John Stuart Mill on women’s rights.

“That the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes — the legal subordination of one sex to the other — is wrong itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other.”

– John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was an influential British political philosopher and economist. He was an early advocate of women’s equality in the UK.
For more on Mills and his philosophy, listen to this feature on BBC Radio 4.

The Women Who Ran (for Office)

The Women’s Suffrage movement in the United States fought for the legal right of women to vote. Like the abolitionist’s fight to end slavery and the temperance movement’s fight against alcohol consumption, the Women’s Suffrage movement was a decades long fight.

Beginning in latter half of the 19th century, women won the right to vote first in various states and localities, sometimes on on certain issues like school board membership. Women only won the vote nationally when the Nineteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution on August 20, 1920.

One fascinating way to look at this era is through the women who ran for political office. The “Her Hat Was In the Ring” web site and database are part of an ongoing project collecting information concerning women who campaigned for elected public office before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in August of 1920.

You can explore the database by Name, State, Office, or Political Party.