Midterm - History of Women's Movements in North America

What is the core difference in how Maternal Feminism and Equality Feminism justify women's rights?

Maternal Feminism: Rights are justified by women's difference from men (their unique moral role as mothers). Equality Feminism: Rights are justified by women's equality to men (a matter of justice and natural rights).

How did the paths to suffrage differ structurally between the U.S. and Canada?

U.S.: A national victory via a constitutional amendment (19th Amendment in 1920). Canada: A gradual, province-first path (Manitoba in 1916), leading to federal enfranchisement, with key legal victories like the Persons Case (1929) coming later.

What was a major ideological difference between the American and Canadian suffrage movements?

The Canadian movement was more deeply and explicitly rooted in Maternal Feminism ("social housekeeping"), while the American movement had a stronger foundational element of Equality Feminism (from the Declaration of Sentiments).

How was the Canadian suffrage movement exclusionary, and how was this linked to Maternal Feminism?

It denied the vote to Indigenous and Chinese women for decades. Linked to Maternal Feminism because its rhetoric often promoted a narrow, Anglo-European ideal of motherhood and citizenship, reinforcing racial hierarchies.

How did the Abolitionist movement act as a "training ground" for the Women's Rights movement?

It provided women with their first platform for public political activism, giving them crucial skills in public speaking, organizing, and petitioning for a moral cause.

What ideological tool did early feminists borrow from the Abolitionist movement?

The language of natural rights, liberty, and equality. The Declaration of Sentiments was directly modeled on the Declaration of Independence, an abolitionist and revolutionary text.

What event caused a major schism between the Abolition and Women's Rights movements, and what was the result?

The 15th Amendment, which granted voting rights to Black men but not women. Result: split in the women's movement, racist rhetoric by some white feminists, founding of separate Black women's organizations (e.g., NACW).

How did the activism of Black women, like those in the NACW, demonstrate "intersectionality" before the term was coined?

They refused to separate the fight against racism from the fight against sexism, simultaneously fighting lynching (racial justice) and suffrage (gender justice).

How did the Industrial Revolution and the "Cult of True Womanhood" ultimately help spark the feminist movement?

By creating a strict "separate spheres" ideology that confined women to the home, these forces created shared frustration, forming the basis for organizing to challenge exclusion from public life.

Abigail Adams

Wife of U.S. President John Adams; in 1776, she urged him to "remember the ladies," making her an early symbolic voice for women's political rights.

Susan B. Anthony

Leading American suffragist; co-founded the National Woman Suffrage Association; illegal vote in 1872 brought national attention; symbol of women's equality fight.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Pioneering early women's rights leader; organized 1848 Seneca Falls Convention; authored Declaration of Sentiments, a foundational document.

Sojourner Truth

Formerly enslaved woman and orator; speech "Ain't I a Woman?" challenged racial and gender stereotypes; advocated universal suffrage and intersectional justice.

Ida B. Wells

African American journalist and activist; led anti-lynching campaigns; connected civil rights and women's suffrage; co-founded NACW.

Frances Willard

President of WCTU; linked temperance to women's suffrage, arguing women needed the vote for social housekeeping.

Margaret Hinchey

Laundry worker and suffragist; argued suffrage was essential for better wages and working conditions for women.

Nellie McClung

Canadian suffragist, social reformer; member of Famous Five; key figure in Persons Case declaring women "persons" under Canadian law.

The Famous Five

Five Alberta women (Emily Murphy, Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Muir Edwards) who won the 1929 Persons Case, making women eligible for Canadian Senate.

Mary Church Terrell

First president of NACW; leader in intersectional struggle for racial uplift and gender equality.

Pauli Murray

Civil rights lawyer and co-founder of NOW; coined "Jane Crow"; influenced landmark rulings on race and gender equality.

Betty Friedan

Author of The Feminine Mystique (1963); co-founded NOW; key figure in second-wave feminism focusing on workplace equality and personal fulfillment.

Maternal / Social Feminism

Ideology that women's roles as mothers justified entry into public life to enact social reforms; strategic argument for suffrage.

Equality Feminism / Equal Rights Feminism

Perspective seeking legal and social equality; formed backbone of suffrage and equal personhood fight.

Cult of True Womanhood

19th-century ideology defining women by piety, purity, domesticity, submissiveness; enforced "separate spheres."

Coverture

Legal doctrine where a married woman's identity was covered by her husband; central target of early feminism.

Intersectionality

Concept (coined by Crenshaw) that systems of oppression (race, gender, class) overlap; lens for analyzing limitations of early feminist movements.

Indigenous Feminism

Movement focusing on survival of Indigenous peoples; promotes "motherwork"; challenges exclusionary colonial ideals.

Separate Spheres

Public (male) sphere of work/politics vs. private (female) home sphere; challenged by feminists.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

First women's rights convention in U.S.; produced Declaration of Sentiments; marked start of organized movement.

Declaration of Sentiments

Document outlining women's grievances and demanding equal rights; foundational text for U.S. movement.

Persons Case (1929)

Canadian constitutional case where Famous Five argued women were "persons," eligible for Senate; major legal victory.

Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

Major women's organization; linked temperance to suffrage and social reform under Frances Willard.

National Association of Colored Women (NACW)

Organization uniting Black women's clubs; fought for racial uplift and gender equality.

Suffrage in Canada

Gradual: Manitoba first (1916), then federal (1918); driven by maternal feminist arguments but exclusionary to Indigenous and Chinese women.

How did Maternal Feminism justify the demand for the vote?

Argued women needed political power to better perform roles as moral guardians; extended "social housekeeping" to reform education and public health.

What is the link between British and American suffrage tactics?

American suffragists adopted militant tactics from British suffragettes: picketing, hunger strikes, public demonstrations to dramatize equality message.

How did the experiences of Black women feminists differ from white mainstream feminists?

Black women faced racism and sexism; formed own organizations (NACW); focused on intersectional issues like anti-lynching, often excluded from white suffrage groups.

How was the Canadian suffrage movement exclusionary?

While successful for white women, maternal feminism rhetoric reinforced colonial nationalism, excluding Indigenous, Black, and Asian women from citizenship and the vote.

How did the Industrial Revolution impact women's roles and feminism?

Shifted work from home to factories, creating sharper "separate spheres" division; confinement to private sphere helped spark feminist activism.