THE EDITOR, Sir:
JOSEPH CORNWALL, in an article in your December 29 issue, made reference to the fact that prior to Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944, the vote was very restricted, which is true, and that females were not allowed to vote. This latter statement is not accurate. While the vast majority of women, like the vast majority of men, could not vote, women of the propertied and middle strata gained the right to vote in 1919.
This followed an intense lobbying and organisation-building process, initiated by white Jamaican women and expatriate women living in the country. Among them were Nellie Latrielle and Judith DeCordova, whose husband, Michael, was secretary, manager and one of the owners of the Daily Gleaner.
Under the law, which was passed in May, 1919, women had to be 25 years of age, pay £2 per year as taxes or earn £50 per year as salary. The requirements were not as high for male voters; they only had to pay either 10 shillings per year in tax, or to earn income of £40 per year.
It was Universal Adult Suffrage that established equal voting requirements for all adult men and women. The Jamaican Historical Review Volume XVIII 1993 carries an article on the movement for the vote of women in 1918 to 1919.
I am, etc.,
LINNETTE VASSELL
Kingston 6
