Women Flashcards
Women in public affairs before the CW (positive)
increasingly active
growth in religious enthusiasm -> w.e = active in c.ch society
participated in campaign against slavery -> often ardent abolitionists
many (e.g Harriet Tubman) -> heroic role in rescuing slaves
promotion of temperance
development of a movement for women’s suffrage
link btween social concerns and wider pol issue of suffrage
to promote change w needed a pol voice at national, state, local levels
before CW many w orgs -> expanding interests outside home
campaigns for wking conditions to imp property rights
involved in childcare, helping poor, bible study
opposition to prostitution
Women position before the CW (Negative)
prevailing concept = women’s place in the home
remained strong until 20th century -> pol active w = minority
Political participation (pos)
anti-slavery movement led to w organising and promoting a pol cause
1837: first female Anti-Slavery Convention -> model for orgs set up to demand voting rights for w
first convention to discuss female suffrage = Seneca Falls, NY, 1848
-> put issue of suffrage into wider context
if w had vote they would bring compassion and social concern to bear on pol decisions
notable AA campaigner = Sojourner Truth
main instigators of Seneca Falls = middle-class white w (e.g Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton)
able and eloquent leaders acted as role models for later campaigners
Economic and social developments
interest of w in public causes = a reflection of the diversification in US society
development of urbanisation, new technology meant easier communication, greater literacy, better education before 1865
with greater prosperity more middle class women did not work outside home so had more time to get involved w/ causes by mid 19th century although they were a minority
for some, expectations that they would nurture the family became transferred to wider social concerns (looking after the interests of the wider conmmunity, bringing womanly values of care/love to those in need -> required a more public profile)
The impact of the CW (positive)
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous novel ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ (1852) greatly publicised opp to slavery
many women wanted to vote in order to protest about slavery
Impact of the CW (negative)
men leading abolitionist movement were not comfortable when women’s rights = associated w/ abolition
abol leaders did not want to lose support by making it appear that abolitionists = feminists
after the war, cause of AAs and w = seperated
How did the CW affect women?
more public participation
supported the war and org a considerable array of charitable orgs and fund raising
w/ men away, women had to take on greater eco responsibility, often left alone
the war brought considerable eco and social change and disruption
if a AAs could vote and sit in congress why not women who had played an imp part in war and campaigned for abolition?
many women did not want to return to pre-war domesticity and built on their wartime example of wking in public sphere
Kleinburg on CW impact on women
1999
“the CW contributed to the redefinition of women’s political roles. women gained in moral authority”
The end of the war (positive)
by 1865, opps for greater change for w seemed strong
the end of the war (negative)
many inequalities to overcome:
- few men supported political rights for women
growth of industry and prosperity = view that a woman’s place = inside the home and men should work outside the home
greatest female employment = domestic e.g cleaning
westward expansion meant men and w worked together but male viewed w as being responsible for family
limited birth control = large families
Prohibition
temperance = greater perticipation in public life
major reason for development of suffrage
degree of org required to change law and society = essentially a pol act
1874: Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
appealed to protestants in Midwest
initially worked to ban alcoholic drinking to safeguard family
1880: 27,000 and national org in 24 states ; 1920: 800000
org activities and strategy and programme -> valuable exp in publicity and mobilising
Prohibition
temperance = greater perticipation in public life
major reason for development of suffrage
degree of org required to change law and society = essentially a pol act
1874: Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
appealed to protestants in Midwest
initially worked to ban alcoholic drinking to safeguard family
1880: 27,000 and national org in 24 states ; 1920: 800000
org activities and strategy and programme -> valuable exp in publicity and mobilising support
leader = Frances Willard
achieved pol aims -> persuaded local legislatures to ban alcohol
pol pressure and lobbying and mass meetings
much of the reforming energy of pre-war women’s groups = temperance
North: members supported abolitionismand w suffrage
South: appeal mainly due to desire to restrict alcohol sale to AAs and believed that drunkenness -> violent and uncontrollable
AA w = enthusiastic due to moral aspect (strong r belief of Baptist chs)
link bet r and pol demands = imp aspect of cr movement
worked as a group rather than relaint on gov
Rural and urban political involvement (pos)
w = active in rural protests esp Grange Movement and Farmer’s Alliance
w spoke at pub meetings against influence of spreading of railways
Elizabeth Lease = orator for Populist Party -> shield protests despite bitter hostility from business interests
NA w formed Women’s National Indian Association for NA rights in 1883 -> reforming impusle during GA
cities = female pub activity = often charities
Charity Organization Society = major outlet for w’s energies
exp of charoty w appointed to administer pub charities
-> exp of influencing local gov
w = effective in persuading states to pass pension leg in 1900s
female graduates pioneered settlement house movement in late 1850s est 400 settlement houses in cities
poor ppl could find educational, recreational, cultrual activities
took on pol aspect in some areas (meeting places for reformist rooms for t.u meetings)
Rural and urban political involvement (negative)
pressure on farms increased food production 1870s
small/ medium farms competitors = needed a pol voice
-> supported Populist Party
The break with abolitionism (positive)
1866: American Ewual Rights Association
- wanted to remove racial and gender restrictions
Break with abolitionism (negative)
14th Ammendment: equal rights but only penalised states which denied rights “any of the male inhabitants of such state”
15th Ammendment: did not mention sex
Abolitionists: AAs = 1st responsibility not w
little supp for w’s suffrage
abol distanced itsef from suffrage
Suffrage organisations
leaders of w suffrage = Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cody Stanton
-> but w/o former allies
1869: National Woman Suffrage Association (NSWA) = only w
rival org = American Women Suffrage Association (AWSA) = inc then
NWSA = national change ; AWSA = individual states (get w voting in state leg)
NWSA = broader view and feminist opp male domination ; AWSA = one-issue org
-> cause of women -> weakened by division
merged in 1890 -> National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
but the splits caused many w to put energies into social refrom as alternative
divisions in aims and methods = major factor in weakening movement
Progress in some states
fed pol structure gave w more opps to make progress
indiv states gave w right to vote (1869: Wyoming, 1870: Utah)
In Utah, Mormons wanted to show that polygamy did not mean that w = exploited/ no rights -> some morm w = enthusiastic wks for the franchise -> right revoked due to 1887 Edmund’s Tucker Act
Wyoming’s own history website
Wyoming’s own history website entitles the section on the vote: ‘Right choice, wrong reasons:
1) wanted good publicity
2) hoped would bring more w (men: w = 6:1)
3) hoped the w could vote for the party that gave them the vote - Democrats
4) wanted to embarass the Republican governor John Campbell
5) Unnamed legislators - if AA and immigrants can vote why not bring in the women as well
The voting issue (positive)
1875 - SC: could give right to vote
20 states only widows with schoolage children could vote
Voting issue (negative)
to test 14th and 15th Ams, Anthony and 150 other w tried to vote in 1871+2:
- arrested and tried for electoral malpractice
- judge refused right to speak and told jury to find guilty
- by 1890 the suffrage campaigners managed to get 8 states to hold vote on issue but all reformers = defeated
- -> 33 total campaigns but only Colorado and Idaho voted in favour in 1912
- hostile crowds often prevented w voting as they believed it was unnatural and a distraction from domestic duties
- campaign basis shifted from democratic args about equal rights to practical advocacy of w being suitable for dealing w/ domestic issues e.g temperance
- often args = not focused on natural justice and inequality, but on args that w needed to influence laws to help them w/ wking conditions and social reforms and ban alcohol
Opposition
1911: National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage est - est by Josephine Dodge
-> one largest and supported by journal, ‘The Remonstrance’
groofs saw w’s rights as eroding special place/respect for w in house
feared that pol equality would work against interests of w who were content with existing status as ‘angels of the hearth’ -> continuing ideas ; suffaced again in 1960s
some Catholic imms: saw suffrage reform as weakening family
Southern Democrats: disliked suffrage and feared that w in politics would introduce labour laws which may hurt south or work against restrictions on AAs e.g JC laws
How much progress had beenmade by 1900? (negative)
Little impact:
- old splits had not entirely healed
- S organisations were unwilling to give AA w vote
- not complete agreement about which types of w should vote
- opp = vociferous
- movement = distracted by other causes, e.g temperance
- links w/ temp = seen by some as ‘too protestant’
How much progress had been made by 1900? (positive)
1900s: US movement = inspired by British suufragettes
Harriet Stanton Blatch led by public parades and more links w/ tvs
1913, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed more militant Congressional Union -> renamed National Women’s Party in 1916
The impact of WW1?
opps to gain rights
NAWSA leader, Carrie Chapman Catt, insisted that promise of suffrage would induce w to support war effort -> Wilson agreed
Was WW1 more important in the development of w rights than the CW?
both wars, coop and commitment of w = needed
CW = more protracted and total war in South
WW1 inc eco activity; Allied propaganda of liberal alliance w/ progressive France and UK against autocratic/ militarist Germany shifted opinion -> how could one fight democracy but keep w disenfranchised?
states = more receptive to NAWSA args
Enfranchisement: NY and Illinios = 1917; S Dakota, Michigan, Omaha = 1918
NAWSA targested anti-suffrage senators -> some = defeated
by 1919, Congress = willing to pass 19th Amendment not giving all w right to vote -> effective from 1920
Was the 19th Amendment in 1920 a major turning point? (positive)
Gaining vote could be seen as:
- reward for war work
- symbolic extension of US democracy
- extension of the movements towards pol rights
- major move towards using w’s interests/abilities on national scale
effective campaiging by NAWSA and gratitude for war work
confirmed w = free/equal citizens; yet, still = discrim in wages, social attitudes, ability to exercise rights
Was the 19th Amendment a TP in 1920? (negative)
not as a result of massive change in opinion that w deserved vote as a matter of natural justice/inherent demo right
once in Congress, had to conform to the male-dominated society, voting how their husbands favoured
much eco and soc change during war = short-lived
AA w in N = better off tht in S
discrim in wages, social attitudes, ability to exercise rights
How far did the extension of the franchise lead to other changes?
splits within women’sorg’s imeeded progress
some: w should wk within existing two-party system; others: hopeless
unlikely that either party would choose substantil no’s of w as candidates or that w would become active on equal level to men
they thought the way forward = w to form seperate party
w/o unifying cause of gaining vote, divisions and loss of impetus as diff causes took the energies of w devoted to contributing to pub life
Women’s suffrage organisations (positve)
1920: NAWSA changed into League of Women Voters (LWV)
interest in non-party pol issues e.g Women’s International League for Peace
Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching urged federal action
not all female pol activity = radical; conservative orgs = popular, most famously the Daughters of the American Revolution
Women’s suffrage organisations (negative)
but direction = divided between campaigning on w’s issus (e.g Jane Addams) or integration into national pol life and develop into equal citizens (e.g Carrie Chapman Catt)
w turnout in 1920 elections = low
only 5-10% of NAWSA members joined the new org
more continuity w/ general tendency of pre-war period w to campaign for specific social/civic issues
Continuing opposition
female suffrage = unwomanly
many men thought that men should have first access to jobs during Depression and that w should return to the home after WW2
National Association Opposed to Women Suffrage and Daughters of the American Revolution and Conservative w = similar outlook
-> opposed new feminism of later 20th C and Equal Rights Amendment
but some wanted universal suffrage, other: white elite
NAWSA feared loss of support but did not encourage AAs
