Girls Rock! (Women's Rights)

A few days before the November elections, I heard a beautiful story on NPR when I was driving to work in the morning. I was coasting along the I-280 when the sun came up. It was a beautiful morning: deer were grazing in the hills, the sun was trying out its most beautiful fall colors and I realized that if a divinity existed, it was right here. And to make my day even better, NPR had a story about women’s right to vote in California. I almost missed my exit when I got to Hamilton Avenue.

In 1911, men voted about our right to vote here. They approved Proposition 4 on October 10, 1911; it gave us the right to vote in the state. In 1920, gender-based restrictions on voting were prohibited throughout the whole of the United States. That is obviously great news, but what I found even more appealing is how the suffragettes here in California managed to convince so many men to vote for their cause. For instance, at a certain point in time, women were not granted the right to free speech. Because they were not allowed to speak out their opinions in public, they started singing – these smart cookies had figured out that that was allowed. Also, they wanted to attract the men’s attention. I mean, the right kind of attention. So they got a flashy car, called the Blue Liner, and they got the attention they were craving. What a terrific idea!

To put all of this in perspective, I looked up the numbers for other countries. For example, in Belgium, women could vote in municipal elections as soon as 1921 but they had to wait until 1948 to vote at the national elections. My grandmothers, who lived through two world wars and were smart and strong women, were not allowed to vote for the first part of their lives. I just can’t imagine how frustrating that must be. Women in Switzerland were even worse off. They got the right to vote nationally in 1971 while they could vote in some cantons as of 1958. In Liechtenstein, women could not vote until 1984. I can’t believe that! I was 10 in 1984! And on a funny note, the statistics that I looked at indicate diplomatically for the Holy See that “no women live in the Vatican.”

We cannot imagine a civilized world where women can’t vote. I am sure that soon we will not be able to imagine a world where queer people are discriminated against. Just like these strong women were able to convince men to vote for their rights, we will be able to convince straight people to vote for ours.