Vision
The principles that guide our organization
The goal of the League of Women Voters is to empower citizens to shape better communities worldwide.
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political membership organization which:
- acts after study and member agreement to achieve solutions in the public interest on key community issues at all government levels
- builds citizen participation in the democratic process
- engages communities in promoting positive solutions to public policy issues through education and advocacy
The League of Women Voters Education Fund is a nonpartisan public policy educational organization which:
- builds citizen participation in the democratic process
- studies key community issues at all governmental levels in an unbiased manner
- enables people to seek positive solutions to public policy issues through education and conflict management
We believe in:
- respect for individuals
- the value of diversity
- the empowerment of the grassroots, both within the League and in communities
We will:
- act with trust, integrity and professionalism
- operate in an open and effective manner to meet the needs of those we serve, both members and the public
- take the initiative in seeking diversity in membership
- acknowledge our heritage as we seek our path to the future
Mission
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization encouraging informed and active participation in government. It influences public policy through education and advocacy. We never support or oppose any political party or candidate.
The League of Women Voters has two separate and distinct roles.
- Action/Advocacy: we are also nonpartisan, but, after study, we use our positions to advocate for or against particular policies in the public interest.
A few words about Action/Advocacy: The League of Women Voters takes action on an issue or advocates for a cause when there is an existing League position that supports the issue or speaks to the cause. Positions result from a process of study. Any given study, whether it be national, state, or local, is thorough in its pursuit of facts and details. As the study progresses, a continuing discussion of pros and cons of each situation occurs. Prior to the results of the study being presented to the general membership, study committee members fashion consensus questions that are then addressed by the membership. Additional discussion, pro and con, takes place as members (not part of the study committee) learn the scope of the study. After the members reach consensus, the board forms positions based on that consensus. It is the consensus statement -- the statement resulting from the consensus questions -- that becomes a position. Firm action or advocacy can then be taken on the particular issue addressed by the position. Without a position, action/advocacy cannot be taken.
History
The League of Women Voters of the Montgomery County, Indiana:
Crawfordsville and Montgomery County as a whole had a remarkable tradition of active, vital work on behalf of women’s suffrage in the late l9th and early 20th centuries. Zerelda Wallace, stepmother of General Lew Wallace, was notable among women leaders, as was Dr. Mary Holloway Wilhite, one of Indiana’s earliest female doctors and the president of Montgomery County’s women’s suffrage organizing committee. Everything that the LWVMC has achieved rests on the shoulders of such pioneers and decades of subsequent work to remind Americans that educating oneself about civic issues and then acting upon issues when action is called for lies at the heart of a democratic society.
The birth of the League as an official organization in Montgomery County happened in 1947. Georgia Manson, along with her invalid husband, ran a coal yard. This experience, according to oral testimony on the 40th anniversary of the LWVMC, made her “very hot on women’s rights.” Manson organized a town meeting and invited presidents of all the women’s organizations in town. Pat Hall, another businesswoman, stepped up to help lead this effort. [See 1988 Oral History of LWVMC]
The League of Women Voters of the United States:
The League of Women Voters was founded by Carrie Chapman Catt in 1920 during the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. The convention was held just six months before the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote after a 72-year struggle.
