The Rise of the Republican Woman

A.C. Kleinheider has an interesting article on the phenomenon of the emergence of Republican women but I think the phenomenon is more about resurgence. I'm afraid the supposed novelty and contradiction of strong Republican women can only be sustained by incorrect historical assumptions. I agree with his overarching observation of the dramatic shifts within the Republican Party today. But this shift seems more appropriately understandable as a return to traditional Republicanism than a departure from it in light of actual history. How far back in history is the basis for his assertion that the Republican Party "historically stood for keeping females in traditional “women’s” roles" since the Republican Party is historically the party of women's suffrage? After all, the party's anti-slavery platform was the inspiration for Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's women's suffrage movement and many of the same people involved in the abolition movement were also involved in women's suffrage.

The 19th Amendment, also known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, was introduced by California Republican Senator A.A. Sargent at the personal request of Anthony herself and defeated 4 times by a Democrat-controlled Senate and only finally passed the House and the Senate in 1919 when the Republicans regained control of Congress. Additionally, 26 of the 36 states that ratified the Amendment had Republican legislatures and only 10 Democrat while 8 of the 9 states that rejected the amendment were Democrat. More importantly, all the 12 states that had already recognized women's right to vote prior to the federal amendment were Republican States. Even the National Woman's Republican Association was established in 1888, 24 years ahead of the establishment of the Women's National Democratic League in 1912.

Whatever else the Republican Party did, it did not "historically stood for keeping females in traditional roles". And however great the Democratic Party may have been, it certainly historically denied women the right to vote.

Here's a compendium of some of the relevant news stories between 1919 and 1920 for some additional context.