Men and the Suffrage


Title: Men and the Suffrage
Author: Kristmundsdóttir, Sigríður Dúna
Date: 2016-12-19
Language: English
Scope: 259-276
University/Institute: Háskóli Íslands
University of Iceland
School: Félagsvísindasvið (HÍ)
School of Social Sciences (UI)
Department: Félags og mannvísindadeild (HÍ)
Faculty of Social and Human Sciences (UI)
Series: Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla;12(2)
ISSN: 1670-6803
1670-679X (e-ISSN)
DOI: 10.13177/irpa.a.2016.12.2.4
Subject: Suffrage; Men; Gendered organization of society; Kosningaréttur; Kvenréttindamál; Karlar
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/252

Show full item record

Citation:

Sigríður Dúna Kristmundsdóttir. (2016). Men and the Suffrage. Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla, 12(2), 259-276. doi:10.13177/irpa.a.2016.12.2.4

Abstract:

Around the turn of the last century the suffrage was a crucial political issue in Europe and North America. Granting the disenfranchised groups, all women and a proportion of men, the suffrage would foreseeably have lasting effects on the structure of society and its gendered organization. Accordingly, the suffrage was hotly debated. Absent in this debate were the voices of disenfranchised men and this article asks why this was so. No research has been found on why these men did not fight for their suffrage while women ́s fight for their suffrage has been well researched. Within this context, the article examines the case of Iceland, in terms of issues such as the importance of urbanization, social change and culturally defined perceptions of men and women as social persons. It is argued that men did not have the same impetus as women to fight for their suffrage, and that if they had wanted to they were in certain respects disadvantaged compared to women. The gendered organization of society emerges as central in explaining why women fought for their suffrage and men did not, and why women’s suffrage received more attention than men’s general suffrage. As a case study, offering a microcosmic view of the subject in one social and cultural context, it allows for comparison with other like studies and with ongoing social processes.

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

Files in this item

This item appears in the following Collection(s)