HOT OFF THE PRESS
Paul Souhrada Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY NETWORK
The 19th Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote. h Ratification was a long time coming, with many of the women who worked to win that right dying before the day came. The amendment, after all, was first introduced in Congress in 1878. h And for a long time, and in many places, the right to vote really meant white women could vote. Discriminatory state voting laws kept many Black and immigrant women from the polls until well into the 20th Century. h Since then, the United States has not only seen women become more than half of the electorate, but it also has elected thousands of female public officials, from governors and U.S. senators to school board members and township trustees. h Hillary Clinton became the first woman nominated for president in 2016. And Ohio had a female governor, briefly, when Republican
Lt. Gov. Nancy Hollister finished the final 11 days of Gov. George Voinovich’s term after he resigned to be sworn into the U.S. Senate at the end of December in 1998. h Republican Jo Ann Davidson was arguably the most-powerful woman in Ohio politics as Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1995 to 2000. h
Democrats have had their female stars, too. h Franklin County’s Yvette Mcgee Brown was appointed as the first Black female state Supreme Court justice in Ohio. She also was the first African-american woman elected to Franklin County Common Pleas Court. h U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, who represents Columbus in Congress, plays a powerful role in Washington, D.C. h And on high school and college campuses across Ohio and the country, a new generation of women leaders is getting ready to take their places.