The History Of The National Association Opposed To Woman Suffrage
As the Women's Suffrage Movement gained momentum, the pushback against such changes increased as well. Leading this charge was Josephine Jewell Dodge. Dodge was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1855 to a wealthy and politically-connected family (per Britannica). After marrying a New York businessman and involving herself deeply in issues of progressive social reform, she began to publicly oppose voting for rights for women, as she felt it would threaten what was perceived as the nonpartisan reform work of women. In 1911, she officially established the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) in New York City.
The New England Historical Society explains that these "antis" were often heavily involved in improving society's ills with poverty, poor living conditions for immigrants, awful prisons, and child labor. To politicize that, in their minds, threatened the work that they had been and were doing. In 1912, the events surrounding the sinking of the Titanic proved an example for Dodge, who penned an article in the organization's journal, "The Woman's Protest," wherein she argued that having women get on the lifeboats first demonstrated that women are not "fitted for men's tasks," (via The New York Times). Some of their messaging was more explicit. One of the organization's leaflets, for instance, contained a cartoon showing a woman holding a voting ballot like a baby, stating that she was hugging a "delusion" (per The Washington Post). Others showed women replacing men in various aspects of society.
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