History of LWV

In 1920, just six months before the U.S. Constitution was amended to give women the right to vote, Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, proposed the creation of the League of Women Voters. Carrie Chapman Catt and those who worked with her realized long ago that there was a significant role for women as well as men to play in the challenging effort to make democracy work for the betterment of all, and that there needed to be an organization in place to make that happen. The League's first purpose was to teach women how to exercise their new right to vote. Since that time the League has continued to serve all people. Both men and women join.