Most women, myself included, take for granted the right to vote. With this being a presidential election year, I thought it would be good to discuss how women obtained the right to vote. Women wanted the right to have a say in making and changing laws by obtaining the legal right to vote and participating in Congress. There were many key figures that contributed to the eventual ratification of the 19th Amendment which enfranchised women including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt, and – the first woman who served in Congress – Jeannette Rankin (Biography.com, 2016). These women would be considered Servant Leaders as the goals of these leaders were to develop more leaders.
Servant leaders put followers first, empower them, and help them develop their full personal capacities (Northouse, 2016,p. 225). In 1840, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were barred from attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, which prompted them to hold their own Women’s Convention in the U.S. (National Women’s History Museum, n.d.) the following year. Each day of the convention attracted more people which perpetuated the convictions of women of having the right to decision making and laws throughout the nation.
In 1848 the “The Woman Suffrage Movement” began with a convention held in Seneca Falls, New York. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other women worked together educating the public and using petitions to lobby Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment in order to enfranchise women – or obtain the right to vote in order to participate in reformation and creation of laws. However, (politicians were unwilling to listen to a disenfranchised group” (Reforming Their World: Women in the Progressive Era, 2007). These female leaders gained followers that turned into leaders by using servant leader behaviors as presented in the model by Liden et al. such as conceptualizing, putting followers first, helping followers grow and succeed, empowering, and creating value for the community (women) (Northouse, 2016).
Records indicate the woman suffrage movement began with The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) formed in November of 1869 (About, 2016). Small suffrage organizations started showing up in numerous states. The model of servant leadership also suggests three main components: antecedent conditions, servant leader behaviors, and leadership outcome (Northouse, 2016). According to the Carrie Chapman Catt website, she helped organize the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) in 1902 and would eventually incorporate 32 nations (2016). The antecedent condition was the 32 nations with women’s suffrage organizations. Her leadership behavior included speechmaking, planning campaigns, organizing women, and gaining political experience. She eventually combined the 32, small, independent organizations into one larger, more powerful organization. The leadership outcome was a larger, stronger force that eventually became the IWSA (Northouse, 2016).
In 1912, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns were appointed to the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Their mission shifted away from local voting rights to securing a change in the U.S. Constitutional amendment to enfranchise women nationally. Their first activity was a massive national suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. in March 1913 in which marching women were threatened or injured by men protesting the parade (Library of Congress, n.d.). More and more women wanted liberty, the right to have a say, and the legal right to vote and more women lobbied, protested, picketed, and spread propaganda throughout the nation. The numbers of supporters – both men and women – began to swell and so did the number of leaders. Interestingly, many of the greatest leaders of the woman suffrage movement came from small towns. Jeannette Rankin was born near Missoula, Montana and fought for woman’s right to vote in Washington State and Montana and fought to become elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916. She was to become the first woman to serve in the U.S. Congress and helped pass the ratified 19th Amendment on August 18, 1920 (Biography, 2016).
So, as you go out to vote this fall, remember the numerous women representing servant leadership and representing Woman Suffrage from women such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt, Washington lobbyist Anne Martin, U.S. Representative Jeannette Rankin, and more that spent countless hours and boundless energy giving you the right to vote and be heard!
Reference
Carrie Chapman Catt (2016). The Nineteenth Amendment Society. Retrieved from http://www.catt.org/ccabout.html
Causes: The Woman Suffrage Movement (2007). Reforming Their World: Women in the Progressive Era. Retrieved from https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html
Jeannette Rankin (2016) Biography. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/jeannette-rankin-9451806
Johnson Lewis, J. (2016). American Woman Suffrage Association. About, Inc. Retrieved from
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrage/a/American-Woman-Suffrage-Association.htm
Library of Congress (n.d). Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/collections/static/women-of-protest/images/history.pdf
National Women’s History Museum (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/suffrage.html
Northouse, Peter G (2016) Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.
Morgan Dreisch says
Sam,
This is a good post!
All of these women did express some form of Servant Leadership at some point during the movement. Which aspects do you think that they expressed? Conceptualism? Empathy?
I ask because, while some may be straight forward through reading, others are not.
Thank you,
Morgan
Jamie Lucas says
This is a great (and inspiring!) example of servant leadership. The women involved in the suffragette movement fit the criteria of servant leader to a tee. They were conceptualizing a future where women had equal rights and a say in our government processes, they put the followers first and had their best interest in mind, they empowered women and contributed exponentially to the community by making it so that women were allowed to participate and make decisions regarding the community. Northouse also cited ethical behavior and helping followers to grow and succeed as attributes of a servant leader (Northouse, 2016). I think it’s clear that they meet that criteria in spades. Just think of where we would be as women without their leadership at that time in American history. Thanks for the great post!
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.