The best way to have a career in politics was to get a law degree, but by the mid-nineteenth century only one woman had a law degree. Of the few women actually involved in politics, most of them had married a man in a position of power and eventually succeeded the women after their husband's death. Men did not want these women to have a place in government because they thought women were too emotional and incapable of making decisions. Therefore, women were not included in the choice of who would come to power for a long time. Even when women gained the right to vote, men believed that they would vote for changes regarding child care and education instead of voting based on class and ethnicity as men did. Many women rarely voted for their gender because they felt that family obligations would limit their ability to concentrate, and because power was represented as masculine, the men who controlled the government were