The “womanhood” rationale in the woman suffrage rhetoric of Frances E. Willard
- 1 November 1991
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Southern Communication Journal
- Vol. 56 (4) , 298-307
- https://doi.org/10.1080/10417949109372841
Abstract
Frances E. Willard, the leader of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union from 1879–1898, relied primarily on womanhood arguments, making her uniquely successful at promoting woman suffrage with conservative audiences. Willard, through strategic use of euphemism and metaphor, linked woman's desire for the vote with the qualities of women embodied in the “true womanhood” ideal. This essay concludes that the popularization of Willard's strategies represented a transformation of the symbolic context of the woman suffrage movement, and it examines the implications of that transformation for later feminist action.Keywords
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