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I’m just a housewife and a mother: An understanding of Kansas conservative movements through female social activism
Chard, Darbee
Chard, Darbee
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t25003_Chard.pdf
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2025-05
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This thesis researches the connection between social traditionalism practiced by women and the influence it has, in turn, on conservative movements in the state of Kansas. Traditional women’s histories examine this phenomenon through the lens of left-leaning, feminist women. The research of these scholars was vital to understanding the question posed within this paper; however, looking through a conservative lens provides in-depth detail into the lives of the “everyday” woman who sides with right-leaning politics. Local newspapers, both general and religious, plus pamphlets and secretary notes of local organizations, were used to create and support the argument. Traditional women’s work from the 1880s to the 2010s formulated the future of conservative politics in Kansas. Over Kansas’s history, many women have emerged as figureheads for domesticity in women’s lives. Carry A. Nation, Olive Ann Beech, and Phyllis Schlafly, although not a Kansan, are a select few impactful women who influenced the importance of the housewife nationally but in Kansas particularly. Larger literature pieces such as Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era and The Conservative Heartland provide a baseline of context regarding the conservative takeover in the United States in the 1960s and ‘70s. This paper aims to rework the existing knowledge of conservative women through the example of Kansas. In particular, the argument posed here focuses on how Kansas women already felt comfortable being housewives and homemakers before it was trendy. I also suggest that the desire for community was the ultimate driving factor that encouraged traditional women to become more public with their morals, thus resulting in an unintentional contribution toward conservative successes in Kansas. The desire to connect with like-minded women resulted in the confidence needed to create conservative normality in Kansas through the idea that conformity was enough to define one’s womanhood.
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Thesis (M.A.)-- Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of History
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Wichita State University
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© Copyright 2025 by Darbee Chard
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