Women used everything they could.
Explanation:
Women used everything they could.
Western states like Wyoming and Colorado allowed women to vote before the turn of the century. In the case of Colorado, this was decided by a vote of males. Wives exercised influence over their husbands, they organized extremely well, and they caught the anti-temperance folks completely by surprise. A lot of the upper-class women in charge of organization made sure to reach out to poor women, and jumped a lot of class lines.
Women nationally and regionally used the image of the mother and the stewardess of the home. If women were supposed to educate effective citizens in their sons, then how could they when they weren't allowed to practice what they taught? Women also argued that they needed to vote in school board elections and for children's issues because that was the domain of their sex.
Look into some of the more radical tactics, too. Some of the suffragists used hunger strikes and pleas to the press to make men sympathetic to their cause. They argued that, as they had no say in the laws, they could not be held responsible for breaking them.
And when all else failed, hey, vote anyway! That's what Susan B. Anthony did, and she got arrested and convicted for voting. They would not allow her to testify in her own defense because she was female. She was allowed to give a sentencing statement, but the judge tried to cut her off early and ordered her to shut up and sit down. She took that order about as well as you would expect. It is a very good read.
