01-06 Women Voters - John Bulloch

Women turn out to vote. And women, as caregivers, are afraid of Covid-19 more than men. Women will determine the US presidency in 2020.

So interesting to work with colleagues in Finland in the 1980s and find as many women as men in leadership positions. And these were women fluent in four languages. Finnish, Swedish, English and German. Their history is important.
Finland gave suffrage to women in 1905. And in recent elections a new young woman, Sanna Marin became Prime Minister. She is second from the right in the photo with three of her cabinet colleagues.
Women politics were different in the US and Britain, where the suffrage movement was entangled in the politics of WW1 and the Spanish Flu.
In the UK, it was granted in two steps. The over 30’s got it 1918 and everyone over 21 in 1928. Love the Downton Abbey TV series which is a history of the women’s movement.
In the US there was the 19th constitutional amendment that went through the political process that gave women the right to vote in 1920.
Then women began to organize to ensure women took advantage of this new power. It was called the League of Women Voters.
I found this of special interest because when asked, my grandmother in Toronto did not even know she had the right to vote in 1919 when the Spanish Flu hit her family, and her two boarders. They had no radio nor did they get a newspaper.
Women’s organizations have been successful. Today something like 63% of women will vote in an election compared to 59% for men. And in the US. 56% are registered as Democrats and 38% are registered as Republicans.
It should be no surprise that women want to restrict access to guns and want better health care. In all the western nations women take a stronger interest in social issues.
The big issue for the US election is the pandemic and women as caregivers are more afraid of contacting Covid-19 than men. The over 50 female voting block is being watched by all the operatives. They will pick the winner.
It would be my call that the pandemic will be even more transformational than getting women out to vote in 2020. It is quite possible that they will elect Kamala Harris as President in 2024. Politics is quirky.