Keywords: Reasons For And Against the Enfranchisement of Women, Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, History
Reasons for and Against the Enfranchisement of Women by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
"THAT a respectable, orderly, independent body in the State should have no voice, and no influence recognised by the law, in the election of the representatives of the people, while they are otherwise acknowledged as responsible citizens, are eligible for many public offices, and required to pay all taxes, is an anomaly which seems to require some explanation. Many people are unable to conceive that women can care about voting. That some women do care, has been proved by the Petitions presented to Parliament. I shall try to show why some care and why those who do not ought to be made to care."
Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon (1827-1891), was an English feminist, artist and free thinker. Her father left her, and all her sisters, independent incomes for life. Unlike many of her class, BLSB did not devote her life to good works, instead she started radical feminists publications, provided meeting places for painters and artists, and wrote essays on the subjects of a woman's right to work, to vote, to be educated and to maintain her rights after marriage. Philosophically opposed to marriage, she eventually married a French doctor and anthropologist, Eugene Bodichon. She founded Girton College for Women at Cambridge.
She said she wished for three lives: one dedicated to art, one to Eugene, and one to society.
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