Washington was the fifth state in the nation (and the first in the 20th century) to permanently grant women's right to vote. Its stunning 1910 victory reanimated the national suffrage movement. Along with other western states, Washington's women voters championed the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In 1920, this amendment ensured women's right to vote nationally. By securing the right to vote just ten years earlier, Washington women gained a voice in self-government and made their mark in the great human struggle for equal rights.

When Washington joined her western sisters in 1910, it had been fourteen years since a state had enacted permanent women's suffrage. Male voters in Oregon, South Dakota, and Oklahoma all voted against it that year. Washington's suffrage victory was a "dam-breaker." Soon after, several other states followed Washington's lead. California in 1911; Oregon, Kansas, Michigan, and Arizona in 1912; Alaska Territory and Illinois in 1913; and Montana and Nevada in 1914.

Newspapers often downplayed the role women played in achieving victory. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer headlined the results with "Women of the State Get the Ballot by Gift of Men." Women also stressed the roles of men in winning the vote. Suffrage leader May Arkwright Hutton gave liberal credit to Washington male voters, saying, "I attribute the success of the movement largely to the broad-minded ideas of the men of Washington, who stand for a square deal in all things." Her fellow suffragist, Emma Smith DeVoe also gave thanks to the men of Washington, "who by their vote gave their mothers, wives and sisters equal franchise."

Despite this humility, women's tireless efforts to obtain the vote in Washington cannot be denied. The headlines that suggested that women's suffrage had been bestowed by men implied that the gender status quo remained. It suggested that women's rights were given to them by their male counterparts rather than being won by their own efforts. The truth is that women's achievement of the vote in Washington indicated a major "renegotiation of gender boundaries" in the state. Women had won more than the right to vote. They had also achieved the ability to campaign politically and assert themselves in all aspects of private and public life.

Washington also set the standard for a modern campaign strategy that other states later employed, using several kinds of media, forming coalitions, and conducting a sophisticated, organized campaign. Washington suffragists passed a symbolic "Votes for Women" banner on to California after the 1910 victory to inspire the 1911 campaign there. By the late 1910s, however, it became evident that the state-by-state strategy had run its course and that a national amendment would have to be the path to victory.