Introduction: From the nineteenth amendment to today: An appraisal of 100 years of women's political engagement

This introduction takes a number of steps to highlight the book's focus on women's engagement in electoral politics and their efforts in social movement activism. The introduction begins by returning briefly to the history of the woman suffrage movement, ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, and the immediate political aftermath of giving voting rights to many women in the United States. The introduction then looks back over the last century and asks, what has transpired since enactment of the Nineteenth Amendment, and where is the United States today? The introduction discusses the significant progress women have made in the political realm as well as numerous ways in which women experience marginalization, including how intersecting constraints, for instance, between gender and race or gender and class place limits on some women's political engagement. The discussion then provides readers with an overview of the volume's chapters.