In the United States, some women are campaigning for the elimination of their right to vote

In a small reformed church in Prescott, a former mining town in Arizona, a very radical stream of conservative Christianity is openly testing an idea that could have been thought confined to the most masculinist fringes of the internet: revisiting women’s right to vote. Within the King’s Way Reformed Church, women wear a scarf tied on their hair at all times, a visible sign of “submission” to God and their husband. Some, like 36-year-old Marybelle East, say they keep it “seven days a week” to show their husbands that they place themselves under his authority. In this patriarchal theology, the hierarchy is clear: the husband decides, the wife follows, even politically.

Leading this growing community, 40-year-old Pastor Dale Partridge preaches a return to “biblical patriarchy.” Highly followed on social networks, he makes strong statements against feminists, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigration, Islam, and Hinduism, calling them “diabolical,” and denounces women’s suffrage as one of the causes of American decline. His alternative: “household voting,” a vote per household, exercised by the sole male head of the family. The 19th Amendment, which granted suffrage to American women in 1920, is presented as a historical turning point that has led the country down the path of decline, as summarized by the New York Times.

A few years ago, admitting Dale Partridge, delivering this message in public would have been “massacred.” But the idea is gaining ground today. In the ultra-conservative “manosphere,” influencers openly call for the repeal of the 19th Amendment, and far-right activists take up the concept in the name of a return to traditional order.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared a video of pastors advocating for the exclusion of women from the electorate. Conservative podcaster Alex Clark explained that she “would not see a problem” with only “the male head of the family” voting, while anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson has publicly supported the principle of a single vote per household.

In the vast majority of democracies, a retreat on universal suffrage seems inconceivable: repealing the 19th Amendment would require the agreement of three-quarters of American states. Dale Partridge himself acknowledges that this scenario is unlikely to succeed, but he claims to believe in the progressive restriction of women’s voting rights in certain conservative states through technical or administrative means. Opponents of the bill supported by Donald Trump, which requires proof of citizenship to register on voter rolls, already warn that this reform could disenfranchise women whose marital name does not match their original documents.

Context: The article highlights the controversial views and practices of a conservative Christian community in Arizona that questions women’s suffrage and promotes far-right ideologies.

Fact Check: The claims and beliefs presented in the article, such as restricting women’s voting rights and advocating for patriarchal structures, are reported accurately.