Date of Award
2010
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Honors Thesis
Department
History
First Advisor
Vivian Deno
Abstract
This thesis will examine gendered political culture and masculinity in Indiana during the Progressive Era, leading up to the enfranchisement of women. Using articles from newspapers and periodicals, this work will examine how women were presented in the public sphere, how they were methodically portrayed as the lighter sex, used for advertising for clothing or appliances and never taken seriously as political figures. Then, this paper will ex plain the profile of women's suffrage in Indiana, how the women in this state began the fight for the vote, the women and the conventions that carried it onward, and finally their successes and ratification of the I 91 h amendment. Lastly, thi s thesis will examine Hoosier, gendered political culture a fter women won the vote: how did women's roles and voices change in the public sphere after women won the ri ght to vote? How were they portrayed to the publi c once they had the right and th e option to participate in public elections? In the state of Indiana, before they had the vote, men, women, and the gendered political culture that separated them were defined by Progressive Era masculinity. When women were working towards suffrage, they were campaigning against a century of fraternal prejudice. However, when suffrage was granted them, women escaped from the confinement of separate spheres and changed the fraternal idea of Indiana masculinity: they introduced themselves onto the public stage and the gendered political culture of Indiana was changed forever.
Recommended Citation
Rump, Lindsay E., "Votes for Women: Women's Suffrage, Gendered Political Culture, and Progressive Era Masculinity in the State of Indiana" (2010). Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection. 275.
https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ugtheses/275