the suffragettes

     A "suffragette" was a woman who agitated for the right to vote for women, in the days before the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution made voting legal for females. That was in 1920, the first time that women across the nation had the right to vote in a presidential election.
     Women had been told that their husbands and fathers voted, anyway. People were worried that women would vote irresponsibly--for the better-looking candidate, instead of  for the best leader.  Many people insisted that a woman's place was in the home, and that if women went out to vote, their duties as wives and mothers would be neglected.
     By the time of World War I  there were women in prison for causing disturbances while demonstrating for the right to vote. They went on a hunger strike, and were force-fed by prison authorities. This caused such an uproar that President Wilson promised to try to help them get the vote if they would refrain from public disturbances until the war was over. The war ended in 1919, and women in the United States were given the vote, as promised.