Print and protest: A study of the women's suffrage movement in nineteenth-century English periodical literature

The journey toward equal citizenship for women in England during the nineteenth century was a complex one, characterized by many failures and some successes. This journey can be traced through the writing of women in periodical literature during the nineteenth century, with particular attention to periodical literature between 1850 and 1900, where debates over women's suffrage contributed to broader arguments about women's rights as citizens and the power that denied them those rights. Suffragist discourse in periodical literature was a conscious strategy used to negotiate increased political rights and influence middle-class opinion, but also one that failed to lead to obvious results. Nevertheless, the cumulative effect of suffragist debates found in the periodical contributed to a growing awareness of the arguments for women's rights among the English middle classes, making the periodical a unique testament to the power of protest through print.