The vintage clipping below is a political advertisement from 1915 opposing women’s suffrage in Massachusetts. It claims that most women in the state do not want the vote, so if voting men gave women suffrage, they would be doing so against their will. This, they claim, would be undemocratic. This sounds ironic, but it makes sense in a world where men were suppose to be women’s political representatives.
The ad then goes on to try to demonize those women who do want the right to vote by associating them with other groups widely stigmatized at that time: feminists, of course, but also socialists, Mormons, and members of the I.W.W. The acronym stands for Industrial Workers of the World, an organization founded in 1905 as an alternative to the American Federation of Labor, reportedly consisting of anarchists, socialists, and union members (wiki).
Women in Massachusetts would be granted the right to vote on this day, August 18th, five years later, not by the residents of the state, but by Federal decree.
Via BoingBoing.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 35
michaelr — August 18, 2011
Is there any source for this image? I can only find it on blogs.
Rolando Rodriguez — August 18, 2011
I find interesting that there was a "Women´s Anti-Sufrage Association of Massachusetts" leaded by a Mrs John Something, President and a Mrs Charles P Something, Secretary...
Anonymous — August 18, 2011
Many years ago I was browsing in the library stacks and came across a book from the early 1920s called something like "Heroines of the Recent Battle Over Women's Suffrage". It turned out to be all about women who opposed their own right to vote. That was surprising.
Natalie Red Morse-Noland — August 18, 2011
What does I.W.W. stand for, I wonder?
EnchantedWild — August 18, 2011
Holy shit, this sounds a lot like actual arguments I've heard libertarians make on racial justice issues.
Anonymous — August 18, 2011
It reminds me of a clip from the American Girl movie about the Edwardian Era girl, Samantha (it may have been in the books too, but I haven't read them in over a decade, so not sure). She had been raised by her very traditional grandmother, who was very against women's suffrage, but was visiting her young, progressive uncle and his wife, when she encountered a suffragette meeting. The women asked if she wanted to vote when she got older, and her answer was to the tune of "probably not." To which the women replied "that's okay. We're fighting for your right to CHOOSE to vote, you don't have to." It's interesting to see that so many women supposedly had no interest in voting. Though I also wonder, was their statistic based on some sort of survey, or did they just assume that only the women taking to the streets had any interest in voting?
Skada — August 18, 2011
I really like that you're covering this, but I'd like to point out that August 18th, 1920, is when white women got the right to vote. Not women. You're erasing whole groups of people by saying women got the right to vote. No, we didn't. A small fraction of us did. Some women didn't have the right to vote until decades and decades later.
Anonymous — August 18, 2011
Some lines of argument are really timeless - this brings back a discussion I had not two weeks ago where my opponent ended up fiercly defending a hypothetical vote that would strip gay people the right to marry as "democratic". And you can probably bet that it was up and running before this ad too.
On a side note, I think it's hilarious that these women are trying to get other women to stay out of politics by writing a political pamphet urging other women to vote.
alex — August 18, 2011
Wake up, sir. You've got incredibly low voter turnout at the elections, and most of the people who do come are brainwashed like stupid children (which they are deep inside). How dare you to say "this may sound ironic"? At least they had enough decency not to pretend every human being that reached the age of maturity is capable of making reasonable choices in politics.
GiantEye — August 18, 2011
Amazing ack of interna consistency. It starts by claiming 90% of women don't want to vote,- after all it is for women to decide- then end by praising the men of NJ for protecting women from the vote...so mich for it being a Woman's question. Two completely contradictory points of view in the same ad. Glad to know poitics hasnt changed a bit.
This Week in History: Fighting for the Right to Vote in Massachusetts « Baking With Ex Mix — August 19, 2011
[...] vintage newspaper ad is and is re-posted from Dr. Lisa Wade and the Sociological Images blog. You may notice I link to that blog often and that is because it is my favorite. I would link [...]
Rachel Ann Hanson — August 19, 2011
I find it interesting that they specifically accuse Mormons of being in favor of women's suffrage. Now people just accuse them of not being progressive enough.
Mary Tracy — August 26, 2011
LOL! Priceless!
Radnan25 — March 13, 2012
First i'd like to know how did they figure out women did not want to vote and have equal and fair rights?