On December 10, 1869, the Territory of Wyoming ratified in law the right for women to vote and hold office, making Wyoming the first state to unconditionally guarantee suffrage. Women’s suffrage nearly threatened Congressional approval of Wyoming’s statehood in 1890, but the state made its position clear in a telegram to leaders in Washington, D.C.: “We will remain out of the Union one hundred years rather than come in without the women.”
In 2019, the State of Wyoming commemorated the 150th Anniversary of this historic event, though it acknowledged that Wyoming had one of the worst percentages of women serving in legislative offices.
Wyoming PBS produced the documentary, “The State of Equality,” to delve into this history and visited with female leaders like Brownstein Shareholder Affie Ellis, who also serves in the Wyoming Senate. Ellis provided insight of her research of women’s suffrage in Wyoming, including information about indigenous voting rights during the early 1900s.