Women's suffrage and Prohibition

I learned in Wine Law class that the first women’s movement for social reform in the United States was not Women’s Suffrage. Instead, women came together out of a growing aspiration among wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters to achieve purity and sobriety. Led by the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, women banned together in great numbers for the first time in history to push for Prohibition. The impetus for these noble Prohibition pioneers was not grounded solely in dutiful piety. It was also understandably motivated by the sin-filled saloons of the time, where imbibers, mostly men, could kick back after work with a pint, or two…or five. Toasty in spirit and mind, men could then cavort with prostitutes, returning home empty handed save for shame and, sometimes, an STD. These women were not exaggerating a benign problem. Americans were drinking a lot and suffering the health and social consequences. Prohibition may have been a failure, as evidenced by the quick passage of the 21st Amendment only year later. But there was a reason why so many Americans wholeheartedly endorsed the 18th Amendment. Interestingly, the distaste for saloons was so potent that it lasted even after the 21st Amendment was passed, repealing Prohibition. The word “saloon” remained taboo post-Prohibition.

That women were able to play such a central role in passing a Constitutional Amendment was proof to everyone involved that women, when properly motivated, could affect big change. It was a moment of empowerment. This is not to say that successfully banning alcohol led to women’s suffrage or vice versa. Rather, it is more accurate to see the two movements are two woven threads through the times and politics of the United States, involving the same key players and decision makers. Those who opposed Prohibition, namely the brewers and drinkers, opposed women’s suffrage, because they believed a female constituency would lead inevitably to their demise. Women who were pro-Prohibition, were often leaders in the suffrage movement. Indeed, the timing of the two Constitutional Amendments illustrates their connectivity—the 18th Amendment was passed in 1919, and the 29th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, was passed in 1920, just one year later.