With the 2016 presidential election about to reach its dramatic ending in less than a month, voters of all parties are hungry for the latest predictions, polls and analyses of where the candidates stand.
Last week, statistician Nate Silver, known for his blog, FiveThirtyEight, tweeted two new potential outcomes of the election. He first released his prediction of what the electoral map would look like if only women voted. A striking majority of states, some of which are known to consistently vote Republican, were blue. Hillary Clinton, he predicted, would receive a whopping 458 electoral votes while Donald Trump would receive 80. Silver also released his predicted outcome if the opposite happened; if only men voted. This time, the majority of the country was red.
And here's if just dudes voted. pic.twitter.com/HjqJzIVwc4
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 11, 2016
Seeing as that Silver posted these two predictions in the aftermath of The Washington Post leaking tapes of Trump commenting on how he likes to win over (and assault) women, Twitter users erupted in conversation. When I first saw these maps on my timeline, I found it prominent how deeply this election has marginalized people by gender. Others, however, thought the maps were an important indicator of how they should strategically vote in the election.
#RepealThe19th started trending on Twitter as some Trump supporters suggested that the 19th Amendment be repealed to prevent women from voting. This would then allow Silver’s prediction of a Trump landslide to occur. What was more curious was the fact that some of these tweets came directly from the women who support Trump. One even said, “I would be willing to give up my right to vote to make this happen.”
No one can say for sure how serious these Twitter users were when they used this hashtag. I may be wrong, although I really hope I’m not, but I believe there’s a good chance many of them used it jokingly to simply get their tweet to trend and maybe get some laughs out of their fellow Trump supporters.
Even so, I also believe that enough people tweeting about repealing the 19th Amendment to make the phrase trend is concerning, even frightening.
On Aug. 18, 1920, Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It said, “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.”
Passing this amendment was not an easy feat; it took a century of turbulent and sometimes violent protests and demonstrations led by American suffragettes. Every day, I feel truly thankful that I live in a world that has progressed so quickly for women. However, it’s important to remember that while the struggles of these women may seem far removed, it relatively was not too long ago when only an elite class of Americans were allowed to vote, and women were not included in that group.
We live in an era where women are making strides and breaking ceilings in areas they’ve never been able to before. It’s becoming more and more normal to see women succeed, become leaders in their career fields, innovate and discover new and important breakthroughs. While we should be grateful, we should also be wary. Although some would like to think we live in a feminist utopia where there is nothing left to be done to advance women’s lives, we still have work to do.
On average, women still make less than men who perform the same job, and the numbers are worse for women of color. One in every six women is sexually assaulted at some point in her life. One in three women is a victim of domestic abuse. Transgender women are at higher risk to experience violence and sexual abuse in their lifetimes.
Thus, it’s incredibly important at this crucial time in our history for women to utilize our right to vote. Not doing so, or even just joking about sacrificing your vote, is a disservice to the women who valiantly fought to give us this right, and it’s disrespectful to the women of this country who continue to fight for equity and justice.
So ladies, I urge you to voice your response to #RepealThe19th on Nov. 8, by voting.
