What was Woodrow Wilson's position regarding women's sufferage after he took office?

Answer 1

Woodrow Wilson was a moderate in many ways, but he was a traditionalist in others-- gender roles were certainly one area where he was very conservative, at least during his first term. He expressed what some called "luke-warm" support for women getting the vote, and while he did not actively oppose the suffrage campaign, he also did nothing to help it. Frustrated by his lack of enthusiasm, women began to picket the White House in early 1917, and Wilson was very displeased. He regarded the protests as a noisy spectacle, and responded by having some of the protesters arrested; newspaper accounts noted that the women taken into custody were treated very harshly, and while some Americans thought the women had brought it on themselves, others were appalled that female protesters should be imprisoned just for demanding the right to vote.

By now, the attitude of the country towards women's suffrage was changing. A growing number of states had given women the right to vote for mayor or governor, and there was even one woman in the House of Representatives-- Jeannette Rankin was sent to congress from her home state of Montana. As the population was shifting, President Wilson shifted too (some historians believe he wanted women to get the vote so they would approve some of his policies, but others believe he just gradually accepted the inevitable change in public opinion); whatever the reason, by 1918, he had become a supporter of giving women the vote.