Organized womanhood

the long version

In Organized Womanhood, Sandra Haarsager shows how women's organizations in the Pacific Northwest became a major social force, imposing education, culture, and political reform to counter others' vision of a Wild West. Meeting in clubs to study great literature or art, women soon found themselves lobbying for better social, legal, and economic status for women, from working women to widows. Their ideas about education and culture counterbalanced the pressures of fast-paced economic and political development in the Northwest. Through reference to a vast number of documents, most unpublished, Haarsager pieces together the history and influence of women's organizations. Profiles of club leaders interspersed throughout the text highlight the achievements of individual women.