Italian movie “There’s Still Tomorrow” symbolically captured the struggle women faced to get voting rights. The small act of women wiping off lipstick reveals how fragile women’s voting rights were.
Churches were powerful opponents : In Italy, priests cited the Vatican’s Casti Connubii to argue women belonged at home, not in politics. Similar sermons in Ireland and Malta warned that voting for women defied God’s plan. In the U.S., Cardinal Gibbons claimed woman suffrage would harm family values. In New York, Tammany Hall opposed women’s votes and fought 19th amendment to keep power.
London? Politicians like Disraeli said no way to women voting, and Queen Victoria agreed!
And when words didn’t silence women, violence did. In 1913, British suffragette Emily Davison was trampled after stepping onto a racetrack, likely trying to pin a suffrage banner on the King’s horse. She died four days later—a shocking reminder of the risks these women faced. In the U.S., Alice Paul and others endured violence by men, beatings and force-feeding during the 1917 “Night of Terror.”
So, was the West always progressive? Hardly.
Indigenous women in Canada waited until 1960 to vote. Black women in the U.S. faced voting barriers until 1965.
And the last modern Western democracy to grant women the vote? Liechtenstein—in 1984.
From wiping off lipstick to risking their lives, women paid a heavy price for a basic right. Surprised?
