Iron-Jawed Angels

Book excerpt: This work provides an analysis of how the National Woman's Party's militancy evolved during the period of early 20th-century feminism and American suffrage as a response to the intransigence of male-centred government. Working first as aggressive political lobbyists in an era of progressive reform, the militants brought their struggle on into a period of war hysteria in which they developed an effective strategy of non-violent civil disobedience as anti-government dissenters. Feminist militancy and readiness to resist authorities and break the law for women's rights developed gradually. Male authorities responded to the perceived threat of these iron-jawed females.