The Woman Suffrage Movement

Paper Summary:

This paper studies the woman suffrage movement and the opposition it faced. The paper outlines the changing societal roles and expectation that brought about the campaign to extend the right to vote to women: (1) the perception that the woman's role was exclusively to attend to the family, (2) the perception that extending the right to vote would be a slippery slope and (3) the perception that men were more intelligent -- and therefore better able to cast votes. Next, the paper discusses the leadership and activity of the leaders of the suffrage movement: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The paper then turns to the actions and involvement of more radical female suffragettes, including Chapman Catt and Maud Wood Park. The paper concludes with an analysis of oppositional forces, and discusses how these forces continue to be echoed among some right wing conservative groups today.

From the Paper:

"The turn of the century saw the apparition of a new wave of fighters and believers in the women's right to vote. Women like Chapman Catt and Maud Wood Park, not to mention Stanton's daughter, Harriot E. Bleach, used their dedication and commitment to push further the process. Some of them believed that they would have better chances to succeed if they appealed to a certain category of women. Chapman Catt, for example received support from middle-class women, while Lucy Burns or Alice Paul turned to working women and radical movements in their efforts. A subsequent radicalization of the movement followed, with demonstrations and alternative forms of protest, such as chaining oneself to the White House fence . Hunger strikes in jail often followed their arrest."

More papers on The Woman Suffrage Movement:

• Research Paper # 100598 : "The American Woman Suffrage Movement"
• Analytical Essay # 13292 : "The Ideas of the Woman Suffrage Movement" ( Aileen Kraditor )"
• Essay # 32911 : "Women's Suffrage Movement in Victorian England"

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