Women's Rights in Oregon

 

"State of Oregon depicted in purple, white, and gold (colors of the National Woman’s Party suffrage flag) – indicating Oregon was one of the original 36 states to ratify the 19th Amendment" (U.S. National Park Service).

The 19th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America reads: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." Even before the ratification of the amendment by the federal government, Oregon's state government recognized women's right to vote, in no small part due to the efforts of Oregonian Women Suffragettes. A woman's right to vote was on the ballot in Oregon five times before its success in 1912. Unfortunately, this was largely due to the fact they didn't have the majority of men voting "yes" until then (U.S. National Park Service). We have the persistence of women to thank for not taking "no" for an answer, and continuing to organize, use their voices, and resist. 

I want to now focus in on the efforts of one particular Oregon woman, Sarah Ann Evans, a founder of the Oregon Federation of Women's Clubs (1899). She was an activist, a reader, and a writer, and led two organizations that fought for public funding for libraries; all of this before women in Oregon won the right to vote (Jensen). Women were interested in more than the domestic life suggested by Catharine Beecher's A Treatise on Domestic Economy. Beecher outlines how women do have political power through their husbands and children, but what happens if you do not have a husband or children? If you have a husband who doesn't listen to you? Who votes against what you believe is right? Well, this just wouldn't do for Sarah, who used her voice to lobby for legislation and write for the rights of women. Most prominent in history, she wrote six volumes in History of Woman Suffrage, a monumental text started in 1876 by well-known national suffragists Elizabeth Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Gage. Additionally, "for a decade, beginning in 1904, she edited the weekly “Women’s Club” column in the Oregon Journal, reporting on a wide range of activities in the state, raising awareness about women’s work and reform issues, and chronicling a valuable history in the process" (Jensen). Her work provides a stark contrast to Catharine Beecher, whose Treatise was published just over a decade before Sarah was born. It feels like it all happened very quickly, but even looking at the first text I read this term, The Coquette by Hannah Foster, there were already stirrings of resistance to the system and a call for a change in the gender power imbalance. Eliza was quite educated on the state of the country and was interested in its politics and people (including how she fits into it), but without marriage and the ability to influence a husband or son in their vote, she had no power even in the slightest to change things for herself or other women. Perhaps this representation, and the ones that followed after, forced the reader to empathize with the plight of women and the unfairness of it (as well as the consequences for men like Mr. Sanford); opening a door and allowing women to be more pointed in their arguments, ultimately pressuring the patriarchy into listening. Sarah had the ability to not only write, but be heard without appealing to romance of sentimentality because of the persistence of women writers before her. Her own persistence, and the persistence of the women around her, gave us the ability to shout even louder. Did she imagine books like A Court of Thorns and Roses and Twilight were possible; that women could be number one best sellers and inspire entire fandoms around their writing? 

GFWC Oregon's Motto:

“Growth Through Service”

Works Cited

Jensen, Kimberly. Sarah Ann Shannon Evans (1854-1940).     https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/evans_sarah_ann_shannon_1854_1940_/. 

    Accessed 10 Dec. 2025.

Oregon and the 19th Amendment (U.S. National Park Service). 

    https://www.nps.gov/articles/oregon-and-the-19th-amendment.htm. Accessed 10 Dec. 2025.