By Caroline Kim

Read the original article at The Wall Street Journal's Front Lines.

Eighty-eight years ago today, Congress ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote.

The women’s suffrage movement did not arise as a major issue in the U.S. until the 1830s and 1840s. Women’s rights leaders, such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, first came together at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. The convention challenged the nation to a major social revolution in all aspects — socially, legally and culturally. With about 300 men and women attendees, the convention became the launching point for women’s suffrage.

At the convention, Ms. Stanton read a list of grievances titled, “Declaration of Sentiments,” which stated, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.” Sixty-eight women and 32 men signed the document.

But it wasn’t until 1920 that the amendment was ratified.

Nonetheless, Nora Bredes, director of the Susan B. Anthony Center for Women’s Leadership, said long-existing customs and habit of ages still affect women and men.

In an interview with Journal Women, Ms. Bredes noted — as Susan B. Anthony once said — “The habit of the ages cannot at once be changed.”

Ms. Bredes said that even though women secured full legal rights in the 19th and 20th centuries, to own property and to vote, the 2008 presidential primaries showed that women haven’t risen above the “misogyny” that kept women oppressed in previous decades.

Nearly a century after women were given the right to vote, the number of women participating in elections has decreased at the national and local levels. Only 60.1% of women voted in the 2004 presidential election, a slight drop from the 67% of women voters in the 1964 presidential election, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In the 2006 congressional elections, only 44.7% of women voted, compared with 53% in 1966.

But the number of men voting has decreased during the same period, too. Only 56.3% of men voted in 2004 compared with 71.9% in 1964. And in the 2006 congressional elections, only 42.5% of men voted, compared with 58.2% in 1966.

Some organizations are trying to encourage more women to vote. Women’s Voices. Women Vote, for example, started a voter registration drive this month. The organization is hoping to reach seven million unmarried women in 24 states and expects to register almost one million women by Election Day.

Sarah Johnson, communications director of Women’s Voices. Women Vote, said the organization primarily targets unmarried women because they tend to register and vote less than married women.

Other groups such as Mothers’ Centers, a non-profit organization providing mother-to-mother support are trying to influence women through education. Through its MOTHERS initiative, women are being taught that one of the biggest ways to have their voice heard in public policy is by voting and talking to candidates, said executive director, Linda Lisi Juergens.

Readers: After fighting to get the right to vote, why do you think some women don’t vote? What’s the best approach to enourage women — and men — of all ages to participate on Election Day?