Part Six: Rural Iowans and Votes for Women

August 2020 marks 100 years of votes for women in the USA. Today’s column is part six in a series of articles revisiting the experiences of rural Iowans as they considered a new addition to the American political landscape - votes for women. The 19th Amendment, which was the culmination of a decades-long movement for women’s suffrage at both state and national levels, was officially adopted Aug. 26, 1920.

In September 1913, Iowa suffragists embarked on a statewide automobile tour for the purpose of building support for women’s suffrage among rural men and women. Originating in Des Moines, the automobile caravan was scheduled to cross the state twice “over the White Pole and River-to-River roads,” while making stops in twenty-five Iowa towns, including Creston.

Some of Iowa’s most influential progressives made the tour. After a friendly stop in Adel, the suffragists moved on to Guthrie Center, where they met with resistance from students, faculty of the high school, and people on the street.

The Creston meeting on Friday afternoon, Sept. 5, at the corner of Adams and Maple, was unmarred by any incidents of disrespect toward the caravan riders. Their message was, after all, tailored to rural audiences. Throughout the tour, wrote an Iowa State University historian, “suffragists listened to the desires of rural women and modified their approach to suffrage work in order to reach them. They argued that rural women deserved the right to vote because of their mutual partnership in the family and community.”

Afton Star-Enterprise editor Orval T. Myers had succeeded in securing a previously unplanned visit by the suffrage caravan immediately following their Creston stop, but his cynical reporting in advance of their visit foreshadowed a less than hospitable reception. Indeed, Myers's account of the Afton meeting suggests that although he did his best to create an awkward situation, the suffragists didn't take the bait.

After the dust had settled, Editor Myers included his summary of the caravan's Afton stop in the Sept. 18, 1913, edition of the Star-Enterprise under the headline, "Suffragists Displeased":

“The bunch of ladies and gentlemen who were out over the state during the past two weeks trying to convince the women that they ought to have the right to vote, and also trying to convince the men that they ought to give them that right, seem to be displeased with the meeting here. They blame the editor of this paper for not properly advertising the meeting and not going out and introducing the speakers.”

“We will plead guilty to not wanting to introduce the speakers but we did advertise the meeting, as was evidenced by the crowd which came out to hear them. There were not many women in the crowd because the women of this good town have something else to do. They are not interested in voting. Most of the women have confidence enough in the men to leave that matter to them. Nowhere in the wide world are the women treated better and with more respect than right here in Iowa. This is proven by the fact that our women are intelligent, happy and contented.”

“But do not get the idea that we are opposed to equal suffrage. If the women want the vote, let them vote. They are in every way as capable of voting as the man, but there does not seem to be any great demand for the ballot by our women.”

“The tour over the state was treated as a joke by many of the newspapers. No one gave the matter any serious thought, except those who were in the party. In most places they were treated courteously for the men of this state are in the habit of treating the women that way. When the women of this state want the right to vote it will be given to them, but we do not feel that it should be thrust upon them.”

Who was Orval T. Myers? As the editor of the Afton Star-Enterprise, Myers was respectful toward the suffragists as a matter of chivalry, it would seem, but largely dismissed their efforts to reach Iowa's rural women, who, in his opinion, were "not interested in voting." Writing today, it's easy to conclude that Myers was a chauvinistic cave man but, in 1913, many women did believe that politics should remain a masculine domain. In next week's installment, we'll learn more about Myers the man, and his contributions to the community.