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posted by takyon on Monday December 05 2016, @09:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the on-this-day dept.

THE PETTICOAT REBELLION OF 1916
WOMEN GAIN RIGHT TO VOTE, SUCCEED IN OVERTHROWING GOVERNMENT

Or something like that, might have been Newspaper Headlines of the day.

The real story is that on December 5th, 1916, the polls opened at 8:00am in the small town of Umatilla, Oregon, for a municipal election. And there was not a woman in sight.
Until.

At 2pm, the women showed up in droves and with write-in ballots, they proceeded to elect an all-woman council: a coup d'etat, of sorts.

The story is at:
https://www.damninteresting.com/the-petticoat-rebellion-of-1916/
http://mentalfloss.com/article/63262/laura-starcher-and-petticoat-revolution-1916


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday December 06 2016, @12:12AM

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @12:12AM (#437472) Journal

    Were they all affiliated with some club, political group, etc?

    The story is that women couldn't vote at all in most places in the U.S. in 1916. Oregon had just granted women the right to vote, and the women in this town used it to take over the government. Why is this significant?

    (1) It was simply shocking at the time, as well as being an exercise of the new voting rights that were not yet allowed in most of the U.S.

    (2) It brought national attention to the women's suffrage cause at a time when that cause was on an upswing (after being basically "tabled" in national politics for about 30 years after a previous flurry of activity in the mid to late 1800s). The 19th Amendment -- which actually granted national suffrage to women -- was passed in 1919, only a few years later.

    (3) The fact that the government actually ran well under the government of women was proof that women were capable of leadership, at least on a small scale (at a time when most people probably doubted that).

    That's just a few things.

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  • (Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday December 06 2016, @12:43AM

    by edIII (791) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @12:43AM (#437484)

    #3 is particularly humorous to me, along with reading the article. These women didn't just engage in a write-in campaign to elect themselves to office, but then proceeded to do decidedly Republican things like small, efficient, and limited government :)

    They slashed unnecessary expenses and salaries, enacted a program for greater attendance of elected officials to meetings, performed substantive repairs to city infrastructure and services, while expanding some others that were needed. They both literally and figuratively fought and cleaned up City Hall!!

    LOL, most of the men here acting like misogynistic apes would be applauding these people for what they did, if only they had penises too.

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Tuesday December 06 2016, @01:21AM

      by art guerrilla (3082) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @01:21AM (#437500)

      "LOL, most of the men here acting like misogynistic apes would be applauding these people for what they did, if only they had penises too."

      um, the misogynistic apes or the chicks ? ? ?

      • (Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday December 06 2016, @01:27AM

        by edIII (791) on Tuesday December 06 2016, @01:27AM (#437501)

        Whatever your preference is. I don't judge :)

        --
        Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @08:51AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06 2016, @08:51AM (#437584)

        We've got art guerrilla channeling wonkey monkey on the topic of apes.