‘Pantsuit Nation’ pops up, voters salute Susan B. Anthony on historic Election Day
Actress Lisa Edelstein posted this photo snapped in San Francisco's Castro district. Clinton supporters across the country have been donning pantsuits in homage to the Democratic candidate for days prior to the election.
Supporters of the first female presidential candidate, Democrat Hillary Clinton, have gone hard this historic Election Day.
The pro-Clinton internet is overflowing: Photos of grannies born before women could vote casting their ballots, selfies of women clad in feminist slogans, women gushing about taking their daughters to the polls — even if the kids are too young to vote, just so they could take in the significance.
For the past week or so, Clinton supporters have been donning the candidate's signature pantsuits, a sign of hoping the country gets its first female president.
There was some organization behind this: A secret Facebook group (that anyone can be invited to) called Pantsuit Nation listed locations and names of volunteer photographers ready to snap shots of pantsuited voters at their polling places.
Clinton caught wind of it and wrote a thank you message to the group. "I'm honored and humbled to have all of you with me," her message said.
The mood on the streets this Election Day is especially festive in places like Rochester, New York, where suffragette Susan B. Anthony's grave is located.
Local TV station News 8 WROC has been posting Facebook Live updates of Anthony's grave, which is covered in bouquets, ribbons, "I Voted" stickers, and is fenced off from a long line of people waiting to pay their respects. It should be noted here that although Anthony was fierce about white women's right to vote, she was staunchly opposed to the same right for black people, despite being an abolitionist.
Every American in the 50 states can vote now, but it's taken 240 years of nationhood to have a woman this close to taking the White House.
As of last year, "The country’s 19 percent female representation in Congress falls below the global average, with the US ranking behind 94 countries."
Nations where it's statistically harder to be a woman, like Chile, have had female leaders before the US. This is coming to a head on Election Day, as Clinton voters nationwide remember that once, this was the reality:
At least on women's voting, we can say, "Oh, how far we've come."
Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!