Women's rights movement

President Howard L. Rubendall responded to Chauncey M. Depuy's inquiry about the Social Opinion Survey of the Women's Group. According to Rubendall, this survey represents the "first evidence" of the Women's Liberation movement at Dickinson College, but he assures Depuy that "this will have little impact on our campus, which in the main is a campus of serious students getting their parents' money's worth...." Rubendall writes that the campus has been able to adapt to the lives of students while not giving into pressures or demands.

In her essay "Frances Willard's True Place as Social Reformer," Ruth W. Rinker analyzed the life and work of Frances Willard. She argued that "In Frances Willard our age has lost one of its nobelest daughters, whose achievements for God and home and native land were such as to rank her as one of the most famous women of this century." Throughout her essay, she cited Willard's reform work in the women's ritghts and temperance movements.

In her essay titled "The Civic Movement Among Women," Alice M. Clarkson analyzed women's influence in civic and reform movements of the early twentieth century. She argued that women's position as mothers in the home made them ideal candidates for social reform. She wrote, "They are the natural domestic housekeepers, and what more proper than that they should become civic housekeepers? they abate nuisances in the household. Why not in the city?" Clarkson contended that women's patience and persitence made them ideal reformers.

In his essay "Is Woman Suffrage Necessary or Conducive to Good Government?," Edward B. Burkey argued against women's suffrage.

In his essay "American Motherhood," Samuel W. MacDowell argued that motherhood is one of the most important position a woman can hold. He contended that it was through motherhood, not the vote, that women were able to assert their influence within American society. He referenced Washington's, Adams', Lincoln's and McKinley's mothers to illustrate his point.

In her essay "Woman and the Home," Ella P. Davis discussed the ways in which society limited women's opportunities based on their gender. She wrote, "In a country where public life is capable of so much further development, and where civil and political funcations, which in other lands have come to be regarded as the rights of common citizen, are so grudgingly bestowed upon men of even the lightest intelligence, it is no wonder that the position of women is not an ideal one." Throughout her essay, Davis cites the German women's movement's influence on women's education.

In her senior oration "The Protestant Sisterhood," Olive Taylor discussed the centrality of women in religious communities throughout history. She argues that women's activity as reformers and missionaries within the church in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was unprecedented. For the first time, she asserted, protestant women were leaving the private sphere and working independently within the public sphere. However, Olive argued, women were still being the motherly figures they were born to be.

In his essay "Should Women Vote?", H. M. Showalter argues for women's suffrage in 1904. He acknowledges that women are not given the right to vote because they are often the dependents of men like "minors and paupers." Due to their dependence, their vote could be swayed. However, Showalter does not see this as a legitimate reason for denying women the vote. He lists six premises for his conclusion. They are:

1. God created man and woman equal.

2. The Constitution gives equal rights to all.

The August 1982 edition of the Alumni Magazine dicussed female Dickinsonian's roles within society. According to the author's study "Dickinson women prove to be non-traditional" and often have careers, stay single longer, and wait to have children. Thus the author contends, Dickinson alumnae's participation in the labor force is higher than the average American woman.

The photo depicts a group of female students at the 1910 Commencement. The photo was entitled "The Suffragettes."