Anti-Suffrage Arguments, Broadside, circa 1912

The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia was founded in 1909 in Richmond. Members of the league sought to win the right to vote for women. A this time, many men—and women—believed that voting women were 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 politics. 

In 1912, another group of women organized the Virginia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. Anti-suffragists claimed that the majority of women did not want the responsibility of voting, which they deemed a privilege rather than a right. Much of the anti-suffragist rhetoric was based on the arguments that a women’s proper role was within the home in contrast to men's roles outside of the home.

This broadside highlights the efforts of the Virginia Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage to tie the suffrage movement directly to socialism, a political ideology that was gaining some momentum at the time as labor reform efforts increased. Socialism was highly controversial at the time as many Americans viewed it as a challenge to democracy and free enterprise.

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, c. 1910s
Women Do Want the Vote, Broadside, 1916

Learn more about the anti-suffrage movement in Virginia in The UncommonWealth blog.

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 or where women do not feel that women are considered equal to men. How and why does culture impact the decisions made to give or not give women rights in the 21st century?