Anti-Suffrage League

The Anti-Suffrage League was an organization that was opposed to women's suffrage. It was founded in 1908 by the writer Mary Ward, at the behest of Lord Curzon and William Cremer. The first meeting took place July 12 1908 at the Westminster Palace Hotel in London, England.

The league proceeded to collect signatures to oppose the movement to grant women the right to vote, and by March 12, 1909 it had collected 250,000 signatures. A prominent member was the diplomat Gertrude Bell, who, although deeply involved in politics herself, felt that women were not ready to vote while they remained confined to the domestic sphere.

A similar organization, the Anti-Franchise League, had already been formed in Australia in 1900.

External links

* [http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=6638&inst_id=65 AIM25: Women's Library]