Beyond the "great divide": Women in partisan politics before and after the federal suffrage amendment

A prevailing interpretation in the literature on women and partisan politics is that the federal suffrage amendment constituted a great divide. This article challenges this interpretation by examining the continuities in women's involvement in political parties and by focusing on the significance of women's early enfranchisement in the equal suffrage states. Empirically, the analysis shows how early woman suffrage shaped the dynamics of the struggle for the vote and women's entry into the parties at the national level. Theoretically, it questions the "separate spheres model" of women's and men's political involvement which informs much theorizing on gender and parties in a historical perspective.