in many countries womens were not giving the right to vote why do you think it is so
Answers
) “Because the basis of government is force – its stability rests upon its physical power to enforce its laws; therefore it is inexpedient to give the vote to woman. Immunity from service in executing the law would make most women irresponsible voters.”
Women were not allowed to serve in juries or in the Armed Forces in 1914, and very few sought out roles in traditional law enforcement. Goodwin’s thinking is that if women can’t actually enforce the laws, they should not be able to determine the laws.
2) “Because the suffrage is not a question of right or of justice, but of policy and expediency; and if there is no question of right or of justice, there is no case of woman suffrage.”
Goodwin echoes the feelings of many Americans back then that the right to vote and to elect leaders was not a fundamental right of Americans. Keep in mind that just 125 years before her, many believed that only land-holding white educated men should have the right to vote.
3) “Because it is the demand of a minority of women, and the majority of women protest against it.”
And really, Goodwin argues, women don’t really want the vote anyway. Goodwin thankfully avoids mentioning many of the offensive characteristics suffragists supposedly possessed.
4) “Because it means simply doubling the vote, and especially the undesirable and corrupt vote, of our large cities.”
Voting procedures in America were already so distorted by corrupt political machines, adding voices to this mix would only make it worse. Keep in mind that political machines were still greatly in control in most places in the United States, locally and nationally. Swelling the numbers of voters would only give machines like Tammany Hall further opportunities to corrode the process. (As for the “undesirable” vote, I believe Mrs. Goodwin’s classism is shining through here.)