Arguments Against Women's Suffrage

Women’s Suffrage Starting when the Seneca Falls Convention was held, the women’s rights movement changed the course of history. The first women’s suffrage convention was held in 1848 marking the start of the women’s rights movement. Surprisingly, during the 1800’s women had next to no rights. The convention convinced them to demand equal rights in society, including demands for available education and voting rights. Although people fought, protested and marched tirelessly, it was only until 1920 when women finally achieved the right to vote. On the prospect of women being able to vote raised some questions both suffragists and anti-suffragists wondered. One of them being how would the role of women and men change in a household. Pro-suffragists argue that women and men’s roles …show more content…
Suffragists answered this question by saying that the government will become whole-er because giving women the ballot would eliminate the contradiction the government has had for years. That contradiction which is the government being a democracy but it doesn’t consider the voices of those it’s governing. As Senator Owen states, “The great doctrine of the American Republic that ‘all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed’ justifies the plea of one half of the people, the women, to exercise the suffrage.” The anti-suffragists argue that if women enter politics that the government will become weak and unable. As the New Jersey Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage states, “The ballot degenerates from power to weakness and weakness spells anarchy and ruin in government.” The argument that makes the most sense is the argument the suffragists made. Providing women with the right to vote makes the government whole because the contradiction that the women suffered from is eliminated. Therefore, the government then and only then truly governs with the consent of the