The Application of Democracy to Women

As the women of New York continued their efforts to pass suffrage at the state level, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee insisted that Chinese women be involved in both the political revolutions in China and the United States. Mabel Lee’s participation in the 1912 New York City suffrage meetings and parade had connected her to a number of the city’s activists, as did her matriculation to Barnard College in 1913. White suffragists recognized the valuable contributions Lee could bring to the two state campaigns of 1915 and 1917 and asked for her help. As a staunch suffragist and feminist, Lee agreed, but her true passion lay in the position of Chinese women in their new nation. As she closely followed the work of Chinese feminists, conversations with American suffragists helped shape her ideas as she brought the two strands of thought together in her advocacy for women’s rights in the new China. Working with white suffragists also helped her combat the stereotypes about China that white Americans held. But as much as Lee fought for suffrage in New York, she could not vote there. This placed Chinese-born women like Mabel Lee in a position unique among all other women in the United States.