Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
Votes for Women: An Economic Perspective on Women's Enfranchisement
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 34,
no. 2, Spring 2020
(pp. 3–23)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
The ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 officially granted voting rights to women across the United States. However, many states extended full or partial suffrage to women before the federal amendment. In this paper, we discuss the history of women's enfranchisement using an economic lens. We examine the demand side, discussing the rise of the women's movement and its alliances with other social movements, and describe how suffragists put pressure on legislators. On the supply side, we draw from theoretical models of suffrage extension to explain why men shared the right to vote with women. Finally, we review empirical studies that attempt to distinguish between competing explanations. We find that no single theory can explain women's suffrage in the United States and note that while the Nineteenth Amendment extended the franchise to women, state-level barriers to voting limited the ability of black women to exercise that right until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.Citation
Moehling, Carolyn M., and Melissa A. Thomasson. 2020. "Votes for Women: An Economic Perspective on Women's Enfranchisement." Journal of Economic Perspectives 34 (2): 3–23. DOI: 10.1257/jep.34.2.3Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- K10 Basic Areas of Law: General (Constitutional Law)
- K16 Election Law
- N42 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: 1913-