The Rhetoric of Gender Upheaval during the Campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment
21 Pages Posted: 1 Mar 2013
Date Written: February 28, 2013
Abstract
This essay examines the anti-suffragists’ rhetoric of gender upheaval during the final years of the suffrage campaign in order to more precisely identify their concerns and justifications regarding the virtues of traditional gender roles and women’s civic membership. When scholars of the history of women’s civic status focus on “patriarchy’s appeal” to “dominant white male citizens,” they miss the prevalence of the women who opposed changes to their own civic status. This essay explores their arguments in two leading anti-suffrage journals, The Remonstrance and The Woman Protest, and considers what their legacy might offer to today’s debates regarding the evolution of women’s roles.
Keywords: Nineteenth Amendment, women's history
JEL Classification: K39
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation