The impact of the Nineteenth Amendment

The impact of the Nineteenth Amendment 

Balloting rights in the United States of America has always been borne of struggle. Women have not been voting for the past 100 years, and this has been a challenge to most women as they were declined a right to vote. This encouraged them 7 to battle out for their right to vote 100 years ago. A hundred years ago, women fought for a constitutional right and against segregationist and discriminatory  Jim Crow laws in the south- echo as  American women kept on working against voter suppression and complete access to the polls. On August 26, 1920, the U.S Secretary certified that the 19^th amendment to the constitution had been ratified by the required state 36 states (Wolbrecht, C., & Corder, J. K. 2020). Women were given a chance to vote after the amendment of the constitution, and this impacted women positively to start vying for positions, as discussed in the essay. 

Immediately after the 19th amendment was approved, voters predicted adverse improvement in American politics—one of the militants affirming that women's vote will significantly impact that election. During the same election week, Sen Kamala Harris was elected as the fourth female on the presidential ticket. It took much time for women to become the electoral power that voters could predict. Black women faced prohibition despite the amendment, and a few white women of high class were allowed to vote. In 1980 both men and women voted equally. This was an election where the gender gap was seen in presidential balloting; 45% of women against 55% 0f men voted for Ronald Reagan (Terborg-Penn, R. 2020). Proceeding, women increased in number, which influenced Democratic candidates. Elizabeth U. Cascio, an economist at Dartmouth, in her recent paper on the gender gap, found out that women were increasing in percentage in the voting, as seen in the data obtained with her college Na'ama Shen Hav. She says women are increasingly identifying with Democrats than men (Alpern, S., & Baum, D. (1985). 

The increased number of women in voting made the researchers anxious in knowing the main reason for the increase in men. This was due to several decades taken by women in voting than the rate of men. As soon as they did, women became more interested in voting. The high interest in franchise resulted in an increased rate of women turn out than men. Voting and politics were only associated with men. In the 1920s and 1930s, the information about women balloting was rare until Wolbrecht proved that there were women after voting who believed that voting was part of them. Most women thought voting was a natural and unique thing to involve themselves in. in the 1980s, women voted in increased numbers than men. This was an initiative of black women who still turned out at similar rates to white men after facing voting barriers. A supportive party to women, the Republican party, was highly concerned with issues that affected women, i.e., spending on the social safety net, the surrounding, and the governmental role. Women's urge to join the workforce in the public sector, like teaching, also contributed to increasing voting numbers. More women became dependent on government support after divorce cases drowning them to the democratic party. The 2017 study showed that single women become more liberal than married. Black women considered voting a necessary and urgent action, which strongly motivated them to support the Democratic party. The voting for the Democratic party was strong as its policy goals aligned with those of Democrats. 

Women's political allegations rose higher, as evidenced in the past few years. A higher number of white women moved towards the Democratic party. In 2018 the gender gap rose higher with white women balloting for Democrats than in 2016. In 2019 the trend was accelerating even more. The issue of COVID- 19, the black lives matter protest, which continued to unfold in the country, and President Trump's presence on the ballot Paper were of great importance. Women were likely to support Biden, unlike Trump, according to the analysis of voters in democracy fund and UCLA nationwide surveys conducted from July 23 to August 12. Men fairly and evenly voted for the two candidates. A majority of white women supported Trump in 2016, Biden was slightly ahead of Trump, who was not noteworthy since most white women supported Trump in 2016. Before 1980 the men's and women's voting patterns were similar. They voted almost at the same rate for the republican and democratic candidates in the 1972 and 1976 presidential elections. 

In conclusion, it is indeed true that women's voting impacted America positively as a country. After the amendment, women have been transforming tremendously on its politics, becoming a force to be reckoned in the Democratic party. This resulted in a generational replacement and change in America. Involving women in voting helped improve respect in the country, and everybody knew their rights as citizens. Women could also express themselves concerning the problems they undergo, which allowed the government to look into their issues and thought on how to solve the issues. Voting also impacted negatively on marriage. Women preferred to divorce and remain single to be dependent on the government. Women voting resulted in increasing divorce rates, declining marriage rates, and changing the eligibility requirement for social welfare programs like Medicaid. Both women and men should be treated equally, and there should be barriers to women's voting.    

Reference 

Wolbrecht, C., & Corder, J. K. (2020). Turning Rights into Ballots: The Uneven Integration of Women into Electoral Politics after Suffrage. PS: Political Science & Politics, 53(3), 479-483. 

Terborg-Penn, R. (2020). The Nineteenth Amendment and Its Outcome for African American Women. Journal of Women's History, 32(1), 23-31. 

Carpenter, D., Popp, Z., Resch, T., Schneer, B., & Topich, N. (2018). Suffrage Petitioning as Formative Practice: American Women Presage and Prepare for the Vote, 1840-1940. Studies in American Political Development, 32(1), 24. 

Alpern, S., & Baum, D. (1985). Female ballots: The impact of the Nineteenth Amendment. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 16(1), 43-67. 

Terborg-Penn, R. (1998). African American women in the struggle for the vote, 1850-1920. Indiana University Press.