Blog Post 9; The 'Idea' of Suffrage

 The 'Idea' of Suffrage

    Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations, or in this case ideas, is a theory that explains how and why new ideas spread. One historical moment that I wanted to explore with Rogers' theory was Women's Suffrage and the ideas and events that spread and lead up to the 19th amendment.

    The theory uses time and penetration to explain the ways new ideas develop. This theory is divided into five different elements (penetrations) of development; Pioneers, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Adopters, and Laggards. The theory is also divided by periods of time that correspond to the development; Experimental, Uptake, Critical Mass (which is the most important), Maturation, and Saturation. 

    To explain how all of these factors played into the women suffragist movement, we can observe in chronological order the events that help explain what propelled these ideas forward. 

1) The Pioneers & Experimental Time:

    The first big way in which we see the women suffrage movement take place is in Seneca Falls, New York in 1847. It was here that the first women's rights convention was held. 62 women and 32 men signed a Declaration of Sentiments, which was modeled from the Declaration of Independence. This outlined grievances and set the agenda for the future of the women's rights movement. 

    It was here where women had the first chance to officially assemble and start a change to improve their lives. Up until this point in time, women had continuously been pushed out of government and told they did not belong. 

2) Early Adopters & the Uptake Time:

    After this introduction to the women's suffrage movement, we see women in their daily life making changes to have their voices heard. There was a surge of women entering the workforce and even creating their own outlets to help spread the movement. 

    Amelia Bloomer was one of the first women to actually publish a newspaper in the United States. "The Lily" was founded by Bloomer in 1849 in her New York home. What is so significant about her newspaper is that it was written by women for women. This was a huge deal. However, her husband, and other men, were not too fond of this idea. But she persevered and broke down the facts on the "women-centric" newspaper. 

    Due to Bloomer and other notable American women who put their voices out for the public to hear, it pushed out a very important message to the United States that women's voices needed to be heard. This dedication to writing, reporting, and advocating continuously was a big reason why we as women have these rights today. If it wasn't for people like Bloomer, imagine how different news and our country would be.

3) Early Majority & Critical Mass Time:

    Almost 20 years later and American women still saw no change. Fortunately, with the continued advocacy and increasing popularity of the suffrage movement, women felt they had a glimmer of hope in 1867 when the Women's Suffrage amendment was introduced into Congress. It was rejected. This denial only added more fuel to the fire.

    A few years later in the 1871 election, Susan B. Anthony registered in New York and voted for Ulysses S. Grant. Through this action, Anthony was arrested, tried, and convicted in 1873. While her defense using the Equal Protections Act wasn't successful, this again only added more fuel to the fire.  

    1877. Change was happening. The Women's Suffrage Amendment was finally introduced to Congress. This version that was accepted even includes language that was used later on when finalizing
the 19th amendment. 

    Years of self-advocating, writing, reporting, assembling, and protesting were starting to pay off, but we still hadn't reached our goal of equal rights. More organizations were formed, more papers were written, and more protests started. This was the critical time to keep fighting. 

4) Late Adopters & Maturation 

    Women still continued to fight. They were not giving up no matter how long it took. It took 100 years. 100 years later in 1920, the 19th amendment was finally passed and allowed women the equal right to vote. The amendment was finally certified as law by the Constitution. 

  "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on the account of sex." 

    Years of work had finally paid off. A bit late, 100 years to be precise, but the change had happened. Women had equal rights and it opened doorways to many more opportunities for the United States. 

5) Laggards & Saturation

    According to Rogers' theory, saturation stops at about 85% meaning that there's a small percentage of people who simply won't adopt the idea. This is still true today. The groups of people who don't adopt the idea are called laggards.

     There are still countries around the world that don't have equal rights for women. These countries are the laggards. Countries like Saudia Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates still don't allow women to vote. Others like Uganda, Pakistan, Kenya, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, and Zanzibar simply make it hard for women to vote or have other rules to oppress them.    

    There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure women everywhere have equal rights. The fight for women's rights still rages on. These methods of oppression today may be small, but they are very present and it's important to keep fighting to make sure this idea of equality doesn't sit and saturate into the minds of those who can change it. We have to continue advocating and bringing our concerns to the table. Even if it takes another 100 years, it will be worth it. If we sit back and do nothing, can we still say we are part of a democracy?

    Using Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation we can see what worked to propel the women's suffrage movement forward to elicit change. We need to learn from the past and use today's methods to advocate for the change we want to see.

"Whenever women gather together, failure is impossible."

                                                    - Susan B. Anthony