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Women's rights are for men? Arguments for expanding women's rights on the basis that men will benefit have a long history. Two well-known examples from the US: During the struggle for women's suffrage in the US, one of the arguments put forth was that

women deserved the vote because they were different from men. They could make their domesticity into a political virtue, using the franchise to create a purer, more moral "maternal commonwealth." This argument served many political agendas: Temperance advocates, for instance, wanted women to have the vote because they thought it would mobilize an enormous voting bloc on behalf of their cause, and many middle-class white people were swayed once again by the argument that the enfranchisement of white women would "ensure immediate and durable white supremacy, honestly attained."

A similar argument crops up in debates over coeducation at formerly all-male liberal arts colleges history of coeducation at US colleges, where "[s]upporters of coeducation often argued that the presence of women would have a civilizing effect on male students," and the decision by administrators to admit women was often based on largely economic concerns. [more inside]
posted by eviemath on Dec 6, 2012 - 185 comments

"Now, in 2012, it’s possible the women’s vote could effect the outcome the U.S. presidential election. You would think we’d also have moved beyond gender stereotypes depicted in these postcards, but they’re still strong." War on Women, Waged in Postcards: Memes From the Suffragist Era
posted by sarastro on Nov 2, 2012 - 59 comments

Women in Saudi Arabia to vote and run in elections: Women in Saudi Arabia are to be given the right to vote and run in future municipal elections, King Abdullah has announced. [more inside]
posted by infini on Sep 25, 2011 - 53 comments

In a new paper , Harvard economics Alberto Alesina and Nathan Nunn and UCLA economist Paola Giuliano correlate "societies with a tradition of plough agriculture" with "female labor force participation, female participation in politics, female ownership of firms, the sex ratio and self-expressed attitudes about the role of women in society." In short, if your ancestors used a plough, you're likely to think women belong in the kitchen.
posted by l33tpolicywonk on Dec 1, 2010 - 30 comments

Though her nomination was a joke, instigated by a group of men hoping to inhibit the local activities of the Women's Christian Temperance Union by embarrassing female voters, Susanna Madora "Dora" Kinsey Salter surprised the pranksters by winning two-thirds of the vote in the mayoral election of 1887 in tiny Argonia, Kansas, becoming not only America's first female mayor, but also earning the distinction of being the first woman elected to any political office in the United States. Her official notice of election read: Madam, You are hereby notified that at an election held in the city of Argonia on Monday April 4/87, for the purpose of electing city officers, you were duly elected to the office of Mayor of said city. You will take due notice thereof and govern yourself accordingly. Though she only served one term and had no further political ambitions, she became a hero of the early women's suffrage movement. [more inside]
posted by amyms on Sep 1, 2010 - 28 comments

When a long train of abuses and usurpation, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled. 152 years ago yesterday was the last day of the Seneca Falls Convention when the Declaration of Sentiments along with an accompanying set of resolutions were signed by 68 women and 32 men. [more inside]
posted by Deathalicious on Jul 20, 2010 - 12 comments

VADS is a resource for visual art, a huge range of things from students' work to collections of historical art and design. [more inside]
posted by paduasoy on Jan 4, 2008 - 6 comments

In 1897, Elizabeth Smith Miller and her daughter Anne Fitzhugh Miller founded the Geneva Political Equality Club, an organization dedicated to fighting for women's suffrage in the United States. Between them, the two women kept several scrapbooks documenting their efforts through 1911. Via.
posted by Rykey on Nov 11, 2007 - 7 comments

Senate kills bill to give D.C. representation (L.A. Times). [more inside]
posted by Navelgazer on Sep 19, 2007 - 76 comments

Who can count the ills visited upon modern society by women's suffrage? Dr. John Lott would include government spending, taxation and social programs. Lawrence Auster thinks that it's worth considering an end to the experiment of women's suffrage. (And is mocked and responds). Perhaps he'll find an ally in former senator Kay O'Connor.

On some level, it's heartening to see conservatives conserving 100-year-old arguments.
posted by klangklangston on Aug 13, 2007 - 54 comments

Women In Iran With the slogan of "Women's Right Is Human Right", the website tries to tell the story of struggles, issues and successes of Iranian women, and in this way we would like to extend our hands to and welcome all those who believe in the social and intellectual equality of women and men.
posted by hoder on Sep 21, 2004 - 3 comments

The Suffragists Oral History Project has collected and transcribed oral histories from leaders and participants of the American women's suffrage movement. Suffragists Speak has audio clips of Alice Paul. [Via rebecca's pocket.]
posted by homunculus on Feb 18, 2004 - 3 comments

Kansas state senator decries women's suffrage in a shocking speech given at a League of Women Voters luncheon. "We have a society that does tear families apart," Sen. Kay O'Connor said. "I think the 19th Amendment, while it's not an evil in and of itself, is a symptom of something I don't approve of."
posted by MegoSteve on Sep 30, 2001 - 46 comments