Votes for Women

By November 1912, most of the political parties in New York State considered women’s suffrage to be an important issue in their party platforms. Numerous processions, including the spectacular one in New York City on May 6, 1911, made women’s suffrage much more acceptable to society. This cover of the popular periodical Leslie’s The People’s Weekly shows how women began to use the open-air automobile to create eye-catching displays for their cause at parades and other events.

During this era, it was even more unusual for women to drive cars than to ride bicycles. Women drivers therefore drew a great deal of attention to themselves, especially in rural areas. Driving also embodied the New Woman’s sense of self: outdoors, mobile, and active. Open automobiles worked espe- cially well for creating portable speaker platforms in the suffrage movement. Indeed, many people attended open-air suffrage meetings simply for the novelty of seeing women in automobiles.

Collection of Robert P. J. Cooney Jr.