海角大神

As America waits to learn who its next president will be, it may be a moment to reflect on the past 鈥� and ponder the future.

Today, Hillary Clinton is the first woman to be on the ballot as a major party鈥檚 nominee for president. In recognition of that achievement, a social media movement is calling for women to wear white when they go to the polls. Women overwhelmingly say that #WearWhiteToVote is an opportunity to show their solidarity with the Democratic nominee, who wore white both to accept her party鈥檚 nomination back in July and at the third presidential debate.

Though it鈥檚 unclear whether Mrs. Clinton herself intended the allusion, many observers have made the connection between the suffragists who wore white with accessories of purple and green in their fight to win the right to vote for women and Clinton's wardrobe choices. For some, there鈥檚 a sense that Clinton鈥檚 nomination is the culmination of a story that began nearly two centuries ago. But others suggest that it鈥檚 a sign, more than anything, of how far we still have to go.

鈥淚 think we imagine ourselves beyond that now, that we couldn鈥檛 possibly oppose a woman running for president the way we opposed the suffragists,鈥� Lisa Tetrault, associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn., tells 海角大神 in a phone interview. Nevertheless, she says, 鈥淚 think we have held [Clinton] to an entirely different standard.鈥�

The suffragists, a movement of women advocating for the right to vote, began to coalesce around the issue in the 1840s. During parades and other advocacy activities, the women were 鈥渆ncouraged to wear white,鈥� Alden O鈥橞rien, curator of Costume and Textiles at the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum, said in an interview with the Smithsonian Institution.聽

The color white has 鈥渁ssociations with purity and starting afresh that was sort of the appeal for the suffragists,鈥� Hazel Clark, professor of design studies and fashion studies at The New School in New York, tells the Monitor in a phone interview. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a kind of blank slate in a way.鈥�

Geraldine Ferraro dressed in white when accepting the Democratic vice presidential nomination in 1984, when she became the first woman on a major party鈥檚 ticket. Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman to be elected to Congress, wore white on that day in 1968, and three years later, while campaigning to be the first woman presidential candidate on a major party鈥檚 ticket.

Clinton鈥檚 choice to wear white has inspired many women to do the same as they headed to polls across the country on Tuesday. Countless women took to social media in independent, grass-roots efforts to get women to wear white when they vote. Maureen O鈥橞rien, from Albany, N.Y., told The Boston Globe it would be 鈥渁 nod to everything Hillary has gone through鈥� this election cycle.

What people wear is a statement about what they care about, some political historians have observed. And the #WearWhiteToVote movement may be a sign that having a female president is important to Americans. If so, that would be a shift from February, when just one-third of voters polled by CNN thought it was extremely or very important for the United States to have a female president in their lifetime. For most Americans 鈥� especially among younger voters 鈥� PBS suggested, 鈥渢he milestone has been eclipsed by other advances.鈥�

Though it is predominantly Clinton supporters who have donned white, some Twitter users have suggested that the movement is for everyone, no matter how they who they are or vote. But #WearWhiteToVote hasn鈥檛 resonated with all Americans. In that way, it鈥檚 similar to the suffragist movement and the Clinton campaign as a whole.

鈥淭he 19th Amendment was a very mixed victory. It was a victory for white women,鈥� Professor Tetrault explains, noting that 鈥渟uffrage organizations just shrugged their shoulders鈥� when black women asked for support in continuing their struggle for the right to vote.

Whatever the outcome of the election, it鈥檚 important that we 鈥渢hink really carefully about who we see when we think about women,鈥� she added. Many women do not share Clinton鈥檚 background, nor her path in life, and if she wins, it will be particularly important to ensure that it is a victory for all women, and not just for white, middle-class women.

That鈥檚 not to discount that women have come a tremendously long way: though women began to run for president as early as 1872, Tetrault says that it was 鈥渨ell beyond [the suffragists鈥橾 imagination, to be honest,鈥� that a woman could ever be a major-party鈥檚 presidential nominee.