Title: The Catholic Church & Women's Suffrage | Synonym
Headings: The Catholic Church & Women's Suffrage
The Catholic Church & Women's Suffrage
Explore this article
1 St. Augustine
2 Objection To Women's Suffrage
3 Acceptance and Political Mobiization
4 Swing Vote
5 The Vatican Excepted

Content: The Catholic Church & Women's Suffrage | Synonym
The Catholic Church & Women's Suffrage
Throughout history, the Catholic Church opposed women's suffrage on its conviction that a woman's place is in the home. Claiming that if women were to engage in political life, their dignity would be impaired, the Church argued that in opposing women's right to vote, it sought to protect and defend women. The Catholic Church has come a long way since then, and in fact today actively recruits Catholic women voters to lobby for the Church’s own political agenda. Explore this article
St. Augustine
Objection To Women's Suffrage
Acceptance and Political Mobiization
Swing Vote
The Vatican Excepted
1 St. Augustine
The Church’s opposition to women’s suffrage was rooted in ancient doctrine. St. Augustine, writing during the Roman Empire and among the most important Christian philosophers, used the story of the Garden of Eden to oppose women's rights. Citing Eve's guilt for the fall of humanity into sin, he justified her double subordination, both to God and man. With this he further argued that only men could represent rationality and spirituality; women, in contrast, represented the body and the material world. 2 Objection To Women's Suffrage
Views about women began to change in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as they struggled for the right to vote, to obtain education and to work outside of the home. Yet the Catholic Church remained steadfast.