Woman's Suffrage

Women in the United States made the fight for suffrage their most fundamental demand because they saw it as the defining feature of full citizenship. The philosophy underlying women's suffrage was the belief in "natural rights" to govern themselves and choose their own representatives. Woman's suffrage asserted that women should enjoy individual rights of self-government, rather than relying on indirect civic participation as the mothers, sisters, or daughters of male voters. However, most men and even some women believed that women were not suited by circumstance or temperament for the vote. Because women by nature were believed to be dependent on men and subordinate to them, many thought women could not be trusted to exercise the independence of thought necessary for choosing political leaders responsibly. Others feared that entry of women into political life challenged the assignment of women to the home and might lead to disruption of...
[ View Full Essay]