When the conversation gets around to women\u2019s history, and the subject is women\u2019s struggle to win the right to vote, you\u2019ll often hear the term \u201csuffragette.\u201d\u00a0Many people think that the term describes the women who defied the social norms of the early 1900s by protesting in the streets and lobbying politicians and presidents for the right to make their voices heard on election day. They\u2019re right, but \u00a0they\u2019re wrong.<\/p>\n

The term \u201csuffragette\u201d was, indeed, used to describe women like Christabel Pankhurst <\/a>and Elizabeth Cady Stanton<\/a>. But it was a derogatory term. The suffix \u201cette\u201d connotes smallness. Those who opposed women\u2019s rights, and who wanted to demean the efforts of the women activists, used the term \u201csuffragette\u201d as what we would now call a put-down.<\/p>\n

The women activists called themselves \u201csuffragists.\u201d In an article on Truthout, Ellin Dannin answers the question: \u201cEtte,\u201d vs. \u201cist\u201d Why make a big deal?<\/a><\/p>\n

The suffix “-ette” means small things. Tacking “-ette” onto a word turns it into a diminutive – towelette, usherette, cigarette, novelette, statuette and so on. Those who fought for women’s suffrage – the right to vote – were part of a serious movement for civil rights, equality, and ending human bondage.<\/p>\n

There was nothing “ette-ish” about the struggle for American women’s right to vote. The women and men who fought for women’s right to vote – the right of suffrage – from the dawn of the 19th century into the 20th century were courageous “-ists” – suffragists.<\/p>\n

Women’s right to vote mattered, because the right to vote was – and still is – seen as the means to make all other rights possible<\/a>. Suffragists wanted more than just ticking a ballot. Woman suffragists wanted women to have the right to attend school, to own property, to have a say in how their children were treated and to have a right to the integrity of their bodies.<\/p>\n

Along the way, the suffragists won many battles; however, in a gross miscarriage of justice, the enemies of women’s equality seem to have won the naming rights.<\/p>\n

We can change that. Although more than a century late, we can restore the name these activists chose for themselves – Suffragists.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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