Commemorating 100 Years of Women’s Right to Vote

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Library of Congress

Leading suffragettes confer over the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment at the National Woman’s Party headquarters in Washington, D.C. They include, left to right, Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Abby Scott Baker, Anita Pollitzer, Alice Paul, Florence Boeckel and Mabel Vernon (standing, right).

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin, praised the unanimous Senate passage on June 4 of the bipartisan resolution she co-sponsored celebrating the 100th anniversary of the passage and ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote. The resolution, introduced by Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, seeks to honor, reaffirm, and preserve the historic precedent set by the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in further promoting the core values of our democracy as promised by the U.S. Constitution.

Senator Baldwin joined the twenty-four other women in the Senate for a bipartisan commemoration of the anniversary. Senators wore a yellow rose on their lapel throughout the day. The yellow rose, a symbol of the women’s suffrage movement, evokes the historic debate by the Tennessee legislature prior to becoming the final state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Those who supported women’s enfranchisement wore yellow roses, and anti-suffragists wore red roses. Senator Baldwin also wore a purple ribbon to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of women of color to the suffrage movement.

Here are the remarks that Senator Baldwin delivered on the floor of the Senate on June 4, 2019:

I rise today, proudly wearing a yellow rose, in solidarity with the twenty-four other women who serve in the United States Senate to recognize what is a very historic milestone in our nation’s history.

Almost 100 years ago, after decades and decades of struggle by brave women and men, our nation finally extended to women the most fundamental right of our democracy—the right to vote.

The struggle for women’s suffrage was fought in every corner of our country, and communities all over the nation are planning to recognize their contributions over the next year.

So today marks 100 years to the day that the Senate passed the Nineteenth Amendment. I’m proud to tell you that a week later, on June 10, 1919, Wisconsin became the first state in our union to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.

Now, I’m always proud to say that my home state was the very first to ratify women’s right to vote—narrowly beating out our neighbor to the south, the state of Illinois, because of a paperwork error.

You know, we’re still first and I’m especially happy that I will forever have bragging rights over my friend from Illinois and co-chair of the Senate Tammy caucus, Senator Duckworth, because Illinois wasn’t quick enough, and Wisconsin did it first.

As we observe and celebrate this historic moment, we must be careful not to mistake progress for victory.

I am also proud today to wear a purple ribbon. This ribbon is in recognition of the women of color who fought and marched alongside their white colleagues in the suffrage movement, but whose contributions went largely unsung, and many of whom were still denied the right to vote after the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified.

As we observe and celebrate this historic moment, we must be careful not to mistake progress for victory.

With just 131 women currently serving in Congress, we are well short of equal representation in government.

Government works best when legislatures reflect the people we work for, when they look like America.

That’s why it’s important to increase the number of women who serve in public office. Women are half the population, we should be half of our nation’s government too.

When I first entered public service, I had the opportunity to sit in on a Madison city council meeting, and I remember while in the meeting, when I had one of those light bulb moments of the difference women make when they serve. The city council that day was debating whether to add an additional bus route that went directly to Madison Area Technical College’s new campus.

I remember listening to my male colleagues and their participation in the debate, and there was a lot of focus on funding and logistics and finger-pointing at which body in government should bear this responsibility. I didn’t at first seem to think that the city council should take action to add another bus route.

But then I began hearing the voices of my female colleagues.

They began speaking up and describing their experiences traveling to campus. They spoke about evening classes and having to walk a long distance, down a poorly-lit road to get to the nearest bus stop. They spoke about the dangers of walking alone at night.

Most women can identify with the fear of walking or commuting home at night. But it sounded like the men in the debate hadn’t thought about it in this way before that moment.

The whole debate changed as soon as women’s voices were heard, and the city council ultimately voted to fund a bus route that went to the campus door.

Women bring their life experience to the job. It helps inform our debates, our votes, and the policies that we deliver.

My experience with the women of the U.S. Senate, past and present, is that they ran for office and came to Washington to solve problems. I feel like we are guided by the idea that our job is to work together and get things done. That’s what we do, both Democrats and Republicans, as we work together to deliver solutions.

With more women in public office you will see more solutions to the challenges and problems we face. Women get stuff done.

I worked with my colleague Senator Susan Collins to pass legislation to better support the more than forty million family caregivers in this country who contribute millions of dollars each year in uncompensated care for their loved ones.

I worked with my colleague Senator Joni Ernst to pass legislation to provide our nation’s farmers and agricultural workers with the mental health resources they need to deal with the extreme economic stress our farmers have faced in recent years.

I worked with my colleague Senator Lisa Murkowski to pass legislation that will bring more OB-GYNs to rural areas and expand access to maternity care for women so they no longer have to drive over an hour to get the health care they need or to deliver their baby.

I appreciate these partnerships and many others that I’ve been able to experience, and I look forward to continuing to work together on a bipartisan basis to deliver results for the American people.

With more women in public office you will see more solutions to the challenges and problems we face.

Women get stuff done.

In 2017, I was proud to lead bipartisan legislation to establish the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission and ensure that we give this important anniversary the recognition and celebration that it deserves.

I’m thrilled to say the commission is now hard at work developing, supporting and lifting up commemorative efforts across the country. It’s working with private organizations and governments at every level to encourage and help facilitate their events.

I want to give a particular thank you to my dear friend and former Senator Barbara Mikulski who helped get the commission started and is now serving as a commissioner.

I look forward to seeing the great work of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission as we get closer to the formal anniversary celebration of when the Nineteenth Amendment finally became part of our nation’s charter.

Today, I’m grateful to the brave women who came before us and fought for the right of all American women to have a say in their own government.

Thanks to their struggle, their persistence and their determination to bring women the right to vote, I can stand here today as one of twenty-five women serving in the United States Senate, representing the great state of Wisconsin.

We have more work to do, but in 2018, more women ran for office and won than ever before in our nation’s history, and as a result we have a new Congress that is starting to look just a little but more like the people it aims to represent.

Let’s keep building on that progress, and let’s keep working together on solutions to the challenges we face today.