Comprising twelve essays and excerpts from previously published monographs and edited volumes by the University of Illinois Press, 100 Years of Women's Suffrage: A University of Illinois Press Anthology builds on the legacy of Illinois being one of the first states to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919. This expansive and well-researched collection explores the complex and enduring history of women's suffrage and voting rights not only in the United States but also in Europe. With the dual purpose of commemorating the centennial and also recognizing the work that is still to do, this new collection is divided into two parts, which effectively represent the struggle for voting equality both before and after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.
The power of 100 Years of Women's Suffrage unquestionably lies in the breadth of essays included within the volume and the wide-ranging areas of women's suffrage that they cover. The anthology starts with Professor Nancy A. Hewitt's original introduction, which not only meticulously lays out the chapters that are to follow but also effectively draws attention to the overarching themes of the anthology: “ideology and tactics, religion and race, sexuality and culture” (2). Presenting the reader with an insightful chronological account of key developments leading to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, the first half of the anthology is centered around cultural and political struggles for enfranchisement. Through a captivating mixture of primary accounts and gender studies essays, the contribution this volume offers to existing scholarship lies in the sheer variety and scope that these texts present collectively. Revealing the endeavours and activism of women across lines of race, class, and religion, the first half of this anthology is concerned not only with demonstrating the wide-ranging ways in which women fought for enfranchisement prior to 1920 but also with the fundamental battle between the public and the private sphere regarding women's rights more broadly.
The jewel within this first section is Lady Constance Lytton's excerpt from her 1914 memoir Prison and Prisoners. Arguably the most poignant essay of the entire anthology, Lytton's autobiographical narrative describes the appalling treatment many advocates for women's voting rights were subjected to at the hands of government and prison officials. The importance of autobiographies within the history of women's suffrage lies in their ability to offer personal, and often heroic, accounts of a cause that is often defined by intangible political markers. In documenting these accounts of female activism, Part I reinforces the notion that the Nineteenth Amendment was not only a significant achievement for voting rights but also a groundbreaking moment in the struggle for women's rights. Consciously moving away from earlier works on the suffrage movement that have since been criticized for being too focussed on the vote, rather than on other aspects of women's rights, the first six essays in this collection demonstrate a concerted effort to collectively expand the remit of the historiography of women's rights. Another leading asset of this anthology is Dawn Durante's ability to compile a cross-section of material that previously may not have been recognized as a cohesive collection. The way in which the essays in this section not only speak to one another but collectively comment on larger discussions of women's rights demonstrates how this approach is able to offer new insights into the field of gender studies.
Highlighting the intersectionality of sexism, racism and classism that affected nonwhite women in the fight for suffrage after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, the second half of this volume explores how, for many women, the amendment was not the panacea for inclusive enfranchisement. United by a desire to determine how the ballot was both won and wielded, the essays within Part II note how fault lines emerged regarding race within women's suffrage post-emancipation and how these issues significantly affected the progress of women's voting rights. Observing how leading reform organizations were progressive as far as women's rights were concerned, but far from liberally minded on racial issues, the texts examine how the lived experiences of nonwhite disenfranchised women remained deeply connected to racism, classism, and patriarchy even after the amendment.
The final two chapters in Part II offer a quantitative analysis of voting patterns among women in recent decades, noting similarities as well as unexpected differences. Focussing on the “gender gap” within political behaviour the studies argue that while women are more divided than united politically, they do share limited political commonality. Their findings conclude that factors such as race, religion, geo-location, class, and income affect voting behaviour more than gender. It is also suggested that factors usually employed to understand the gender gap in white women's political behaviour hold much less value when studying minority groups and that future research needs to draw on personal experiences and social circumstances in order to truly understand the voting patterns of nonwhite women.
100 Years of Women's Suffrage is a fresh addition to the field of gender and political studies. Although these essays have been published previously, together this volume is more than the sum of its parts as it presents a wider understanding of the movement. The volume's widespread historical tour of gender, race, and political behaviour over the last century is extremely hard to criticize. However, one omission is the lack of discussion regarding the ideological differences that emerged towards the leadership of the suffrage movement before achieving the vote. While there is a clear analysis of the divisions that arose along racial lines post-amendment, the deeply embedded resentment of many socialists and radical women regarding the movement's forerunners is overlooked. Nevertheless, the anthology's contribution to scholarship rests not only in the analysis of the sacrifices many women were required to make in order to achieve the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, but also in its recognition of the continued struggle for inclusive enfranchisement post-amendment. For those interested in gaining a greater understanding not only of voting rights but also of women's political involvement over the last ten decades, this anthology effectively captures the complex and enduring struggle to achieve voting rights for women across the United States.
