100 years after 19th Amendment, woman take top roles in Bay Area politics

TAMPA, Fla. - Florida’s primary election day fell on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. But in the decades to follow, their participation in the political process was limited. 

“Women’s organizations, school organizations; it’s that behind-the-scenes work that they were restricted to,” explained Rodney Kite-Powell of the Tampa Bay History Center. 

But fast forward to Tampa in 2020. The area has set a woman -- Kathy Castor, a Democrat -- to Congress for more than a decade. This year, she has a Republican challenger who is also a woman, Christine Quinn.

“As women, we want to raise our boys to be strong men, but we also have a voice and we need to have our voices heard,” offered Quinn.

It took many years for women to hold office in the Tampa area. 

“The first woman to serve a political body in Hillsborough County was a woman named Frances Chiaramonte, and she took over her brother’s position on the school board in 1942 when he went away to war,” Kite-Powell stated.

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He says years later, it may have been men of corruption who gave rise to women of reform. 

In the 1980’s three Hillsborough County commissioners were lead away in handcuffs. 

“So women were seen, at least by some, as a better alternative,” Kite-Powell continued.

Two reformers, Jan Platt and Sandy Freedman, rose to the top of local politics. In 1986, Freedman became the first woman ever to be Tampa’s mayor. 

In fact, three of the last five Tampa mayors have been women: Freedman, Pam Iorio, and now Jane Castor. 

“It’s amazing, the number of women, no wonder to think it may continue into the future,” Kite-Powell added.

Voting rights were a long time coming, but women may be on a roll running for office in Tampa.