# When did women get the right to stand for election?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-women-get-the-right-to-stand-for-election/271719>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 28, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-women-get-the-right-to-stand-for-election/271719 "2004-10-28T19:56:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hadrian0117](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Hadrian0117](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hadrian0117)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-women-get-the-right-to-stand-for-election/271719/1 "2004-10-28T19:56:31Z")

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The 19th Amendment to the US consitution gave women the right to vote in all the states that didn’t already give them the franchise, but did it also give women the right to _stand for election_? Alot of countries did give women those rights at different times. Did any states try to stop women from running for office after the 19th Amendment was passed? Were there any court cases?

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**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-women-get-the-right-to-stand-for-election/271719/2 "2004-10-28T20:07:26Z")

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[Victoria Woodhull](http://www.sexwork.com/coalition/woodhull.html) ran for President in the 1872 election. Of course, she wasn’t able to vote, and she wasn’t elected. Perhaps women have always been able to run for office, even though they didn’t get the vote until 1920.

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-women-get-the-right-to-stand-for-election/271719/3 "2004-10-28T20:10:50Z")

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I’m not aware of any state or local laws that prevented women from running for public office. [Victoria Woodhull](http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0852663.html), a stockbroker, publisher, and protégé of Cornelius Vanderbilt, ran for president of the United States in 1872 on the Equal Rights Party ticket.

Susanna Medora Salter became the first woman elected mayor of an American town, in Argonia, Kansas, in 1887.

According to the [Reader’s Companion to U.S. Women’s History](http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/women/html/wh_029400_politicians.htm), in Illinois in 1906, women were nine of one hundred two elected county superintendents, even though women in that state were not yet enfranchised.