The Women's Fight for the Vote

Achieving the right to vote was a tedious and long process for women across the United States, and was a journey filled with discrimination and perseverance from faithful suffragettes. In order to overcome obstacles to women’s voting rights, women worked on appealing to the sense of logic of others, emulating anti-suffrage media forms but to support a suffrage cause, creating widely visible propaganda supporting their cause and engaging in unlawful but non-violent activities in order to show their support for the suffrage cause. Only through posters, newspapers, pamphlets, protests and civil disobedience were women able to finally achieve the vote, each measure being designed to convince legislators, other people and anti-suffrage organizations of the women’s plight in being denied the right to vote.

One of the key methods which suffragettes used in order to convince others of their right to vote was through appeals to logic, a method they largely adopted and transformed from organizations against suffrage such as the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. In “Some Reasons Why We Oppose Votes for Women,” an 1894 poster written by the National Association Opposed to Women Suffrage, the author tries to make his points appeal to the sense of logic of readers. Throughout the poster, a clear repeating “because” structure is used to show the various reasons why the group believes that giving votes to women would not be a good idea. Although it is unlikely that many members of modern society would still appreciate this skewed sense of logic today, the author attempts to make logical appeals to his audience, and his points would have likely been interpreted as being logical at the time. For example, the author states that “Because [of] the great advance of women in the last century… the vote… is not needed for their further advancement along the same lines.” This point attempts to be logical due to the causal relationship it attempts to set up, and it is likely that many people at the time – especially men – would have agreed with this point of view and would have clearly understood and appreciated these points due to their seemingly logical nature. The women’s suffrage movement largely attempted to emulate the logical appeal and structure of anti-suffrage propaganda, hoping to thereby convince a larger audience to join their cause. Using a structure similar to that of anti-suffrage posters and pamphlets, the women’s suffrage propaganda would become more easily comparable with that if anti-suffrage propaganda, thereby (in the hopes of leaders of the women’s suffrage movement) allowing people to more easily see the superiority of the arguments used by the suffragettes over those used by anti-suffrage organizations. In “Votes for Women! The Woman’s Reason” by the National American Woman Suffrage Association and published in 1912, we see lines such as “BECAUSE women pay taxes just as men do, thus supporting the government, They should vote equally with men.” This clear argument immediately appeals to the sense of logic of onlookers, thereby making it a convincing piece of rhetoric whilst keeping with the general structure of anti-suffrage propaganda. By emulating the logicality and structure of anti-suffrage propaganda, posters and pamphlets in favour of women’s suffrage were able to allow people to more easily compare arguments for and against suffrage, and the higher appeal to logic of women’s suffrage arguments helped in convincing people to sympathize with and believe in the suffrage cause.

One key way in which the suffrage movement gained widespread recognition was through its focus on public visibility, a method which was again likely at least partly inspired by the actions and methods of anti-suffrage organizations. As is seen by the photo “Headquarters of the National Anti-Suffrage Association” by Harris and Ewing in 1911, the anti-suffrage movement tried heavily to make its advertisements widely visible and public in order to spread its opinion on the suffrage cause. As is seen both by the large poster by the building which reads “OPPOSED TO WOMAN SUFFRAGE” in large letters and by the variety of propaganda materials seen outside of the building in order to convince others, the National Anti-Suffrage Association had clear aims of convincing as many people as possible through widespread mass media. By placing large lettering in places where it could not be missed both due to the large text size and the visibility of the sign, the anti-suffrage movement hoped to (and did) gain many supporters. The women’s suffrage movement was quick to implement these visible methods of propaganda, also using large posters with large capital text explaining their cause and their hope for women’s suffrage. In “The First Picket Line – College Day in the Picket Line,” the suffragettes hold up large posters which describe their cause, and each wears a white banner across their chest which states the college which they studied at. The banners which each woman wears largely act to establish their credibility as a group and make their argument and opinion more convincing and authoritative. Using a similar method as that used in the posters at the Headquarters of the National Anti-Suffrage Association, the women hold up posters with large capital letters reading messages such as “MR. PRESIDENT WHAT WILL YOU DO FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE.” The large lettering and impactful messages make this crowd stand out and make their message of women’s suffrage more visible and convincing for audiences. In addition to the use of large posters and other visible media in order to convince others of their cause, however, the women’s suffrage movement implemented a largely novel technique in the cause through its use of peaceful parades in order to protest against the lack of voting rights for women. As can be seen in the image “Youngest Parader in New York Suffragist Parade” by the American Press Association, the women’s suffrage movement used large but peaceful parades in order to spread their message. By wearing flags reading “VOTES FOR WOMEN” and by clearly showing very large posters in support of their cause, suffragettes made their message extremely clear. Since such a large group of people was moving through a very large city (New York City) it would have been impossible for pedestrians to ignore the parade or its message. By implementing this “moving message” format, the movement made its ideas and opinions clear and highly visible to its audience. Both by implementing the techniques of stationary media visibility from the anti-suffrage movement and by using new forms of portraying their message in a mobile but nonviolent way, suffragettes were able to create more public visibility for their goals and ideas across the nation.

Finally, one highly unique aspect of women’s suffrage strategy involved nonviolent civil disobedience. Although many groups, such as labor unions, had engaged in civil disobedience in the past, this often erupted into violence – but many supporters of the women’s suffrage movement were able to break the law without harming others. As the title page of An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony shows, one of the most profound ways in which the women’s suffrage movement connected with nonviolent civil disobedience was by simply voting in elections. The title page states that the book talks about “The Trial of Susan B. Anthony on the Charge of Illegal Voting” and a title like this was likely part of the reason for Anthony’s effort at voting when she was not allowed to. Had Susan B. Anthony not been caught, she would have been able to cast her vote: which was her ultimate aim in supporting the women’s suffrage movement. However, the fact that Anthony was caught likely helped the suffrage movement on a greater scale overall. Having a suffrage punished for simply “expressing her liberties” and voting freely could be widely publicized by the suffrage movement as a blatant disregard on the part of the government for the rights and liberties of women. Through various acts of civil disobedience which did not hurt anyone, the women’s suffrage movement attempted to make itself visible and more heard by the government and the public.

In conclusion, the women’s suffrage movement used a logical appeal to their audience, various visible and very public media forms and acts of nonviolent civil disobedience in order to make their cause clear and widespread across the nation. Though strongly opposed in viewpoint, the women’s suffrage movement took inspiration in logical structure, general structure and clear propaganda from the anti-suffrage movement, which allowed for easier comparison and understanding of the movements. In turn, the suffragettes hoped that this simplified comparison would allow people to realize the superiority of suffrage arguments over those against the movement.

Works Cited

American Press Association, "Youngest Parader in New York Suffragist Parade," 1912, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Harris and Ewing, "Headquarters of the National Anti-Suffrage Association," ca. 1911, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

National American Woman Suffrage Association, "Votes for Women! The Woman's Reason," 1912, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, "Some Reasons Why We Oppose Votes for Women," 1894, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

"The First Picket Line — College Day in the Picket Line," February 1917, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Title page image of An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony (Rochester, NY: Daily Democrat and Chronicle Book Print, 1874), Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.