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Women's Suffrage

Women's voices and influence have always been a part of Washington’s history, even without the vote. The fight for permanent woman's suffrage in Washington, however, spans over 50 years in territorial and state history. Washington was the first state in the 20th century and the fifth state in the Union to enact women’s suffrage. Washington women’s success in 1910 helped inspire the campaign that culminated in passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, when women won the right to vote nationally.

The campaign for women's rights in Washington, however, did not end in 1910, but continues to the present. By commemorating the Suffrage Centennial, Washingtonians celebrate the long and arduous road to the achievement of women's suffrage, the continuing struggle for women's rights and the significant role of women in public and private life. The victory in 1910 was an important culmination of the fight for the rights of women as citizens but only the beginning of a century of women’s activism to shape Washington. After the 1910, women had new tools to continue the reforms they had begun earlier.

Read more about the suffrage movement in Shanna Stevenson's article The Fight for Women's Suffrage: A Brief History