Negotiating femininity and power in the early twentieth century west: Domestic ideology and feminine style in Jeannette Rankin's suffrage rhetoric

Abstract

Campbell (1989) has discussed feminine style as a tool used by early woman's rights activists in their efforts to bridge the tensions between expectations offemininity and the public speaking role. In this essay, I explore how feminine style functioned in the suffrage rhetoric of Jeannette Rankin. As an early twentieth century western woman, Rankin faced fewer constraints than did early woman's rights activists; nonetheless, Rankin utilized feminine style when she sought to persuade a more powerful, male audience. In Rankin's rhetoric, then, the interplay between gender, power, and feminine style is brought to the forefront.