CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
Early in the twentieth century, some Virginia women embraced the fight for equal voting rights and organized the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia in 1909. Many women, however, opposed such efforts and a group in Richmond established the Virginia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage in 1912. Members saw voting women as a threat to marriage and families because respectable women were meant to stay at home raising children and taking care of the household instead of participating in the dirty business of politics. They argued that women could be more effective in social reform efforts by remaining outside and above political action. Anti-suffragists also claimed that the majority of women did not want the responsibility of voting, which they deemed a privilege rather than a right.
Like suffragists, the anti-suffragists published pamphlets, leaflets, and broadsides to publicize their arguments. In this broadside, the Association notably links women's voting rights to radicalism and socialism. It was likely produced sometime after the United States entered World War I in 1917, which was also the year when Russians overthrew their monarchy and adopted a socialist government. Fears of such radicalism spreading to the United States prompted some anti-suffragists to associate the growing feminist movement and women's voting rights with threats to democracy and American capitalism.
Citation: Virginia Association Opposed to Woman's Suffrage, Anti-suffrage Arguments: Danger! Woman’s Suffrage, the Vanguard of Socialism, Broadside 191- .A684 FF, Manuscripts & Special Collections, Library of Virginia.
Related Document Bank Entries:
Virginia Association Opposed to Woman's Suffrage, Broadside, 1910s
Voting Qualifications in Virginia, Pamphlet, 1910s
Learn more about the anti-suffrage movement in Virginia in The UncommonWealth blog.
Standards
Art: 4.3, 5.3
Suggested Questions
Lesson Plan
For detailed lesson plan options, visit our Lesson Plan on the Woman Suffrage Movement in Virginia.
Preview Activity
Scan It: Scan the broadside. List the words which are repeated more than twice or which are purposely in large typeface. Why would the creator of this document choose to use words repeatedly? What impact might the repetition and size of the type have on a reader?
Post Activities
Social Media Spin: Using hashtags and memes, convert the messages of this broadside into short, social media-style messages that may have been used had the technology existed at the time.
Analyze: Why would women be opposed to the idea women having the right to vote? What does their opposition tell you about the prevailing culture and values in the early 1900’s?
Another Perspective: There are countries around the world today in which women do not have the same rights as men. How and why does culture impact the decisions made to give or not give women rights in the 21st century?