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Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. As I said before the news this week during our membership drive, we're having our latest quiz series. We do these during the membership drives to have a little fun while we're trying to raise money. It's 100 Years of 100 Things quiz series. This time, questions drawn from our 100 Years of 100 Things history series. Today it's on 100 years of women having the right to vote. We just did that segment on Monday. Again today, get two in a row right, and you will win your choice of a Brian Lehrer show pro-democracy sweatshirt or a WNYC centennial tote with the centennial logo. This limited edition tote for our 100th anniversary, same as the ones we're offering as a membership drive thank-you gift. Who wants to play? 212-433 WNYC, 212-433-9692.

These questions are drawn mostly from our 100 Year segment on Monday with historian Jennifer Piscopo. Women won the right to vote. Well, that's going to be the first question. When did women win the right to vote? If you think you know that, [unintelligible 00:01:22] Shoba in Valley Stream on line 1, you're going to get a shot at it. Hi, Shoba, you're on WNYC.

Shoba: Good morning, Mr. Lehrer. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. Please call me Brian. Everyone else, 212-433-9692. All right. Women won the right to vote-

Shoba: It was 1920. Oh, sorry.

Brian Lehrer: 1920 is right. I didn't even have to ask the full first question. For a sweatshirt or a tote bag, what amendment to the Constitution was it?

Shoba: The 19th Amendment.

Brian Lehrer: 19th Amendment is right. Would you like a Brian Lehrer pro-democracy sweatshirt or WNYC centennial logo tote?

Shoba: Ooh, tough choice. The sweatshirt, please.

Brian Lehrer: Okay, hang on. We'll take your address and your size because it does come in sizes. We're going to go next to Paula in Hell's Kitchen. Hi, Paula.

Paula: Hi, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Ready to play?

Paula: Yes. I'm going to give it a good try.

Brian Lehrer: We just established that the 19th Amendment was the one that gave women the right to vote. The news organization The 19th*, which we have guests from sometimes is named after that 19th Amendment, but they call it The 19th* with an asterisk. They put the asterisk in their name, the name of the news organization. What does the asterisk in their name represent? It's certainly an asterisk of history about women getting the right to vote.

Paula: I would think that that would be that white women got the right to vote, but Black women had a long struggle after that until the 1960s.

Brian Lehrer: That is exactly right. They also point out that some of the same barriers aimed at Black Americans, our guests did on Monday, some of the same barriers that were aimed explicitly at Black Americans also depressed the votes of many kinds of women, poll taxes and literacy tests, which disproportionately affected lower income women of all kinds, including white women. All right.

For the sweatshirt or the tote bag, true or false. After the 19th Amendment was ratified, women were so excited by the new right that they immediately started voting about the same rate as men in the 1920 presidential election.

Paula: Absolutely false.

Brian Lehrer: Absolutely false is right. There were no polls in 1920, but historians generally estimate that women only voted at half the rate of men that year, and voting at a lower rate than men continued for 60 years until 1980. Paula, you want a sweatshirt or a tote bag?

Paula: Oh, I'd like to advertise WNYC with the tote bag all around New York City.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Hang on, and we will take your address off the air. Let's go next to Margot in Manhattan. Hi, Margot, ready to play?

Margot: I am, and Hi. Good morning.

Brian Lehrer: Good morning. Millions of women did start to vote, even if not at the same rates as men, right away after 1920. By the end of the 1930s, how many women served in the US House of Representatives? More than 20? More than 30, or less than 10?

Margot: Let me just say less than 10.

Brian Lehrer: Less than 10 is right. Even 20 years later, after women got the right to vote, there were still less than 10 women in the House of Representatives. All right. For the sweatshirt or the tote bag, what was the first presidential election year when women voted at greater rates than men? Oh, I'm going to give you a multiple choice here actually.

Margot: Oh, thank you. Appreciate that.

Brian Lehrer: Was it during Jimmy Carter's election in 1976, Ronald Reagan's election in 1980, or Bill Clinton's election in 1992?

Margot: I'm going to say 1980.

Brian Lehrer: 1980 is right.

Margot: I won. I won.

Brian Lehrer: You want a Brian Lehrer Show pro-democracy sweatshirt or a WNYC centennial logo tote?

Margot: I would like the sweatshirt. I love your show. I listen every day.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Hang on. We're going to take your address off the air. Let's see. Katherine in Manhattan is up next. Katherine, you're on WNYC. Ready to play?

Katherine: Hi, Brian. Yes, I am.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. 1980, when women first voted at a slightly greater rate than men, was also the year of the first gender gap. Which 1980 presidential candidate did better with women compared to with men, Carter or Reagan, in 1980?

Katherine: Carter.

Brian Lehrer: Carter is right. Even though Reagan won the election, Reagan got 55% of men's votes, just 47% of women's votes. Obviously, that gap was not decisive, and the gender gap has persisted ever since as a fact from history that we went over in the segment on Monday intersecting with the race gap. Most astonishingly to many, white women voted majority for Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Other major groups of women did not.

All right. For the sweatshirt or the tote bag. A Pew survey in 2018 asked women of both parties if there were too few women in politics. 84% of Democratic women said, "Yes, too few women in politics." Within 10 points, what percentage of Republican women said that?

Katherine: 48.

Brian Lehrer: You did it, because it was 44%. What a gap, right? 84% of Democratic women-

Katherine: Wow. I remember something about it.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, it was just six years ago.

Katherine: Go ahead. I'm sorry, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: No, you're right. It was just six years ago. Even that recently, 84% of Democratic women said yes to this Pew survey, there are too few women in politics. Just 44% of women that recently said no. All right. We've only got one question left in the quiz. David in Whitestone is going to get a chance to win a sweatshirt or a tote bag as we take Katherine's address off the air by getting just one question right. David, you there? You ready to play?

David: Yes, I am. Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Okay. The first Black woman elected a US senator was Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois back in 1992. Who was the second Black woman elected to the United States Senate?

David: I'm going to say Kamala Harris.

Brian Lehrer: Kamala Harris is right. It's such a startling fact because 1992 was a pretty long time ago for the first one, and not until 2016, when Kamala Harris was elected to the Senate, was there another Black woman elected to the Senate. David in Whitestone, would you like a Brian Lehrer Show pro-democracy sweatshirt to sport in eastern Queens there, where I grew up, or-- We're already getting David's address, so he'll tell our producer.

Listeners, thanks a lot for playing. Tomorrow we will have one more quiz during the All the Money Half the Time membership drive at the same time. More to come today.

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