Anti-Women's Suffrage Rhetoric | Educating with Evidence | SIU

Anti-Women's Suffrage Introduction

In the United States, it was just over 100 years ago that women gained the right to vote (suffrage); however, the documents below from the Digital Inquiry Group’s original lesson show that this success was not easy. For example, Molly Elliot Seawell argued in 1911, “It has often been pointed out that women should not pass laws on matters of war and peace, since no woman can do military duty.” The article continues, “No woman can have any practical knowledge of shipping and navigation, of the work of training men on railways, of mining, or any of the other subjects of highest importance.”

Your Task: Use the rhetoric vocabulary adapted from Patricia Roberts-Miller’s book to analyze the documents below and argue which 2-3 strategies (e.g., societal barriers, labeling) were used to specifically create fear about women gaining the right to vote in the United States. Use the graphic organizer to help you document your evidence from the sources.