Today in Herstory: Suffrage Leader Condemns Police Treatment of Women

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Today in Herstory: Suffrage Leader Condemns Police Treatment of Women


Louise DeKoven Bowen


December 2, 1913: The treatment of women by the criminal justice system was denounced today by Louise DeKoven Bowen on the fourth day of the National American Women Suffrage Association’s
convention. A close friend of Jane Addams, and Treasurer of Hull House, in Chicago, Bowen pointed out a lack of women police officers and women jurors, then called for reform of the courts and prisons to help women and children caught up in the system:
From the time of the arrest of a woman to the final disposition of her case she is handicapped by being in the charge of and surrounded by men, who naturally cannot be expected to be as sympathetic and understanding as one of her own sex.

In the police station she is at a disadvantage, for such places of detention in most of our large cities are not fit for human habitation. When she appears for her preliminary hearing she is tousled and untidy as a result of being without proper toilet accommodations, and is therefore apt to create an unfavorable impression. In all police stations separate rooms or cells should be provided with plenty of light and air and sleeping and toilet accommodations for the women.

(It should be noted that though Illinois women recently won the right to vote for President and local offices, they still cannot serve on juries, and although Chicago has had a female police officer – Marie Owens – since 1891, and 10 more were sworn in earlier this year, this is hardly a sufficient presence in a force of 4,000 officers. The rest of the criminal “justice” system is similarly male-dominated.)

Hopes for a spirit of friendly cooperation between the National American Woman Suffrage Association and President Wilson have suffered a major setback. N.A.W.S.A.’s President, Reverend Anna Howard Shaw, expressed the indignation felt by all convention delegates when she denounced the President for ignoring woman suffrage in his message to Congress today:

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http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2014/12/02/today-in-herstory-suffrage-leader-condemns-police-treatment-of-women/