A New York Daily News Op-Ed
By Betsy Gotbaum
This year marks the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New York. It is also a year when the question of whether to hold a constitutional convention — altering the state’s most important legal document — will be on the ballot in November.
The two are closely connected, as the state Constitution has been drafted overwhelmingly by men.
Just one woman was among the 175 delegates at the 1894 convention where today’s state Constitution was mostly written. Because women did not have the right to vote until 1917, women had no voice in the subsequent public ratification.
None of the 168 delegates to the 1915 convention were women. Six of the 168 delegates at the 1938 convention were women. Not coincidentally, that convention approved an Equal Civil Rights Amendment that did not include gender discrimination — a failure that has not been fixed to this day.
Ten of the 186 delegates at the 1967 convention were women.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New York. It is also a year when the question of whether to hold a constitutional convention — altering the state’s most important legal document — will be on the ballot in November.
The two are closely connected, as the state Constitution has been drafted overwhelmingly by men.
Just one woman was among the 175 delegates at the 1894 convention where today’s state Constitution was mostly written. Because women did not have the right to vote until 1917, women had no voice in the subsequent public ratification.
None of the 168 delegates to the 1915 convention were women. Six of the 168 delegates at the 1938 convention were women. Not coincidentally, that convention approved an Equal Civil Rights Amendment that did not include gender discrimination — a failure that has not been fixed to this day.
Ten of the 186 delegates at the 1967 convention were women.
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