The Motherhood Suffrage Bill
Legislators propose a bizarre measure to tie the right to vote to child-bearing, sparking fury among suffrage activists in Olympia.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
OLYMPIA, Jan. 23. — A bill will be introduced in the legislature next week providing that women who have one child may vote. The bill is already drawn and makes child-bearing the key to woman's suffrage. Mrs. De Voe, the head of the woman's suffrage lobby, when informed of the proposed measure announced that she would present a substitute bill, making paternity a qualification for holding office. Off hand she declared that her bill would require all members of the lower house to have at least two children, members of the senate three, supreme judge six and governor an even dozen. The announcement threw the women's suffrage lobby into a ferment. One and all are indignant, insisting that the bill is nothing more or less than an attempt to belittle their movement and make them appear ridiculous.
“Mrs. De Voe... announced that she would present a substitute bill, making paternity a qualification for holding office.”
In 1909, legislative gimmicks were used to stall the suffrage movement by questioning the fitness of 'old maids' to participate in democracy. Today, the debate over who belongs in the electorate—and who has the moral authority to vote—continues to resurface in arguments regarding voter ID and residency requirements.
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