It’s been exactly 100 years since Indiana approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote.
Hundreds of people – most of them women – celebrated the historic anniversary at the Statehouse Thursday with state legislators and officials, including Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, the fourth woman to hold that office. Crouch says while 2020 is a time to celebrate women’s democratic achievements, there’s still work to be done.
“And although women constitute 51 percent of our voting electorate, nationwide we only represent 29 percent of our state legislators,” Crouch says.
That percentage is worse in Indiana – only 25 percent of state lawmakers are women. But more than half of its statewide elected officials are women.
The first woman to serve in the Indiana General Assembly, Julia Nelson, took office just a few months after Hoosier women were first able to vote in 1920.