Program from Women's Suffrage Debate, 1909

MHC Archives

Program from Women's Suffrage Debate, 1909

Participants of the Mount Holyoke Debate Society agreed that the subject of equal suffrage was relevant for their annual inter-society debate. An unknown observer left penciled comments on the program summarizing each argument. The affirmative speakers asserted that women’s suffrage “is the only logical step” and women who want the vote should not be denied simply because some women don’t. The negative speakers argued that “the female vote is more easily manipulated than the male” and would dramatically alter the influence of women in politics, which was considered “non-partisan” at the time. The chapters initially tied and the winner had to be decided by the Debate Society president: she voted in favor of national suffrage.

Mount Holyoke Debate Society

1909

Paper

English

Event program

case01_votes_03

paper