Frances Willard's Victory

Lay delegates to United Methodist General Conferences were first allowed in 1872, but the Credentials Committee disallowed laywomen delegates. In 1888, five women were elected by their annual conferences. They were allowed to be seated with their delegations at the opening ceremony, but then a motion made by Credentials chairman James Monroe Buckley of New York got them ousted. Buckley then moved that "the women's train tickets be paid so they can return to their homes where they belong." Frances Willard later wrote, "I confidently predict that we five women whose election was disavowed will have more enviable places in history than any who opposed us."

Willard is now regarded as second only to Susan B. Anthony as an advocate for promoting U.S. women's suffrage. The Methodist Episcopal Church (North) held out on banning laywomen delegates until 1900. The Methodist Episcopal Church South relented in 1922, four years after a U.S. constitutional amendment gave women the right to vote. Full clergy rights for women did not come to the United Methodist Church until 1956. A vote to defer the matter for "further study" was defeated.

[Dr. Donald W. Haynes, United Methodist Reporter, March 6, 2009.]