The Law and the Written Word

McCulloch joined the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA) in 1890. She served on the IESA Legislative Committee for over 20 years, chairing the committee twice. In 1893, McCulloch drafted what would become the law that gave Illinois women partial suffrage in 1913. The bill stated that women would be able to vote in all elections that were not constitutionally restricted to men and this opened a way for women to vote for many public offices, including presidential electors. For the next 20 years, McCulloch traveled to Springfield for every legislative session to testify in favor of the bill. Through her efforts, Illinois became the first state east of the Mississippi River to allow women to vote in presidential elections—seven years before all American women were given that right.

An important aspect of McCulloch’s professional career was her dedication to writing essays and short stories in support of women’s suffrage. After her 1888 thesis, “Woman’s Wages,” she wrote Mr. Lex or The Legal Status of Mother and Child, a fictional story that traced the history of legal disparities between men and women, particularly in terms of the damaging effects those laws had for mothers. She also wrote Bridget’s Sisters: A Play in 1911. The play was loosely based on the life of lawyer and suffragist Myra Bradwell, and it stressed the lack of legal protections and freedoms women had with respect to their husbands. McCulloch also published a number of pamphlets offering her opinions about the benefits of women’s suffrage. Two of her pamphlets, “Mayors of Five States Recommend Municipal Suffrage for Women” and “Northwestern University and Woman Suffrage,” draw attention to the fact that women’s suffrage had wide support in Evanston and throughout the country. An additional pamphlet was likely written by McCulloch in the time period when Chicago was considering revising its charter to include women's suffrage.

Click on the items below to view the full writings of Catharine Waugh McCulloch!