Crafting an Identity
The passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 marked a great divide in the women’s rights movement in America. A central “paradox of change” for newly enfranchised women was embedded in the suffrage movement itself. Some reformers had sought to liberate women by making them politically equal to men, whereas others fought for the vote believing that women’s interests were inherently different from men’s and required special advocacy that could not be co-opted by existing institutions.95 This central question, in one form or another, remained unresolved through much of the twentieth century: Did women’s historical underrepresentation give these pioneer Congresswomen the responsibility to advocate for all women, even for those beyond the prescribed borders of their districts or states? Or could they best promote women’s political advancement by eschewing a narrow set of what society deemed “women’s issues”: workforce development, education, childcare, health care, and reproductive rights?
Mary Norton, adept at navigating power within the institution, captured that spirit most succinctly when she rebuffed a male colleague who referred to her as a “lady” during a debate. “I’m no lady, I’m a Member of Congress,” Norton replied, “and I’ll proceed on that basis.” Her remark encapsulated the belief shared by most of her female contemporaries on the Hill—Democrats and Republicans—that the surest way for women to attain power and influence in Congress was to work within the prescribed system to mitigate gender differences. That belief would be subsequently reevaluated and challenged.
Footnotes
95Chafe, The Paradox of Change: 23.
96Gertzog, Congressional Women: 148.
97Chamberlin, A Minority of Members: 78.
98“Mrs. Oldfield Decries Feminist in Politics,” 19 February 1931, New York Times: 3.
99“Ruth McCormick,” 10 April 1930, Washington Post: 6.