For a study guide see page 22.


do so, let us pray for deliverance from female suff rage.” Women, it seemed, were ill-suited to public thought


and action. Women who argued they had the right to vote in a democratic society were harassed, assaulted, denounced and imprisoned. Despite opposition, the right thing happened:


women were given the right to vote. But the kairos moment had problems. In practical application, the vote was mostly for white women with education and access to voting booths. Race and class mattered. In 1922, Ida’s education ended in eighth grade


because her father, like many others, didn’t invest in education for daughters. Ida and her older sister Minnie leſt home in 1924 to be servants at a boarding school for wealthy girls. T e sisters and another servant lost their jobs when they protested their low wages. T at women had the right to vote had not yet changed their lives. T eir non-English-speaking mother was certainly not voting. Education and money were out of reach. Votes, education and money were out of reach for so


many citizens at the time, particularly women and girls of color. Another Ida—Ida B. Wells-Barnett, an African- American suff ragette, civil rights activist and journalist at the time—organized for years to allow for the safe passage of people of color to the polls. Wells-Barnett died in 1931 before she could see her


right to vote legally protected. T e 1964 Voters’ Rights Act came 44 years aſt er the 19th Amendment. Despite federal laws granting every citizen 18 years old the right to vote, people of color were persistently obstructed from the polls and prevented from being full citizens.


Called to kairos moments T e kairos moment of women’s suff rage did point to the future. But creating social and religious changes in hearts and minds that made it an inclusive kairos moment took work. In the case of voters’ rights, it took lifetimes and lives. By the time this happened, Ida Bier- win was 56. During the decades of suff rage activism, women and


men pressed for legal physical protections for women. In 1861, philospher John Stuart Mill argued: “As to acts of violence against women, by all means make the law on this head as severe as it can be made without defeat- ing itself.” Mill released his treatise eight years aſt er writing


it because he didn’t think society was ready for it. In 1871, Alabama and Massachusetts were the fi rst states to outlaw wife-beating, yet in 1966 any woman in New York who wanted to divorce due to abuse had to verify a


COURTESY OF MARY J. STREUFERT Ida Bierwin


February 2014 17


In 2013, despite laws to the contrary, the number of men who beat, assault and rape women and girls


remains high. Because of the profound problem of abuse, rape and assault, the ELCA


Church Coun- cil requested an immediate social mes- sage process on gender-based violence. For more information, go to www.elca.org/ womenandjustice.


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