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Republican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage through the Rise of the New Right
In the wake of the Nineteenth Amendment, Republican women set out to forge a place for themselves within the Grand Old Party. As Catherine Rymph explains, their often conflicting efforts over the subsequent decades would leave a mark on both conservative politics and American feminism.
Part of an emerging body of work on women's participation in partisan politics, Republican Women explores the dilemmas confronting progressive, conservative, and moderate Republican women as they sought to achieve a voice for themselves within the GOP. Rymph first examines women's grassroots organizing for the party in the decades following the initiation of women's suffrage. She then traces Marion Martin's efforts from 1938 to 1946 to shape the National Federation of Women's Republican Clubs, the party's increasing dependence on the work of women at the grassroots in the postwar years, and the eventual mobilization of many of these women behind Barry Goldwater, in defiance of party leaders.
From the flux of the party's post-Goldwater years emerged two groups of women on a collision a group of party insiders calling themselves feminists challenged supporters of independent Republican Phyllis Schlafly's growing movement opposing the Equal Rights Amendment. Their battles over the meanings of gender, power, and Republicanism continued earlier struggles even as they helped shape the party's fundamental transformation in the Reagan years.
Part of an emerging body of work on women's participation in partisan politics, Republican Women explores the dilemmas confronting progressive, conservative, and moderate Republican women as they sought to achieve a voice for themselves within the GOP. Rymph first examines women's grassroots organizing for the party in the decades following the initiation of women's suffrage. She then traces Marion Martin's efforts from 1938 to 1946 to shape the National Federation of Women's Republican Clubs, the party's increasing dependence on the work of women at the grassroots in the postwar years, and the eventual mobilization of many of these women behind Barry Goldwater, in defiance of party leaders.
From the flux of the party's post-Goldwater years emerged two groups of women on a collision a group of party insiders calling themselves feminists challenged supporters of independent Republican Phyllis Schlafly's growing movement opposing the Equal Rights Amendment. Their battles over the meanings of gender, power, and Republicanism continued earlier struggles even as they helped shape the party's fundamental transformation in the Reagan years.
358 pages, Paperback
First published January 16, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 19, 2024
Just finished:
Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
A history of women's involvement in the Republican party from 1920 to 1980. A typical history of any organization when it comes to people who have different opinions. Initially women wanted to see themselves as different from men in that they were keepers of morality and could give direction there. Another question is whether women should assemble into the party's existing structure or have auxiliaries. Initially women started out with a crusading spirit but Marion Martin wanted women to have their own voice. The Republican Party had endorsed the ERA as early as 1940. Liberal feminists had a place in the Republican party till at least 1976. However, with the loss of Ford and the rise of Phyllis Schlafly, many liberal feminists either left the party or stayed out of a sense of loyalty.
My biggest question with the book had to do with the author's characterization of Schlafly. She initially refers to her as an anti feminist. However, she refers to her as a feminist later on, even using George Lakoff's term Conservative Feminist (which I thought was a better fitting label). I found it to be an interesting read.
Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
A history of women's involvement in the Republican party from 1920 to 1980. A typical history of any organization when it comes to people who have different opinions. Initially women wanted to see themselves as different from men in that they were keepers of morality and could give direction there. Another question is whether women should assemble into the party's existing structure or have auxiliaries. Initially women started out with a crusading spirit but Marion Martin wanted women to have their own voice. The Republican Party had endorsed the ERA as early as 1940. Liberal feminists had a place in the Republican party till at least 1976. However, with the loss of Ford and the rise of Phyllis Schlafly, many liberal feminists either left the party or stayed out of a sense of loyalty.
My biggest question with the book had to do with the author's characterization of Schlafly. She initially refers to her as an anti feminist. However, she refers to her as a feminist later on, even using George Lakoff's term Conservative Feminist (which I thought was a better fitting label). I found it to be an interesting read.
November 5, 2021
This was a fascinating book, and timely (for me, anyway, since I'm late to reading it) given what we've seen re white women supporting Trump. I started this book thinking that it would primarily be about Phyllis Schlafly, but I really enjoyed the way it touched on Schlafly's impact but also kept its focus on women Republican party operatives and how beliefs about women's difference/equality wove through the various approaches Republican took towards political activity since the 1920s. The chapter on Republican feminism during the 1970s was particularly eye-opening and worth reading. Really underscored my sense of needing to read more history focusing on the 1970s and 1980s, something I was thinking about during the Ferguson uprest.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews