KEEP MARCHING
The suffrage movement has a lot to teach us about the power of effective advocacy movements, especially right now as our democracy hangs in the balance, women’s reproductive rights are being rolled back, and a radical Supreme Court has signaled rights like birth control and same-sex marriage may be next. The suffragists teach us that movements don’t always work in perfect harmony. There are disagreements and difficult trade-offs, and sometimes progress seems impossibly slow. But the suffragists never gave up. They never gave in to fear of defeat. And in the end, it took all their dogged determination to convince an ambivalent-at-best president, a deeply sexist Congress, and racist southern state legislatures to correct the mistake of our founding fathers and give women the vote.
But that’s not the end of the story. In fact, it’s a call to action.
What the suffragists’ example shows us (and what the “suffs” sing in the rousing finale) is that “progress is possible, not guaranteed.” Change doesn’t happen on its own. Equality will not be given to us. Throughout American history—from our founding to the Civil War and Reconstruction to the movements for women’s rights, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ rights—change happened because people devoted their lives to it. Many were born and died bumping up against the hard walls of injustice. As Elaine Weiss writes, “The women who launched the movement were dead by the time it was completed; the women who secured its final success weren’t born when it began.” But no one gave up. They kept marching. They fought hard to make the dream of equality a reality. If they could do it, so can we. As the Talmud says and Shaina wrote into her script: “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
妇女参政运动让我们深刻体会到有效倡导运动的力量，尤其是在民主岌岌可危、女性生殖权利遭受倒退，而激进的最高法院甚至暗示，诸如节育和同性婚姻等权利可能紧随其后之际。妇女参政运动告诉我们，运动并非总是完美和谐地运作。其中存在着分歧和艰难的权衡，有时进展似乎缓慢得令人难以置信。但妇女参政运动从未放弃，从未屈服于对失败的恐惧。最终，她们凭借着顽强的决心，说服了一位充其量也算矛盾的总统、一个充满性别歧视的国会以及种族主义的南方州立法机构，让他们纠正我们开国元勋们的错误，赋予女性投票权。
但这并不是故事的结局。事实上，这是一个行动的号召。
妇女参政论者的榜样告诉我们（以及在激动人心的结局中“妇女”们所唱的）“进步是可能的，而非必然的”。变革不会自动发生。平等不会自动降临到我们头上。纵观美国历史——从建国到内战和重建，再到争取妇女权利、公民权利和LGBTQ+权利的运动——变革之所以发生，是因为人们为之奉献了毕生精力。许多人出生，却又在不公正的壁垒中挣扎求生。正如伊莱恩·韦斯所写：“发起这场运动的女性在它完成时已经去世；而确保它最终成功的女性在它开始时还没有出生。” 但没有人放弃。她们继续前进。她们为实现平等的梦想而努力奋斗。如果他们能做到，我们也能。正如《塔木德》所说，以及莎伊娜在她的剧本中所写：“你没有义务完成这项工作，但你也没有自由放弃它。”
