Womens Right to Vote
One of the big reasons the right to vote took so long to obtain for women in the US was that they did not have the political backing for it. It was not until WW1 that the backing arrived. Till then, the Womens Movement had been largely anti-war. It had helped to re-elect Wilson who ran on the platform of staying out of the war. However, the leader of the Womens Movement at the time, Carrie Chapman Catt, flipped on the peace policy that women had pursued up to that point. She threw the Movements support to Wilson after election (once Wilson had changed his mind about staying out of the war). She approved of US entry into the war, and in return Wilson assured her he would support womens suffrage. So it was very much a political maneuver on the part of the leader of the suffragettes. All she had to do was sell out the Movement and support the war and women got in return the political backing to obtain the right to vote (PBS).
Up to that point, women had little to offer politically speaking, and so there was never really any attempt by political leaders to try to curry their favor. By the 20th century, however, the Movement had grown so large that it was clear women could have an impact on politics. In the latter half of the 19th century, this movement was still in its growing stages. A few generations needed to pass before its strength could really be felt.
Wilson felt that strength once WW1 broke out. Since he had campaigned on staying out of the fight and won, he needed support from the public to change course. He knew that the Womens Movement wanted the right to voteso it was very much a quid pro quo arrangement. Wilson promised to scratch their back if they would scratch his. That is the only real reason women obtained the right to vote when they did. It was politically expedient for Wilson to make that happen, which is why he cut the deal with Carrie Chapman Catt and why she reversed course on one of the main fundamental policies of the Womens Movement.
Works Cited
PBS. NAWSA supports US entry into WW1. Retrieved from https://ket.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nawsa-supports-us-wwi-entry-to-gain-nat-sup-video/carrie-chapman-catt-warrior-for-women/
