Suffrage at a 100 but the struggle continues

Exactly 100 years ago today, women in the US were given the right to vote. I am particularly fascinated with the many women and men who…

Exactly 100 years ago today, women in the US were given the right to vote. I am particularly fascinated with the many women and men who fought against women’s right to vote. Called anti-suffragists or antis for short, I find their concerns particularly relevant today.

Among other things, one of the main beliefs of the antis was that a woman’s main duty is to her husband and her children and that she wouldn’t be able to fulfill them by participating in politics. Further, her participation would ruin the smooth running of the household and lead to societal unrest.

I find it striking that these very concerns are still unsettled in many households to this day but as applied to women’s professional careers. I have female friends who routinely regret not being ambitious about their careers due to these exact same beliefs and expectations that their families have of them.

As much as we need more women to reach the upper echelons of success in business (the last-mile problem), it is equally important to address equality at home as well (the first-mile problem). It is up to all of us — men and women — to ensure that it doesn’t take us another 100 years to get there.