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| Women's right to vote shows changes in present election and following Supreme Court decisions on First Amendment |
According to ABC News the major demographic trends of the November 2014 election included the following results: Most unmarried women vote for Democrats by a 61-37% margin. But the gap is closing in this demographic group, with the 24-point margin the smallest since data was collected beginning in 1992. White men vote Republican at 63-35 percent. This is the largest margin of white men's voting Republican, tying with the results of 2010. Those voters under age 30 tend to vote Democratic by a 13-point margin, reported at 55-42 percent. This demographic group, however, holds a far lesser share of the electorate, and that number has reduced since 2012, from 19% share to 13 percent in the recent election. in far lesser numbers than in the years since 2008, down from a low of 13 percent now compared to 19 percent in 2010. Seniors vote Republican by 56-43 percent. This demographic group votes at a far higher rate than the younger voters, with their share of the electorate having grown to 24 percent, compared with a 17 percent share in 2012.
History records the women's rights movements to begin in earnest in the 1830's, culminating in the passage of the 19th amendment in August 26, 1920. The movement was mixed with the struggle to abolish slavery. It was in 1851 the famous African American abolitionist, Sojourner Truth, gave her famous speech, "Ain't I a woman," as she eloquently proclaimed not just the rights of African Americans but the rights and liberties of women as well.
The fire of the women's rights movements continued to burn for years, bringing with it strong supporters whose names are etched with steely resolve into permanent historical monuments made from their sacrifices. The names include Reverend Antoinette Brown, Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, Frederick Douglas, Reverend Harry Ward Beecher, Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony, among others.
The major impetus for women's right to vote began in the 19th century, and resulted in an official introduction as an amendment by Congress in 1878. It remained controversial for 40 years until the 19th amendment was finally enacted, giving women the right to vote.Those rights, hard fought, came early on in Oregon, one of the leaders in the women's suffrage movement, adopting the women's right to vote in 1912. The movement with its foundling days, moved to adulthood in the passage of the 19th amendment officially when it was ratified by the states in Congress.
Those early proponents of women's suffrage in Oregon swept not just women into the movement but men as well. Advocates for women's right to vote were strong in that land of the pioneers.
Later the suffragist movement was used as a stepping stone to expansion of rights for women in education and employment. It became intertwined again with the rights of African Americans in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that solidified and expanded women's rights.
This journalist, a woman born and bred in Oregon of pioneering stock, was taught early on the strength of women as they received their equal rights. My grandmother, a woman of the days before the right to vote, spoke to me, with the words of advice as well as admonition, "Do everything you can, my dear. This is the first time in the country's history women have rights to learn."
This was her encouragement for my college education, coming from a woman who had barely finished elementary school but who had watched the changes over the years. She stood as a shining citadel to me, a child of the 1940's then, someone who hadn't been able to vote as a very young woman but who treasured it when she secured it later.
Clara Diadema Matthews, my grandmother, took her voting rights seriously. She used to say, in her salt-and-peppery 'play,' "Look at your Grandpa there. He used to ask me how he should vote, and now I'm telling him. Why Franklin Roosevelt wouldn't have been elected and got us out of trouble during the depression if it hadn't been for me."
A grandmother's recognition of women's strength at the ballot box, and the future of the country, came before the Supreme Court's decision that corporations can be treated as individuals when it comes to contributions toward political campaigns. The Court maintained corporations have the same First Amendment rights under the Constitution. Single women and minorities constitute the higher percentage of poor voters, a demographic less likely to vote. And the corporate executives are largely white and male, offering the major concern for Democrats, and for socially liberal policies favored by women and minorities, as the money funneled into advertising and campaigns that counter policies that have helped initiate and maintain programs addressing civil rights, voting rights, and social concerns involving health, education and the environment. As the voting blocs continue to move to the right, it is likely some of these programs will be eroded, erasing those gains my grandmother embraced and potentially maintaining the power of the white, male voting bloc for years to come.
