Gilded Suffragists: The New York Socialites who Fought for Women's Right to Vote

Award-winning journalist Johanna Neuman spotlights the New York City socialites who turned a feminist cause into a fashionable revolution. 

In the early twentieth century, over two hundred of New York’s most glamorous socialites joined the suffrage movement. Their names—Astor, Belmont, Rockefeller, Tiffany, Vanderbilt, Whitney, and others—carried significant public value, and their extravagance and opulence made them the media darlings of their day. Understanding the need for popular approval for any social change, they leveraged their social celebrity, welath, and power to court mainstream interest, turning a woman’s right to vote into a fashionable cause.

Although they were dismissed by critics as bored socialites, these women played a central role in the political reform period known as the Progressive Era. From championing education for women to pursuing careers and advocating for the end of marriage, suffragists engaged with the swirl of change that swept through the streets of New York City. 

Johanna Neuman sheds light on these “gilded suffragists,” revealing their central role in women’s struggle for the ballot. Joined by Valerie Paley, Director of the Center for Women’s History, Neuman will discuss the suffragists’ achievements and how their legacy lives on in social movements today.

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