The Women S Suffrage Movement
The Women S Suffrage Movement
Elizabeth L. Beck PhD , Ellen Dorsey PhD & April Stutters MSW
To cite this article: Elizabeth L. Beck PhD , Ellen Dorsey PhD & April Stutters MSW (2003) The
Women's Suffrage Movement, Journal of Community Practice, 11:3, 13-33
INTRODUCTION
Movement Emergence
social movements. It is from the character and course portion of the lit-
erature that we began to identify the five critical factors to the success of
the WSM: framing, social movement communities, external resources,
cross-national interaction, and leadership.
Framing, at its core, refers to the way in which an issue or its message
is articulated. Goffman (1974) defined frames as a “schemata of inter-
pretation” in which individuals “locate, perceive, identify and label”
themselves and the world at large (p. 21). Frames can be considered the
vehicle from which individuals identify with an issue, a collective iden-
tity is formed, and momentum is nurtured and supported (Snow et al.,
1986). In the social movement literature three types of frames have been
identified: (1) diagnostic frames, in which the issue being addressed or
the injustice is articulated; (2) prognostic frames, which set forth the
strategies for action; and (3) motivational frames, which support indi-
viduals in collective action (Wilson, 1973; Snow & Benford, 1988).
Staggenborg (1998) defines social movement communities as net-
works of activists who are committed to the goals of the social move-
ment. Social movement communities hold two important purposes.
First, they help to explain movement emergence, in that multiple move-
ments often will emerge during cycles of protest or politically active
times. As noted above, the initiating movement is often tied to resource
mobilization or political opportunity, and the spin-off movements are
viewed as related to the activism within the cycle of protest. To support
group efficacy, social movement communities create a collective iden-
tity. This collective identity is nurtured through the social movement’s
use of symbols, rituals, values and ideology (Taylor, 1992). Staggenborg
argues that this group efficacy supports the community and the overall
movement. Another component of a social movement community can be
a radical flank. McAdam et al. (1988) describe the radical flank effect as
the notion that radical groups can gain greater acceptance for moderate
groups and their demands (McAdam et al.,1988).
External resources–and money, in particular–are critical to the suc-
cess of a social movement (Jenkins & Perrow, 1977). Notably, social
movements that are based on identity or culture are often able to obtain
resources with greater ease than those based on class. The WSM, for ex-
ample, as an identity movement that captured the imagination of middle
class women, did have access to external resources (Melucci, 1994;
Piven & Cloward, 1979; Cloward & Piven, 1999).
The infusion of new experiences and ideas is also important to the de-
velopment of a social movement, as are the sources of energy, power
and legitimacy derived from interaction with other national movements
Beck, Dorsey, and Stutters 17
tional Women’s Party (NWP), known for its lobbying, picketing, civil
disobedience and engagement in prison hunger strikes. While NAWSA
members initially distanced themselves from the young radicals, they
eventually incorporated a number of their ideas in their own work (Dubois,
1996; Ford, 1996; Lunardini, 1986).
Following her husband’s death in 1910, Catt, a former colleague of
Stanton and Anthony’s, returned to the United States from Europe,
where she had been a leader in cross-national organizing. While abroad,
she had sought to encourage global suffrage and engage heads of state
in the fight for women’s suffrage in the United States. Upon her return,
she led an expertly organized referendum campaign in New York State.
In 1915, Catt was again elected President of the NAWSA, and resumed
leadership (Catt & Shuler, 1969; Van Voris, 1987). Catt’s work differed
from that of previous suffragists. Although the WSM implemented strate-
gic state-oriented campaigns, its work both nationally and within chosen
states was centered on consciousness raising. Catt, however, believed that
the consciousness of the country had been raised, and now the work needed
to be targeted on influencing legislation.
Taking her philosophy to the national level, in 1917 Catt initiated
what she called The Winning Plan: a coordinated advocacy effort to ob-
tain a critical mass of states with suffrage and the initiation of a
full-blown federal campaign. Organizing work began on both the state
and federal level (Catt & Shuler, 1969; Lunardini, 1986; Van Voris,
1987). Catt explained that the suffragists came to know Congress like
no other group, and toward the end of the campaign, women were com-
ing and going between Congress and the NAWSA in relays in numbers
up to the hundreds. The women learned about congressional operations
thoroughly and knew intimately the “work, machinery; its tricks; the
men in it, their pet foibles, their fundamental weaknesses, their finer
ability and their human quality” (Van Voris, 1987, p. 316).
In 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, giving women the
right to vote, but state ratification was needed. Relatively easily,
twenty-three states ratified, but a twenty-fourth was needed. Of the remain-
ing states, Tennessee was the one most sympathetic to suffrage, and activists
from both sides lobbied the state. A legislative vote of 48-48 signaled a de-
feat for women. However, remembering his mother’s request that he support
Mrs. Catt, State Representative Harry Barnes changed his vote and cast
the final affirmative vote in the 72-year campaign for suffrage
(Flexner, 1970).
20 JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PRACTICE
ANALYTIC METHODS
Consciousness Raising
During the last 12 years of the campaign, with the probability of suf-
frage in sight, the frames shifted from awareness to action, as well as
moving from ideas of freedom to calls for specific action. In reflecting
on the convention of 1915, Francis Harper wrote, “For more than 40
years the conventions were dominated by intellectual feasts. In this way
the seed was sowed and public sentiment created. This year it was felt
that the general public needed no further education on this subject; the
association had become a business meeting and the woman suffrage
question one of practical politics” (Stanton et al., 1985d, p. 441). Catt
articulated this shift in framing when she said that she did not know
whether suffrage was a right, duty, or privilege, but women wanted it. In
1917, billboards told people to attend a meeting and help nail the suf-
frage plank (Finnegan, 1999, p. 61).
22 JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PRACTICE
Building Commitment
Motivational frames did not permeate the WSM, but rather an indi-
vidual’s motivation to support the WSM was garnered through the diag-
nostic frames that raised consciousness and the prognostic frames for
action. For example, the organizers viewed petitions not as political
tools, since they recognized that suffrage would not be won by petition
alone, but rather as motivational activities in which the act of signing
one’s name would bind oneself to a cause (Stanton, 1970; Stanton, An-
thony, & Gage, 1985).
A mutually reinforcing relationship develops between the frame of
action, direct action and motivation. Consider C. Wright Mill’s discus-
sion of the positive effect on an individual’s commitment to an issue
when that individual takes the issue from a closed space into an open
sphere (Mills, 1959). In the 1900s, younger suffragists radicalized by
the work of English “suffragettes” took the women’s movement into the
streets with open-air or soapbox lectures and other street-based activi-
ties. In 1910, the streets of New York teemed with suffrage soapboxes.
Describing the campaign, Mary Ting said, “we don’t mind them hoot-
ing . . . all of them will go home and talk to their families about the great
gathering we had, and our cause will get great advertising” (Lumsden,
1997, p. 32). In addition to soapbox campaigns, the younger suffragists
initiated local and national parades. For many participants it took enor-
mous courage to show their political desire in such a public manner
(Lumsden, 1997). Lumsden (1997) states that, “A sense of solidarity
and idealism rubbed off on the women who marched shoulder to shoul-
der in vibrant, color-coordinated costumes, bearing exquisitely stitched
banners of velvet and silk who road opulent floats . . . as bands stirred
the air with marching music” (p. 275).
Movement Community
The WSM emerged during a cycle of protest and was rooted in the
abolitionist and temperance movement. Stanton and Mott met in Lon-
don, following their gender-related exclusion from the World Anti-Slav-
ery Convention in London. Abolitionists Sarah and Angelina Grimke
became suffrage leaders when they recognized that their abolition argu-
ment that individuals had the right to control their own bodies, also held
for women (Sanchez-Eppler, 1993). Anthony also committed herself to
a life of activism as a temperance worker, from which she gained a
number of organizing skills. The WSM not only emerged from a cycle
Beck, Dorsey, and Stutters 23
Collective Identity
alliances were sold; these included badges, clothing, and luggage tags
(Finnegan, 1999; Lumsden, 1997).
Collective identity galvanized the actions of the WSM, and its effec-
tiveness was viewed in Shaw’s statement that, “I would rather be an ad-
vocate of equal suffrage and starve than to speak every night on the best
paying platform” (Stanton et al., 1985d, p. 7). Her passion for her iden-
tity was shared among many and helped sustain the movement.
Individual Relationships
External Resources
Constant sources of money and external resources also have been as-
sociated with the success of social movements (see, for example,
Jenkins & Perrow, 1977). The WSM gained great support in this regard,
particularly in that the movement was comprised largely of privileged
classes of white women, who were also the most immediate beneficia-
ries of the movement’s success. While the WSM was always seeking
money, lack of money was not viewed as a constraining factor (Flexner,
1970). For one thing, few suffragists drew salaries for their work
(Flexner, 1970). Moreover, one way or another, money was available
(Finnegan, 1999; Flexner, 1970), and wealthy individuals provided the
supporting financial glue (Dorr, 1970). For example, family donations
often supported Stone’s suffrage weekly (American Memory, 2000),
and in 1914, Catt received a two million dollar bequest from Mrs. Frank
Leslie to use for the movement.
Suffragists raised money in time-honored ways. Local groups sold
suffrage trinkets and raffle tickets, initiated rummage sales, and staged
a variety of fundraising events, including suffrage pageants (Finnegan,
1999). When Catt assumed the presidency of the NAWSA, she an-
nounced that she would raise a million dollars and accomplished her
goal in less than one year (Van Voris, 1987).
Cross-National Interaction
Leadership
Leaders frame issues, help the community take action, encourage com-
mitment and often set the tone or steer the course of action (Brueggemann,
1996; Bobo, Kendall, & Max, 1999). The extraordinary leadership capabil-
ities of Stanton, Anthony, Catt, and others are well documented (Dorr,
1970; Ford, 1996; Stanton, 1970; Van Voris, 1987). Within the NWSA,
Stanton held the role of enthusiast, while Anthony and Catt with their
organizing leadership fulfilled more bureaucratic roles. Each of these
women, along with numerous lesser-known local leaders, developed
and orchestrated strategies and tactics, as well as garnered supporters
for the movement.
Catt’s bureaucratic leadership skills can be viewed as particularly as-
tonishing. Flexner indicated that Catt’s greatest gift, “outranking even
her excellence as an organizer was [her] vision which enabled her to
conceive a plan of action, in which each group could play a role to
achieve the desired goal” (p. 189). In 1910 Catt organized New York
into 804 electoral districts and made sure that each district had a team
leader. Team leaders saw that every person in their district had been
talked to about suffrage and that their districts posted banners and held
canvassing squads, speeches, open-air protest meetings, concerts, street
parties, parades and pageants. As a result of these efforts, later in
1917–the year that New York achieved suffrage–1,030,000 names were
collected on petitions (Catt & Shuler, 1969; Van Voris, 1987). Suffrage
Beck, Dorsey, and Stutters 27
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Beck, Dorsey, and Stutters 33
1840 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott meet and agree to hold a convention to
advocate for the rights of women.
1848 The Seneca Falls Convention is held, and a small group of women initiate a con-
sciousness-raising campaign.
1851 Susan B. Anthony joins the Women’s Suffrage Movement (WSM) as a full-time or-
ganizer.
1867 The WSM seeks to win state suffrage in Kansas.
1869 The question of whether to support the enfranchisement of African American men
with the 15th amendment causes a split in the WSM.
1869 Supporters of the 15th amendment, such as Lucy Stone and Harry Blackwell,
start the American Suffrage Association, which publishes the Woman’s Journal, a
suffrage weekly.
1869 Anthony and Stanton begin the National Suffrage Organization.
1870 Anthony and Stanton align themselves with Francis Train, a rumored supporter of
the confederacy.
1871 Anthony and Stanton align themselves with Victoria Woodhull, a supporter of free
love.
1873 The National Suffrage Organization adopts the strategy of “testing the law.”
1890 After several years of negotiations, the National American Woman Suffrage Asso-
ciation (NAWSA) is formed.
1900 Anthony resigns as NAWSA President and Carrie Chapman Catt succeeds her.
1904 Catt resigns her presidency to devote more time to her husband. Dr. Anna
Howard Shaw is elected President of the NAWSA. Her tenure yields few accom-
plishments.
1907 Harriot Stanton Blatch forms the Equality League of Self Supporting Women, later
called the Women’s Political Union, and uses open-air speeches and parades to
bring suffrage into public space.
1910 Carrie Chapman Catt organizes the New York referendum campaign.
1915 With Florence Kelly’s leadership, Shaw is ousted as President of the NAWSA and
Catt voted to replace her.
1917 Catt initiates what she calls “The Winning Plan.”
1917 Paul and Blatch form the National Women’s Party (NWP).
1917 The NWP begins picketing the White House; picketers are arrested and begin
hunger strikes in jail.
1919 Congress passes the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.
1920 Twenty-two states ratify the 19th Amendment.
1920 Suffragists and anti-suffragists descend on Tennessee, the most likely of the re-
maining states to ratify.
1920 A vote held in Tennessee ratifies suffrage.