Giving the oppressed the vote does not by itself empower them.

Evidence

Even in the Comitia Centuriata, instituted in about 450 BCE, entry was restricted initially to the patricians and the plebeians were kept at bay. Even after the Comitia Centuriata came to include plebeians, its organisation and voting system nevertheless gave greater influence to the rich than to the poor, which as Ambedkar points out, resembled the Communal Award. Ambedkar understands, in the caste context, the plight of plebeians with voting rights as being similar to that of Untouchables who were denied a separate electorate—the mere right to vote does not necessarily empower them. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1060

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Work and suffrage without socialist restructuring do not liberate women. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1919