In his office in the White House, President Wilson was debating against himself. It was 1917 and there was a group of picketers outside demanding that he support women’s right to vote. All this time he had opposed just that. Now it came down to this moment. Either join his daughter and the mob, or join the majority of the United States. One wrong move could ruin my career he thought to himself. If I join the picketers, the majority of the country may see me as a president not serving the “common good.” But if I don’t, I won’t be following the words of one of my wise predecessors, Thomas Jefferson, who said, “We hold these truths to be self evident that all men and women are created equal.” If I don’t give them the right to vote, I will be saying that men reign supreme.
Even so, the jobs that people do should not be determined by basis of sex. It should be determined by skill of the worker. I’ve seen women be blacksmiths. If they can be that, why shouldn’t they be librarians or teachers? While President Wilson was debating, the crowd grew more upset. Actually, upset shall not bury it. They were already upset. Now, they were completely annoyed, outraged, demeaned, fired up, and generally splenetic. In other words, it looked to Wilson that if this wasn’t dealt with, the economy could go downhill fast. What’s going on has a reason. Woman suffragettes had been doing this for over half a century. It’s just all of the president’s before Wilson hadn’t bothered to do anything. President Wilson decided to ask his daughter. Unsurprisingly, when he found her she was writing a book supporting the movement.
“My dearest,” Wilson said, “ I would like your opinion and your help on the matter.” His daughter replies, “ Of course, you should support it, haven’t you seen what we women have done to help this country? You do know that women are the ones who actually have the guts to stand up to things and address them, don’t you?”
“Of course, but whichever choice I make, there will be grave consequences,” Wilson observed. Later that night, Wilson decided he would support the cause.
The next day he went to discuss it with Congress. “This matter has been held off for to long,” exclaimed Wilson. “ I will support it and let it go through.” One senator opposing this replied in disgust, “ Alas Wilson, you do know how dirty politics is, how hard it is to metal work and be part of a job.” Some other senators nodded in approval. “ I remember,” replied Wilson, “ I remember that you have no idea how to metalwork so how would you know? You can’t define whether or not women are good allies in politics because since they have never been in politics, you can’t be sure at all! You can only guess from the small selfish mind that you have” There is a rush of murmur and nodding throughout the courtroom. “Very well then” the senator replied “ We will cast a vote tomorrow starting at dawn and then we shall see if this problem even reaches to become an actual right, and if we will amend our own Constitution” Then he and his followers stormed out of the Capitol.
The next day was a very stressful day for everybody. Even after the Senate had voted, each person in the country was thinking about it everywhere and couldn’t focus. Wilson and his daughter were pacing around the room, and the senator that opposed him was sitting at his desk mindlessly typing and tapping his hand. The rest of his friends were in the lunchroom silently eating their lunches staring off into space. There was scarcely a sound in the District of Columbia. It was as if the whole country was holding its breath. Not a word was spoken. Nobody anywhere was paying attention to what they were doing. In his office, Wilson thought about the possibilities. “If this works it shall allow more usefulness to our country, but if we shall fail, I will be shamed and lose everything”. “Well he thought well done is better than well said, I must wait” Although he wanted this amendment to pass, he was unsure about it and thought that there was a high chance that it would fail. He had no idea what to think about that. He still had mixed feelings about it. Meanwhile the senator was thinking that he must stall for time. But it was too late. The House had already approved in May and the Senate was soon to be.
The next day on June 4, 1919 the announcement came that the Senate had approved the Amendment. All the women supporters went ballistic. Wilson and his daughter left the house to go celebrate and they were out of their minds with happiness. The Senator and his friends where in their office crying their eyes out. “ We should have done something, the Senator cried I know I could’ve done something.” But alas, even then there was nothing to be done. It was over and women’s fight for equality had been won.
2019-1-23-1548202017