“Women Will Vote”: School Suffrage as a Pathway to Women’s Political Participation in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era

Abstract Most studies of American women’s voting rights are centered around the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Yet many women had—and used—the right to vote in school elections prior to 1920. Previous analyses have devoted little attention to studying these elections as exercises in civic education and political participation. Using systematic data from school elections in Massachusetts and Minnesota that have not been studied together previously, we seek to establish a baseline for understanding the extent of women voters’ involvement in school elections. We find that a substantial number of women took advantage of their right to vote, especially given their limited franchise. The timing of elections, type of school office, and political culture of each state also appear to have affected women’s participation. Given these findings, we urge scholars to continue to explore the role school suffrage played in women’s political socialization.