A Room at a Time How Women Entered Party Politics

by Freeman, Jo

• ISBN13: 9780847698042
• ISBN10: 0847698041
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-12-15
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

In this important volume, Jo Freeman brings us the very full, rich story of how American women entered into political life and party politics-well before suffrage and, in many cases, completely separate from it. She shows how women carefully and methodically learned about the issues, the candidates, and the institutions, put themselves to work, and made themselves indispensable not only to the men running for office, but to the political system overall.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: Feminists, Reformers, and Party Women	1	(236)
Myth as History	1	(3)
Political Women	4	(2)
Political Parties	6	(3)
Social Movements and Party Systems: Where Do Women Fit?	9	(18)
Social Movements	9	(2)
Party Systems	11	(9)
Where Do Women Fit?	20	(7)
Cracking Open the Door: Women and Partisanship in the Nineteenth Century	27	(20)
Female Reform	28	(3)
Woman's Rights	31	(1)
Partisanship	32	(5)
Women in Politics	37	(5)
Partisanship and Suffrage	42	(5)
Assaulting the Citadel: Woman Suffrage and the Political Parties	47	(16)
Woman Suffrage and the Progressive Movement	47	(3)
Opposition to Woman Suffrage	50	(3)
Female Reform Organizations	53	(4)
Feminism	57	(2)
NAWSA and Nonpartisanship	59	(4)
Learning the Ropes: Emergence of the Party Woman	63	(22)
The New Party Woman	65	(5)
The Election of 1912	70	(6)
The Election of 1916	76	(5)
The Parties Respond	81	(4)
Making a Place: The Women's Divisions	85	(24)
The Democrats	86	(10)
The Republicans	96	(11)
Success But Not Survival	107	(2)
Party Organization: The Evolution of Fifty--Fifty	109	(14)
The Colorado Plan	110	(1)
The National Committees	111	(2)
The Committee Officers	113	(1)
State and Local Party Committees	114	(5)
The Futility of 50--50	119	(4)
Down Different Paths: Women's Organizations and Political Parties after 1920	123	(26)
The League of Women Voters	124	(5)
The National Woman's Party	129	(5)
The Women's Progressive Network	134	(4)
Other Feminist Organizations	138	(1)
Prohibition and Repeal	139	(4)
Peace and Patriotism	143	(6)
Building a Base: Women in Local Party Politics	149	(30)
Bringing Women into the Parties	150	(3)
Political Clubs	153	(10)
Keeping Women in Their Place	163	(1)
Political Machines	164	(6)
Sex Solidarity and Sex Prejudice	170	(4)
Illusion and Disillusion	174	(2)
Female Infiltration	176	(3)
Doing Their Bit: Women in National Party Politics	179	(24)
The National Conventions	180	(3)
The Convention Committees	183	(1)
Women's Work in Presidential Campaigns	184	(15)
The Woman's Vote?	199	(4)
Having a Say: Women's Issues in the Party Platforms	203	(10)
Claiming a Share: Presidential Appointments of Women	213	(14)
Expanding Women's Sphere	214	(1)
Presidential Appointments	215	(12)
Conclusion	227	(10)
Opportunities and Constraints	229	(5)
What Women Accomplished	234	(3)
Sources, Citations, and Abbreviations	237	(4)
Notes	241	(70)
References	311	(28)
Index	339	(14)
About the Author	353