The Importance of Voting As a Woman

The United States was built upon the idea of democracy, individual voices, and independent freedoms. However, at the conception of the country, this applied to only a small portion of the population: those who were wealthy, male, and white. The fact that women had to win their right to vote is what drives me to the polls every single election. 

This year, 2020 marks 100 years of women being able to vote. The United States became a sovereign state 243 years ago, meaning America has been around for almost 2.5 times longer than women have been able to vote in the country. The U.S. 19th constitutional amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, stating, “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.” 

The women of that time period fought for the future of all women and their right to be present where decisions are being made. For me, that is the motivation that I need to bring myself into every instance of political decision making and exert my right to vote. The fact that only 100 years ago women were unable to do so means my presence at the booth is even more important than if it was automatically granted at the inception of the country. 

Even since the 19th amendment, women’s opinions have been suppressed in other ways as well. To this day, we have never had a woman as president nor vice president. The first female presidential candidate nominated by a major party was Hillary Clinton in 2016. That was the closest that America has ever been to having a woman as a president. The first recorded country to have had a female leader is in Sri Lanka in 1960. Though America is 60 years behind, the fact that the first documented female leader took office in the mid-1900s is concerning on its own. Women still are not regarded as equal to men and it’s obvious in the way they are unable to lead in the same way men do globally when they make up 49.6% of the world population.

It is the right of the people to be represented as they are distributed in the population where decisions are made. Ideally, the population distribution of identities, ideologies, and values should be represented in equal proportions in the governmental structure of the people. Therefore, in all branches of government, the power should be split to capture an equal representation of the people, and there should be an equal opportunity for women to become the leader of the nation, and have just as much right as a man. Equally as important, the Senate and House of Representatives should have an appropriate representation of all Americans, with an equal split of men and women, represented as well. 

For me, all of this knowledge weighs on me every election, and whether it’s out of spite, a sense of duty, or a sense of hope that we are striving toward equality, I know it is my duty as a woman to vote. Every. Single. Time. 

 

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