Over 100 years ago, women of both political parties worked together to provide women the right to vote. Westporters played a big role. (Click here for the back story.)
Now, in 2022, a bipartisan effort involving women voters is underway here.
Recently, Wilton resident Pamela Hovland was asked to write a letter to the editor for a political candidate.
She decided to do something more impactful: submit a non-partisan statement from women, to women. Those signatures would mean much more, she thought, than a letter signed by only one voter.
Pamela thought of the suffragists, and her own role designing a series of commemorative 19th Amendment “I voted” stickers for the 2020 election. The state of Connecticut printed and distributed 6 million of them, celebrating various women of that era. She repurposed them for her 2022 letter (below).
Pamela reached out to women and girls in Wilton. They covered a range of ages and political affiliations — but all are united around women’s equality.
Westporter Jessica Hill heard about the initiative. She asked if a similar letter could be circulated here. Pamela said, of course!
The letter is a way of using collective voices to to speak out about “the sacred law of humanity” (a suffragists’ phrase).
So far, over 125 Westport women have signed on.
“At a time of political polarization, this letter is not about political affiliation,” Pamela notes.
“It is, rather, a united voice for equal rights from the people whose lives depend on it.”
A 92-year-old woman added her name. So did a young mother of 2 daughters. High school and college students have signed too.
“We’re all in this together,” Pamela says.
She is excited to see more names added to the letter every day. It is a public acknowledgment, Pamela says, that “we celebrate all that we are, and all that we can be.
“Much is written about voter fatigue and apathy. But the recent actions taking away reproductive healthcare have prompted many of us to find new ways to create community, and to feel empowered to ‘get back out there’ and demand what is rightfully ours.
“We all have our voice, our vote and our signatures. And we will one day be treated as equal citizens under the law.”
After the election the physical letter, with all signatures, will be donated to the Wilton Historical Society. “It will be proof that women in this community are committed to this cause, and that we are thankful for — and inspired to continue the hard work done by our suffragist role models,” Pamela says.
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The letter says:
We believe this moment in time is not “politics as usual.”
We are inspired by Westport women who came before us – Republicans and Democrats alike – who rallied and door-knocked and wrote letters and took personal risks for over 7 decades in pursuit of the right to vote.
Today, more than 100 years after the 19th Amendment was added to our Constitution, women are still not equal under the law. This is both unethical and un-American. Overturning Roe v Wade was, quite simply, a violation of our dignity and human rights.
Join us in mobilizing the power of the collective to promote women’s issues in 2022. Issues that are personal, familial and community focused. Issues that include privacy and individual freedoms and the education, safety and well-being of our children. Issues that impact the identity and vitality of our town.
When we cast our ballots in November, we must vote for policies, candidates and parties that validate our equal status, shared values and the survival of our democracy. Throughout history and in societies across the globe, women have united against marginalization. Demanding that our elected officials stand up for the rights of more than half the population is fundamental to our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Committed to moving forward in our homes, our schools and workplaces, our village, our state and our country, we respectfully ask you, friends and neighbors from diverse political ideologies, to:
- Recognize your power
- Accept your responsibility
- Vote in the best interests of yourself and your sisters, daughters, mothers, girlfriends and granddaughters.
As Westport suffragists Lillian Wald, Amelia Shaw MacDonald Cutler, Sara Buek Crawford, Anna Holden Mazzanovich, Laura Gardin Fraser, Rose O’Neill and others bravely did over 100 years ago, stand up for the women and girls you know and don’t yet know, in Westport and in destinations far from here.
Our causes are also theirs.
Women of Westport unite. And V O T E.
Westport women wishing to sign the letter should email Jessica Hill: jmbhill24@gmail.com.
The library’s programs are part of its first-ever year-long WestportREADS initiative. Formerly a one-month event, it’s now expanded into a full campaign: “Westport Suffragists — Our Neighbors, Our Crusaders.”
