What was the reason as to why women were not allowed to vote?
Answer [Robert Cooney]: I would say age-old prejudice. Many men at the time believed that women were not capable of participating in politics, that it would degrade them and lead to the disintegration of the family. In terms of power, those in power rarely give up their power easily and there were definite interests that felt threatened by women’s potential voting power, particularly the liquor industry at the time which feared prohibition, but also corrupt local and state politicians. Q [Lominda]: What then convinced the men to allow women participate in voting? A [Robert Cooney]: Women convinced men to pass equal suffrage, and that is the key achievement of the women’s rights movement. Lobbying, campaigning, demonstrating and persuading were all necessary, sometimes for decades. The suffragists appealed to both men and women (to get to the men) and tried to persuade both make voters, state by state, and male politicians, in the states and Q [Abraham_Lincoln]: In some societies such a
