Mrs. Albert T. Leatherbee wrote a popular pamphlet against female suffrage, where she stated that granting women the right to vote "would be detrimental to the best interests of the state." She also wrote that suffragettes were "fanatical women" with "showy arguments, false war cries, and continuous strenuous endeavor."Josephine Jewell Dodge was the president of the National Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage. She argued that women's suffrage would lead to immorality. In a newspaper article, she wrote, "Morals and manners are the fruits of women's minds, not of the voting booth." Dodge believed that politics were immoral and corrupt, therefore, women should have no part in voting.
Kate Douglas Wiggin led the Kindergarten Education Movement, but she was also strongly opposed to women's suffrage. She believed that a women's place was in the background, because "the limelight never makes anything grow." Although she had progressive ideas on universal education, she stood against her own right to vote.
It's difficult to understand why any woman would be opposed to women's rights, but there are similarities between these women that may give us some clues. Most anti-suffragettes were women of power and social status. They believed that granting other women the right to vote would threaten their privilege. They were worried that the disruption of the social order would decrease their status in society. In addition, anti-suffragettes strongly believed that their own place was in the home, separate from politics. The believed that voting was immoral, and it was better for them to stay out of it. These women were quickly silenced when the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-women-led-antisuffrage-campaigns-against-themselves
http://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/10/22/450221328/american-women-who-were-anti-suffragettes
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4445584/josephine_jewell_dodge_on_immorality/
You gave a very elucidative explanation of how and why many women opposed their own interests. Another reason why some women opposed female suffrage was that they thought that home and school were important social forces where women should exert their dominance. For example, Catharine Beecher argued this in her book opposing women's suffrage. Instead of seeing the lack of suffrage as a limitation on their power, women like Beecher thought that each gender had its own sphere of influence and should stay within that sphere.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/catharine-esther-beecher
This topic shocked me! I could not believe that there were women who were opposed to their own suffrage. For much of your article, I was confused as to these women's motives for downturning suffrage for women, but your final paragraph makes a great point. People will go to surprising lengths to protect their power. I also find it interesting how few people have heard about this side of the issue compared to how large it was. According to my source, in 1889, there were over 200 signatures for "The Appeal Against Female Suffrage," and by 1918 there were 100 branches of the Women's National Anti-Suffrage League were established.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thesuffragettes.org/history/anti-suffrage/