Synopses & Reviews
No Votes for Women explores the complicated history of the suffrage movement in New York State by delving into the stories of women who opposed the expansion of voting rights to women. Susan Goodier finds that conservative women who fought against suffrage encouraged women to retain their distinctive feminine identities as protectors of their homes and families, a role they felt was threatened by the imposition of masculine political responsibilities. She details the victories and defeats on both sides of the movement from its start in the 1890s to its end in the 1930s, acknowledging the powerful activism of this often overlooked and misunderstood political force in the history of women's equality.
Review
"
No Votes for Women fills an important gap in the current historical literature about suffrage and anti-suffrage movements. For the first time, Goodier describes the complicated, creative, and energetic dance of point and counter-point that suffragists and anti-suffragists created, revealing the ways in which suffragists and anti-suffragists learned from each other. A path-breaking work."--Judith Wellman, author of
The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Woman's Rights ConventionReview
andquot;Goodier has demonstrated the important role the Great War played in affecting domestic political campaigns. Any scholar interested in womanand#39;s rights, conservatism, or New York history will learn a tremendous amount from the work. And no future scholar studying either the suffrage movement or the anti-suffrage campaign will be able to think about the subject without first taking Goodierand#39;s analysis into full consideration.andquot;--
The Hudson River Valley Review andquot;No Votes for Women fills an important gap in the current historical literature about suffrage and anti-suffrage movements. For the first time, Goodier describes the complicated, creative, and energetic dance of point and counter-point that suffragists and anti-suffragists created, revealing the ways in which suffragists and anti-suffragists learned from each other. A path-breaking work.andquot;--Judith Wellman, author of The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Womanand#39;s Rights Convention
Review
"Goodier provides a compelling study of the female-led anti-suffrage movement in New York.and#160; A valuable addition to the study of women's suffrage and voting in the US.and#160; Highly recommended."--
ChoiceReview
and#160;andquot;Goodier adds to the historical discussion an emphasis on the interaction between the andquot;suffsandquot; and the andquot;antisandquot; and her focus on the differing impact of World War I on the anti-suffrage movement is also important. Another significant contribution of the work is to highlight the fact that antisuffrage women did not share the suffragistsand#39; dilemma over whether to join the traditional political parties after ratification.andquot;--The Journal of American History
andquot;This book rescues at last some of the anti-suffragists from their stereotyped oblivion as the puppets of hostile male interests and reintroduces them as committed activist women who disagreed with suffragists for their own carefully considered reasons.and#160; Thus it is a valuable contribution to suffrage studies that enriches our understanding of the complexities and consequences of this important movement.andquot;--American Historical Review
About the Author
Susan Goodier is scholar-in-residence at Hamilton College and museum consultant at the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation in Fayetteville, New York.