Anti-Suffragists

While suffragists had national organizations since 1869, anti suffragist associations were not founded until 1911 when the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NAOWS) was founded by Josephine Dodge in 1911. Anti-suffragists argued that most women did not want the vote and that women lacked the expertise or mental capacity to provide a useful opinion. They also said that women did not have the time to vote or stay updated on politics because they were to busy taking care of the home and children, and that women's votes would double the electorate, costing more without adding value.

The National Association Opposed to woman Suffrage was founded in 1911.

Propaganda

After picture postcards were invented in the late 19th century, they became a ground for political arguments. Many anti-suffragist postcards depict men performing "women's roles", such as cooking, cleaning, and caring for children. Other postcards show suffragettes as domineering, abusive, physically ugly women who couldn't get a husband any other way than to overthrow society.

The Smithsonian magazine article, "These Anti-Suffragette Postcards Warned Against Giving Women the Vote", quotes Kenneth Florey's book, American Woman Suffrage Postcards: a Study and Catalog, “Clearly the assumption of these cards is that normal women marry and settle into ‘traditional’ roles; the suffragette is not normal, she is a genderless creature whose beliefs and appearance set her outside the general order. But she is frightening and dangerous at times.”

The Anti-Suffrage Rose was written by Phil Hanna and was published by the Women's Anti-Suffrage Association.

Image Caption reads: How can she vote, when the fashions are so wide, and the voting booths are so narrow?