“It is not, I suppose, at all the design of this platform in any way to abolish what the grammarians call "the distinction of sex"; and when we speak of "woman's rights," we admit, in the very language which is thus employed, that she is a "woman" - that that is appropriately her character - that under this name she is fitly described.”Rev. Beriah Green TENTH NATIONAL WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION. COOPER INSTITUTE, NEW YORK, MAY 10-11, 1860,

“Under this name she is fitly described”Gender in the History of Woman Suffrage

Michelle Moravec, Ph.D@professmoravecwww.michellemoravec.com

With the assistance ofLaura BunyardPat Carlson, ASPThomas Dublin, WASMNathalie Duval, ASPMichelle Eldridge. ASP

Subjecting the subject of woman suffrage to a gender history approach must surmount the obstacle that the term “gender” is [largely] absent from the primary sources. But this does not mean that the underlying concepts packed into the contemporary use of the term are absent. Tani Barlow has approached the history of women’s rights (including suffrage) in China by tracing the shifting Chinese language terms for woman/female. The English language does not provide such an easy entry into this project – though the terms for the political movement were numerous, shifting, and subtly different in connotation – woman suffrage, equal suffrage, votes for women, home protection, women’s suffrage, etcEllen DuBois

Tony McEnery and Andrew Hardie (2012:1–2) define corpus linguistics as: a group of methods for studying language… dealing with some set of machine-readable texts…or corpus which is usually of a size which defies analysis by hand and eye alone within any reasonable timeframe…corpora are invariably exploited using tools which allow users to search through them rapidly and reliably.

Under which name is she …described?

Raw

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woman’s rightsWomen’s rightsWoman’s suffrageWomen’s suffrageWoman suffrage

Volume of History of Woman Suffrage

Partial ConcordanceCo-occurrencewomanright or rightsHistory of Woman Suffrage

co-occurrence of woman (green) and women (purple)

withsuffrage

right or rights

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in the very language which is thus employedto describe women

____women by volume History of Woman Suffrage freq<1

in female Authored items Female authors and unattributed

Selected words more likely to be used by sex of author

volumes I-IV History of Woman Suffrage

Variations in how she is described

Patterns of word usage with sex___ ___ sex

male authored female authored

Patterns of word usage her ___

male authoredfemale authored

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Decreases Frequency increases

co-occurrences of her withsphere and own and position

In female-authored and male-authored itemsHistory of Woman Suffrage

Which woman is fit to be described?

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

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PRELIMINARY RESULTS

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Frequencies of NamesFrom Wmatrix semantic tagging

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

her _____ in subcorpora Black Woman Suffragists Database and History of Woman Suffrage

What appropriately is she?

BWSD

HWS

a tall, gaunt black woman in a gray dress and white turban, … Every eye was fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly six feet high, head erect, and eyes piercing the upper air like one in a dream. At her first word there was a profound hush.

Look at my arm! (and she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power). I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And a'n't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear de lash as well! And a'n't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen 'em mos' all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And a'n't I a woman? Matilda Joslyn Gage History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I

One of the most unique and interesting speeches of the Convention was made by Sojourner Truth, an emancipated slave. It is impossible to transfer it to paper, or convey any adequate idea of the effect it produced upon the audience. Those only can appreciate it who saw her powerful form, her whole-souled, earnest gesture, and listened to her strong and truthful tones. She came forward to the platform and addressing the President said with great simplicity.

I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now.

Report in Anti-Slavery Bugle, 21 June 1851, p. 160

PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Clusters their in subcorpora Black Woman Suffragists Database and History of Woman Suffrage

Extra slides

Frequencies of co-occurrence (5L 5 R) by volume of History of Woman Suffrage

woman and suffrage women and suffrage

Women and right or rights Woman and suffrage

woman and right or rights women and right or rights

Frequency of co-occurrenceby volume of History of Woman Suffrage

Characterizing the Corpus: Sex in the History of Woman Suffrage

1 2 3 4 50

102030405060708090

100

unattributedfemale authormale author

Volume History of Woman Suffrage

N

66%

34%

Sex of Author by Item in History of Woman Suffrage

femalemale

43%

37%

19%

0%

unattributedfemalemaleFemale; Male

Relative frequency of selected multi-word expressions all volumes History of Woman Suffrage

rela

tive

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31 2 4 5 6

volume

How fitly is she described?