Calls for support of Constitutional Initiative 114

One hundred years ago in Montana, a great discussion, as great as the state itself, was taking place. To the citizens of the state was put forth the idea that women should have the right to vote. The state had been in existence for 25 years, and the nation a century longer, yet women were considered less qualified than former slaves in having a say electing those to public office.

By the end of Election Day 1914, the majority of men decided on the side of liberty and equality, and gave the women of the state the right to vote six years before it would become federal law. In the first election where women were allowed to vote, Montanans challenged themselves and the nation in revolutionary fashion by electing the first woman, Jeanette Rankin, to the U.S. Congress in 1916.

One hundred years later the female descendants of those Montanans along with the state’s never ending flow of female immigrants into the state, have become half the state’s population and workforce. Yet sadly, due to the increasing viciousness of today’s hostile and combative campaigning process, women continue to be put off in pursuing public office.

To counter this, and the deficit of women in the Montana legislature, I have proposed nothing more or less revolutionary than allowing women the right to vote; asking the citizens of Montana to amend our Constitution to provide that half the legislative seats be for women.

Isn’t it time the legislature reflected the population and the work force? Isn’t it time we create the discussion and a place for all of those well qualified women in the state to help represent us?

CI-114 proposes just that in allowing the citizens of the state the opportunity to transform and restructure our government, and along the way for the citizens of Montana to discuss among ourselves why we have so few female legislators, and how we can achieve parity among men and women in our legislature to mirror our state’s population.

To those who would ask how and why I came up with such a proposal, in a word, you. You the citizens of this state helped create Constitutional Initiative 114. A proposal born of the knowledge gained watching what you do.

And what have I been watching? Watching the number of Montana girls, year after year, graduating from high school with top honors, sometimes two to one and three to one, over the boys graduating. Why is this happening? Parents doing what parents always do; encouraging their children to excel in life in the hopes of attaining a better life than they themselves have.

In Montana along with the rest of the nation, the girls are leading the way graduating with top high school honors, entering college, and graduating from college. Be it Sidney or Noxon, Billings or Missoula, Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, this trend of females excelling crosses all affiliations, and all boundaries. Why? Because a parent’s love for their children knows no boundaries.

Now take this trend and project it out two decades and what do you have? Thousands if not tens of thousands of more young women with college degrees than men in the state. How are we going to keep all these highly educated women, and the potential families they would help create and sustain from leaving the state and going elsewhere?

One way will be to create a political environment that encourages women to participate in greater numbers than they do now. A political environment that acknowledges that democracy in Montana will never reach its full potential until women are in equal numbers as men in representing the population.

To the detractors and critics of CI-114 I say this: Come up with a better proposal. Come up with a better idea. One that will promote in even greater terms, getting more women on the ballot, and in the Montana Legislature. One that will offer greater hope of our legislature mirroring our population for future generations of Montanans.

I hope you will support CI-114 by signing a petition, and continuing the discussion this state is ready to have.

John Marshall is a resident of Hot Springs.