TO WHAT EXTENT DID WOMEN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE?
More than 100 years ago, women in the United States were given the right to vote by ratification of the 19th Amendment (August 18, 1920).
The question is...
To what extent did women take advantage of this opportunity?
According to recent studies by J. Kevin Corder and Christina Wolbrecht*, the percentage of women exercising the right to vote lagged behind that of men for decades. By 1936, voting by men outnumbered women by 20 percent.
The Los Angeles Times wrote in 1960 that "women have generally stayed in the kitchen in unhealthy numbers on Election Day."
Corder and Wolbrecht offer evidence of the reasons for this phenomenon...
There were four states where women were prohibited from voting in 1920 (Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi & South Carolina). It seems the deadline to pay a poll tax in those states came before ratification of the 19th Amendment.
Studies also show that in states where voting restrictions were the highest, voting by women was the lowest. Alternatively, in states where voting restrictions were the lowest, voting by women was the highest.
In the state of Virginia, where voting restrictions were high, turnout by women at the polls was only 5 percent. In Kentucky, however, where voting restrictions were low, turnout by women was 50%.
Despite lagging behind men in casting their ballots on Election Day, women have closed the gap over time. Corder and Wolbrecht say that "today women are more likely to vote than men."
Data from the Pew Research Center backs that up. An analysis of Census Bureau Data by the Center proves "historically, women have had slightly higher rates of voter turn-out than men."
In 1980, both women and men turned out to vote at a rate of 64%. Since then, however, women have bested men at the polls. In 2016, 63% of women voted to 59% of men.
*J. Kevin Corder is professor of Political Science at Western Michigan University & Chritina Wolbrecht is professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. They are co-authors of "Counting Women's Ballots," a study of women voting in the 1920s & 1930s.
SOURCES
"Did Women Vote Once they had the Opportunity?." by J. Kevin Corder and Christina Wolbrecht, December 2, 2019, American Bar Association, www.americanbar.org/
"Men and Women in the U.S. continue to differ in voter turnout rate, party identification," by Ruth Igielnik, August 18, 2020, Fact Tank, Pew Research Center, www.pewresearch.org/
