set a timer for the shower so that you use less water (no, I don’t really like this suggestion either, but thought I should throw it out there anyway).

There are loads of small actions that you can take or commit to. Maybe pick one of those things that has been niggling around in the back of your mind and look into it a little more seriously. Mr. Man and I have been talking about switching to reusable silicon food storage bags (this is a big deal, I love a Ziploc bag). I’ve also been wanting to start composting; I’m thinking my first step for that is just remembering to put the coffee grounds aside every day for the garden.

Earth Day rhymes with birthday (not a coincidence, some savvy marketing guy did that on purpose). The date coincides with birthday of John Muir the naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the US. It was also identified as a good time to maximize engagement on college campuses being in that sort-of quietish time between spring break and final exams.

If you’re a fan of astrology like I am, you’ll note that the date also coincides with the beginning of Taurus season. Taurus is an earth sign and Taurus season is all about being thankful for and connecting to the planet.  That’s kind-of a cute parallel. The Moon Omens website has this nice article about Taurus season and Taurus energy if you are interested in reading more about it.

You can also go to the official Earth Day website if you are interested in finding a whole slate of live, virtual Earth Day activities. There is also a list of 24 different actions that you can take for the earth. Many of the actions are signing a pledge for this or that (to vote, to use less plastic, those sorts of things) but the one I thought sounded nice was to create some Earth Day or nature-themed art (wine cork fairy house = recycling).

However you choose to celebrate, I hope that you will do something nice for the planet and have a happy Earth Day today.

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Group fitness classes are my sweet spot – I like someone telling me what to do without the overwhelming amount of attention that a personal trainer offers. And I like being able to participate in a variety of activities without any pressure to actually be good at any of them.  My current routine includes two yoga classes, two indoor cycling classes, and one barre class each week, which is respectable, but I needed to settle on something to do on Mondays.

Monday workouts are super important to me. I feel like a good Monday workout sets the tone for the whole week. It’s the same sort of reason that I work out first thing in the morning: no matter what the rest of the day or the rest of the week has to throw at you, you’ve already accomplished one important thing. I find that I’m better able to be present in and patient with whatever situation that I find myself in after I have taken care of that piece of business.

So, back to the gym. Finding my Monday morning exercise jam was a challenge. But then an instructor who I really liked at a different exercise studio joined my gym and I found the courage to try something completely different!

Adam teaches a set of three thirty-minute classes on Monday mornings that I like to call Glutes, Guns, and Guts.  Thirty minutes lower body, thirty minutes arms, thirty minutes abs.  I’m not much of a strength workout girl, so anything involving weights (um, how do you put this barbell thing together?) and “functional” exercises is super intimidating to me.  But since I knew Adam from before, I was slightly less intimidated to show up and give it a try.

Holy smokes this workout is hard for me! My “heavy” dumbbells are 7.5 pounds (the gal next to me is crushing 20s and I’m wishing I had grabbed 5s). There is this thing that I think is called a reverse step-down, that just clobbers me.  I don’t know why stepping down onto my knees and then back up to my feet is so hard!  You would think that my thighs have never experienced that range of motion before.  But that’s ok, I’m just there to do what I can. Every week I feel a little stronger in ways that are different from my comfort zone workouts. And that’s cool. Maybe eventually I will feel like I’m strong enough to find the confidence to venture out there onto the gym floor (because I will know how to put that barbell together and what to do with it once I have).

Was there a time that you tried something new at the gym?

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