The 19th amendment was constituted in 1920. It states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” In the early years of our country’s history, women could neither own property nor vote, and they did not have the legal right to any of the money that they earned. Although the Suffrage movement began in 1848, it wasn’t until World War One that the fight for voting rights moved to the forefront of the women’s rights movement. Despite the fact that sixteen states had granted women the right to vote by 1917, the amendment had not yet been made to the constitution to make it a national right for women. The 19th Amendment is vital, giving all citizens of the United States the opportunity to have a say in the government. Without the 19th amendment, a sweeping amount of U.S. citizens would not have the right to vote and our democracy as we know it would falter.
A recent diagram uploaded to twitter by Nate Silver, founder and editor-in-chief of FiveThirtyEight, a web magazine that primarily covers politics and sports, showed the outcome of the 2016 Presidential Election if only men voted in the electoral polls. If this were so, Donald Trump would have the vast majority of the electoral votes needed to win the election. This gave some Trump supporters, both women and men, the idea to start the hashtag, “repealthe19th” on Twitter, calling for the dissolution of women’s right to vote. This hashtag was created in the hopes of Trump’s winning the election and has reignited a centuries-old debate.
To many, it was surprising that some women have expressed their support for a cause that would take away a right that women have worked for so many years to gain. One female supporter, Tracy Ogrodnik, tweeted on October 12th 2016, “I would be willing to give up my right to vote to make this happen.” Activists all over the country are outraged by this small, but aggressive campaign. The influence of the media has given both supporters and opposers of #repealthe19th the power to speak out to a large public audience through a medium that reaches many. The media is a powerful as well as a dangerous tool when it comes to heavily controversial ideas such as this one. Although it is both unlikely, and almost impossible, for the 19th amendment to be repealed (not to mention that the process would take so long, it would not even be relevant to next month’s election), the fact that there are pockets of American women in support of this movement is alarming.
Some Fieldston students shared their opinions on the #repealthe19th movement. Eloise Harcourt, a Form III student, said “women worked so incredibly hard to get the right to vote, and now it’s like this particular group wants to go back in history, showing one of the major flaws in this group of Trump supporters.” Alex Zlotchenko, another Form III student, responded “an opinion is an opinion. Everyone is entitled to have their own, but I don’t think this one is right.”
After hearing the opinions of several students, most seem to believe that it is impractical, unfair and short-sighted to get rid of the 19th amendment. However, that doesn’t stop people like Holly Hamersmith from tweeting provocative statements such as “men should have never given women the right to vote #repealthe19th” in a last ditch attempt to secure Donald Trump’s presidency.
