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WHEN (ONLY) WOMEN RULED THIS FRONTIER TOWN

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WHEN (ONLY) WOMEN RULED THIS FRONTIER TOWN

By Sean Braswell

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The Petticoat Rulers of Jackson Hole, Wyoming
SourceAlvaro Tapia Hidalgo/OZY


WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

Because glass ceilings can be shattered — but also replaced.

By Sean Braswell

October 22, 2016

When Women Rule: A special weeklong series on how
influential women leaders managed — or mishandled — major crises during
their tenure. Consider this a sneak peek into how a woman could rule the world.

A century ago, Jackson, Wyoming, a small frontier town of around 300, was a
poster child for what economists call a tragedy of the commons. With laws going
unenforced and taxes and fines unpaid, the town’s coffers were drying up while
its streets were swimming in mud and garbage. In need of a Wyatt Earp figure who
could put a stop to the lawlessness and decline, the errant town stumbled on a
radical solution to its problems: female rule.

That’s right: In 1920, the same year the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
was ratified, guaranteeing women the right to vote, the citizens of Jackson
elected an all-female town council, an unprecedented “petticoat government” that
would clean up the dirty frontier town — and then vanish from the town hall and
the pages of history. And as America prepares to elect what would be its first
woman president, the story of Jackson’s democratic experiment serves as a
cautionary tale about the sporadic, often temporary nature of social progress.

A trailblazing territory from the start, and the first in the U.S. to grant
women the right to vote and hold public office (in 1869), Wyoming had earned its
nickname, the Equality State, more than half a century before Jackson’s regime
change. But it was less noble sentiment than desperate pragmatism that led to an
all-female town council. Being a member of that council was a part-time job, and
for Jackson’s menfolk, such a task represented a major distraction from their
real jobs — and one they had not suffered well.

> Jackson’s “petticoat” rulers quickly applied the same efficiency they had used
> in managing their households to the town’s management.

And so at a town caucus in early 1920, when the subject of male political
impotence came up, a man named Dick Winger reportedly called out: “Why not let
the women run the government?” It’s not clear whether the proposal was offered
in earnest or in jest, but the women present agreed and an all-female slate of
candidates was nominated to face off against the men. “My recollection is that
it was not in protest to former administration, nor, really, a matter of
politics,” Winger’s wife, Marta — later appointed town clerk — observed, “but
just an impulsive and spontaneous gesture on the part of an assembled town
caucus to give women a chance to run things.”

The five women nominated, all members of the socialite Pure Food Club, ran on
the simple platform of cleaning up the town’s streets. And in the May 11
election, they won in a landslide, with Grace Miller being elected as the town’s
mayor. One of the new councilwomen, Rose Crabtree, bested her own husband by 19
votes. The election made national headlines, where it was largely treated as a
charming curiosity. “Husband defeated by wife,” The New York Times trumpeted.
“Their complete victory surprised even the women themselves.” Jackson was not
the first American town to elect an all-female council, but it entered a league
of its own when several more women were appointed by the victors to fill
additional administrative positions, including a 22-year-old town marshal with a
pearl-handled gun.





Jackson’s “petticoat” rulers quickly applied the same efficiency they had used
in managing their households to the town’s management. First, they replenished
the town’s coffers by collecting back taxes and uncollected fines. “They went
out personally and collected every cent due the town from those who ignored the
notices,” reported The Delineator magazine in 1922. “Before the end of a
fortnight, there was $2,000 in the treasury.”

With new cash on hand, they set about making a rash of improvements, from
installing culverts and grading streets to instituting garbage collection and
anti-littering ordinances. “We simply tried to work together,” Mayor Miller told
The Delineator. “We put into practise [sic] the same thrifty principles we
exercise in our homes.”

> They just wanted to fix their town. And when they did it, they were happy
> enough to go back to their former lives.

But the same pragmatism that had prompted the women to step up and save their
town also led them to step down a few years later when the job was done. Women
and political power may have been on the nation’s mind at the time, says Sherry
Smith, a professor of history at Southern Methodist University and resident of
Jackson Hole, but it was not on the minds of the Jackson women. They just wanted
to fix their town. “And when they did it,” says Smith, “they were happy enough
to go back to their former lives. They were not really interested in sustaining
public political power.”

And, in part because there was no intention in Jackson of expanding power for
women, there was also no follow-up — and amazingly the town would not elect
another female mayor until 2001. The arc of the moral universe is long and
sometimes it sags considerably in the middle — where you’ll find the so-called
Equality State, which today ranks dead last in its percentage of female state
lawmakers at just 13 percent. 

Wyoming Median Income Heat Map FindTheHome
 

As for Jackson, that paragon of rugged frontier parity? Well, according to the
Economic Policy Institute, the winter playground for the rich is the single most
economically unequal metropolitan area in America. And, alas, there is no
radical democratic experiment afoot to clean that up anytime soon.

Read the series everyone is talking about: The Seven Deadly Sins of American
Politics. Have the special collection sent to your inbox by clicking here.

 * Sean Braswell, Senior Writer Follow Sean Braswell on Twitter Follow Sean
   Braswell on Facebook Contact Sean Braswell


October 22, 2016

TOPICS

 * 2016 Election
 * American History
 * Cities
 * Feminism
 * HISTORY
 * Midwest
 * Politicians
 * POLITICS & POWER
 * Sexuality



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