Legacy

In the post–La Guardia era, New York City women politicians experienced some successes but also many frustrations. The “glass ceiling” prevailed: many seemed on their way to higher and more prominent posts, only to be thwarted in the end. Although their quest for power in the early postsuffrage era remained unfulfilled, their story was not all disappointment. Contrary to the stereotypes about woman suffrage—that too few women voted to make a difference, that women voted just as their husbands did, or that women failed to win political office (as if it was their fault)—New York women voters gradually increased their numbers, voted independently from men, and often chose sides with women’s policy agendas in mind. Despite enduring biases against them, hundreds entered partisan political arenas, drawing strength, example, and tactics from their suffrage-era networks and forming strategic coalitions across racial, class, and ideological lines to achieve specific goals.