As election day approaches Nov. 3, Nancy Ann Poynter reflects on history.
“We certainly stand on the shoulders of a lot of women who came before us,” she said.
Columbus’ first female mayor, who took office as Nancy Ann Brown in 1980 for one term, is amazed at those women. They survived insults, maligning, threats and more in a nearly 80-year journey to the right to vote in the United States. The centennial of that achievement is being marked nationwide.
“I know that, through the years, I have seen some articles that began with the line, ‘Women were given the right to vote … .’ No, they weren’t,” Poynter said, her voice incredulous. “They had to fight like the devil. They marched. They protested. They pushed for legislation. It was a huge, huge thing.”
Even half a century later, she still found herself without the same standing as a man.
She recalled applying for a credit card at L.S. Ayres Department Store in Indianapolis around 1970. A store employee told Poynter, who had worked for years, that her husband would have to co-sign for the account.
“My husband doesn’t want this card,” she responded. “I do.”
Poynter recalled that when she began her term as mayor, there were no heads of major companies or service agencies in Bartholomew County. For instance, though she served on the United Way of Bartholomew County board for nearly a decade, she said she was ineligible to be vice president or president of the board because she was a woman.
She mentioned that that changed after she became mayor and a United Way board member surmised that, if a woman could serve as mayor, surely a female could serve as board president.
“It gradually started changing,” Poynter said.
Poynter pointed out that there was little or no inclusion about women’s suffrage in her schooling.
“No, no, no,” she said. “When I grew up, I finally got to looking back. Then you get to looking around (for female leaders).”
