Woman's Suffrage - Report Example

s Women`s Suffrage It is a known fact that not all women have always wanted to vote. Queen Victoria went so far as to label the women`s suffrage movement as the `wicked folly`. More so, Catherine Beecher`s account of 1869 is another reflection of how even the educated women during time weren’t fond of the principal of suffrage. Catherine implied that the role of a woman must be limited to keeping the architecture of the home alive by ensuring that a proper Christian home is in order. More so, reformers like Elizabeth Stanton (1892) were also advocating for the cause that the women`s right to solitude and making her own decisions must be accepted, and she never went ahead and commented on the issue of suffrage for women. More so, the `separate spheres` argument was floating during that time which argued that women being the weaker sex won`t be able to deal with the complicated business involved. Furthermore, the `different biology and psychology` argument implied that women may be too emotional to have acquired suffrage rights. In addition, the ‘Physical force’ argument says that women are too weak to handle the consequences of their voting decisions. The most valid and popular argument, however, during that era was that women had no interest in voting, thus there`s no point in advocating for suffrage. A few other similar argument were also being discussed in context to the women`s suffrage right by the orthodox women of that time, alongside a few reformists as well. Beecher (1869) advocates for education of women, however, she does so in the context of building a Christian family. In doing so, she limits the role of a woman in the house contributing towards the development of a Christian family. She further elaborates that women should be considerably educated since she would then be able to teach her children and thus, become the missionary mother which in turn would give rise to a virtuous Christian family. Thus, in this context, it would be highly distracting for women to neglect her role as missionary mother and rather contribute those energies into politics and voting process. Similarly, the ideas of Elizabeth Stanon (1892) may lead toward the proposition that she was partly supporting women`s suffrage, however, her thesis poses a certain limitation on the context. She is a proponent rather a solemn believer of the fact that women are always in solitude and thus, they must acquire the right to live their lives in accordance to their desires. She was a firm advocate of equality between men and women since she believed that the principal of solitude gives everyone the right to choose their own paths. However, she delivered the speech in protest to the fact that the focus was entirely based on the voting rights while in her view, women must be considered distinctively from incidental social functions (Spruil 1995).. Thus, these reformists were also arguing against suffrage rights for women though they wanted equal rights and education for women in the society. More so, the women during that era were arguing that women and men have ‘separate spheres’ in life. In other words, men are bound to work outside the house and be involved in political matters like voting, while women must be left at home to carry out domestic tasks. More so, these orthodox women were arguing that if women are given the right to vote, they may have disagreements with their husbands which may lead to divorces, thus disturbing the balance of family life (Pugh 2000). Another argument against women`s suffrage rights was the ‘different ideology and psychology argument’. This argument propagated the belief that women are outrageously emotional in character, due to which they can never be trusted with voting patterns and political endeavors (Spruil 1995). More so, the anti-suffrage women argued in this context that since women are physically as well as emotionally weaker than their male counterparts, they can`t be handed over the different tasks related to politics, since they won`t be able to grasp the complexities involves. This argument takes a two-fold perspective on the context, i.e. the physical perspective alongside the intellectual perspective. This implies that physically the women during the era were arguing that they constitute the segment of the society designed to carry out tasks not requiring physical strength. For instance, the physical tasks involving heavy machinery and intensive labor must be left to the men, thus the women can undertake the responsibility of the household which wouldn’t include physical strength. Similarly, the women also argued that they were meant to undertake tasks which don’t involve intellect and complicated argumentative skills. For instance, politics and voting behaviors take into account complex issues and arguments which require a higher level of thinking absent in women. Accounting both these factors, it was concluded that women must focus on the simpler tasks of household and not involve in suffrage or other related activities. The third argument posed in this context by orthodox women was the ‘physical force’ argument. This argument has various explanations, with the first one being that every mandate and decision to be voted for has a certain consequence, and the women won`t have the physical force required to keep up with the consequences attached (Pugh 2000). For instance, if a decision implies going for war, the women may contribute in approval of the decision via voting, however, in reality they won`t be able to fight wars on their own. Another perspective to the argument is that women won`t have the capability to enforce the decisions they had voted for, which makes it pointless to allow them to vote. This argument implies that women during that era were undertaking household tasks not involving labor or complex intuitive process, whereby men were responsible for all those tasks otherwise. Thus, if a candidate represents a mandate which involves the incorporation of labor-intensive activities or require higher intellect, the men must be in charge of taking the decisions as they would be the ones bearing the consequences and undertaking those tasks. Another argument in this context is the ‘fears about practical results’ arguments which was also floated by the women during that time. This argument focused on the point that with the women suffrage imposed, the ratio of women voters would be higher in comparison to male voters. This would pave way for anti-men legislations as decisions, and thus the women empowerment movement would turn into a recipe for disaster. Furthermore, `women did not really want to vote’ argument put forth by the anti-suffrage league during that era debated that the vote of a woman would be over-valued if suffrage is imposed. In other words, they argued that women themselves are neither interest in voting, nor do they seek any change in the society by virtue of their votes. A few of the other educated women who even lobbied for women empowerment also argued against women suffrage over the fact that the vote of the women may be manipulated by the men of the household. Since men are the bread-earners of the house, also the dominant ones, they may use the woman`s votes for their personal preferences thereby killing the purpose of suffrage itself. Thus, the anti-suffrage petition was published by women themselves in 1889 on the aforementioned basis. Mrs Humphrey Ward was the one residing over the petition, while holding the position that their own personal capabilities to vote can bring more change than any kind of vote can. Also, other prominent women supporting Mrs Ward in the cause were Florence Nightingale, Beatrice Webb, Octavia Hill amongst many others (Stalcup 2000). Moreover, large interest groups and organizations driven by notable women during that era like Mother`s Union and Women`s Cooperative Guild were also strongly opposing the suffrage movement. These women were deeply concerned over the possibility of chaos and disturbance in balance in the society if the suffrage is passed. Also, another argument made in the context which was supported by many traditional women was that it is wrong to assume that women aren’t represented in the society. Women are already indirectly being represented by their men serving the purpose. Also, these women feared that men would further gain control over decision making if suffrage is granted to women since they would then have more than one votes to influence the decision making process. However, in general, the women wanted to preserve the Christian faith during the time which according to them was the sole ingredient in keeping the society in balance. Also, they were aware of the fact that women themselves aren’t as well aware and interested in being involved in the voting process. Also, women constitute the weaker gender of the society, and thus, they won`t be able to handle the stress which politics being in. Also, they aren’t able to bear the burden of the consequences of the decisions imposed thus they should be given the authority to vote. Based on these arguments, the anti-suffrage women lobby was quite an influential one during that era advocating against the rights of women to take any kind of responsibility relating to political affairs more specifically attaining voting rights. Bibliography: Cross, Barbara M, Catharine E. Beecher, Margaret Fuller, and M C. Thomas. The Educated Woman in America: Selected Writings of Catharine [sic] Beecher, Margaret Fuller, and M. Carey Thomas. New York: Teachers College Press, 1965. Print. Pugh, Martin. The March of the Women: A Revisionist Analysis of the Campaign for Womens Suffrage, 1866-1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print. Spruill, Marjorie J. One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement. Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 1995. Print. Stanton, Elizabeth C. Solitude of Self. Ashfield, Mass: Paris Press, 2001. Print. Stalcup, Brenda. Womens Suffrage. San Diego, Calif: Greenhaven Press, 2000. Print. Read More