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reflects the successes and advantages that stem from an emphasis on opportunity
creation.
I start with the historical background of the woman suffrage movement in
America and place its demands in the context of contemporary society. Beginning with
various perspectives of strategy expressed in the existing social movement literature, I
then identify and review the methods and motivations displayed by the two contrasting
approaches of the suffrage movement. This movement progressed from a moralistic,
ideologically based appeal for woman’s political participation in earlier years to a
pragmatic and expediency-driven strategy to gain voting rights during the later years of
the movement. The relative success of these two primary strategies in achieving
movement goals will be compared and supported through content analysis of images
from leaflets, cartoons, and advertisements published by the suffrage movement itself, as
explained in my methodology and analysis of these primary documents. Finally, I draw
some broader conclusions regarding the impact of opportunity creation on social
movements in general and suggest that a movement need not present a challenging
framework to achieve results; a policy of frame expansion can be equally if not more
effective when combined with opportunity. I also note that successful opportunity
structures point to the eventual death of a movement, highlighting the temporal nature of
the social movement as a form of political action.
Historical Background:
Although woman suffrage was not achieved in America until 1920, the movement
in support of that goal has roots reaching back to the 1830s and the early abolition
movement. It was not until the 1850s, however, that the woman’s movement came into
Convention