100 Years of Power, Part 2: Slow Burn of Progress

06/23/20 • 38 min

1 Listener

We spend this episode looking at what happened after women got the vote. If you missed Part 1, check it out -- we looked at the long years leading up to 1920. But in Part 2, we take you on a journey through history, from the Roaring Twenties through the Great Depression, through the Civil Rights Era, to Women's Lib in the '60s and '70s, all the way up to the early 2000s. Suffrage didn't change everything overnight...it was more like a slow burn. Our guests include Susan Ware, a historian focused on feminism; Gina Luria Walker, professor of Women's Studies at the New School in New York, and Nell Merlino, creator of Take Your Daughters to Work Day with Gloria Steinem at the Ms. Foundation.

Previous Episode

100 Years of Power, Part 1: Battle for Suffrage

1 Recommendations

72 years. That's how long it took for women to win the right to vote, after suffragists first rallied at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention. The battle was long, heart-felt, and sometimes bitter -- with a surprising split over race issues after the Civil War ended. The 19th Amendment was finally ratified on August 18, 1920, in the wake of the Spanish Flu Pandemic. 100 years later, the war for equality is still being fought -- making the history explored in this podcast more important than ever. Ellen DuBois, author of Suffrage: Women's Long Battle for the Vote, joins reporter Victoria Flexner to answer this question: How did getting the vote in 1920 change women’s ability to wield power in America?

Next Episode

100 Years of Power, Part 3: What the Future Holds

In the conclusion to our 3-part series, we question: Is the future really female? As we head into a fierce presidential election, in a nation roiled by a pandemic and protests over police brutality, we look at the role women are playing as candidates and voters. Our guests include Kelly Dittmar of the Center for American Women and Politics; Joanna Weiss of Women for American Values and Ethics; author Molly Ball of the new "Pelosi" biography; Ronnee Schreiber of San Diego State University; and Glynda Carr of Higher Heights.