Women's Votes, Women's Voices April 13, 2011

Over 200 artifacts, interactive kiosks, and oral histories illustrate how Washington women campaigned for suffrage, how they achieved a voice in public life, and how women's votes influenced territorial and state history through issues like equal rights. Although some women were still excluded, most Washington women won the right to vote in 1910. As the fifth state in the union to enact such legislation, Washington's action was pivotal in revitalizing the national women's suffrage movement, which in 1920 ensured women's voting rights nationwide. Women have used this suffrage as a springboard to achieve a voice in many aspects of public life up to the present.