Fact #17: How Misogynistic Men Helped Elect America's First Female Mayor

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Fact #17: How Misogynistic Men Helped Elect America's First Female Mayor

Susanna Madora Salter became America’s first female mayor at the age of 27. A group of misogynistic men accidentally helped her get elected in a plan so dumb only politicians could come up with it.

The year was 1887 in Argonia, Kansas. Susanna was involved with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, a group that advocated for prohibition. That year, women had been given the right to vote in city elections.

The group saw this election as a prime opportunity. First, they could use the power of the new female vote to help get prohibition candidates elected. Second, if successful, it would help the town see the group as legit.

A meeting was held to choose their candidates. A few anti-prohibition men showed up to heckle, thinking they could interrupt the process and influence who was selected. It didn’t work.

The men set out on a new plan. Back in the day, elections were run very loosely. No one registered before Election Day and political groups would make pre-printed ballots that voters would drop in the ballot box.

With this in mind, the men set out on a new plan. They crafted a ballot that was almost identical to the women’s group. The only difference was they swapped out the mayoral candidate for Susanna. They thought people would see a female candidate and write the whole group off as extremists and lunatics.

People were confused, especially the women’s group. They realized what happened and asked if Susanna if she wanted to be taken off the ballot. She refused, the group dropped their chosen candidate and backed her. By the end of the day, a group of misogynistic men had just just knocked down a glass ceiling and made Susanna the first female mayor in the United States.

REFERENCE:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/04/07/americas-first-female-mayor-was-elected-130-years-ago-men-nominated-her-as-a-cruel-joke/