Anti-Suffragist: Gender Roles | Part 1

Wrong Side Of History · Mar 24, 2026 · 30m

Why did so many women oppose women’s suffrage?

Before 1916, suffrage was never backed by a majority of women, and for years men were more progressive on the issue than women were.

In this episode, we enter the worldview of the American anti-suffragists and begin with their core idea: separate spheres. To them, the vote was never just a ballot. It was a sign of a much larger social change, one that threatened women’s moral authority, sex-based protections, and the family as the basic unit of society. Many of these women did not see themselves as powerless. They believed they already had…