READING PASSAGE OF THE WEEK

Influenced by the view of some twentieth-century
feminists that women's position within the family is
one of the central factors determining women's social
position, some historians have underestimated the signi-
(5) ficance of the woman suffrage movement. These historians
contend that nineteenth-century suffragism was less
radical and, hence, less important than, for example, the
moral reform movement or domestic feminism— two
nineteenth-century movements in which women strug-
(10)gled for more power and autonomy within the family.
True, by emphasizing these struggles, such historians
have broadened the conventional view of nineteenthcentury
feminism, but they do a historical disservice to
suffragism. Nineteenth-century feminists and anti-
(15)feminist alike perceived the suffragists' demand for
enfranchisement as the most radical element in women's
protest, in part because suffragists were demanding
power that was not based on the institution of the
family, women's traditional sphere. When evaluating
(20)nineteenth-century feminism as a social force, contemporary
historians should consider the perceptions of
actual participants in the historical events.

1.The author asserts that the historians discussed in
the passage have
(A) influenced feminist theorists who concentrate on
the family
(B) honored the perceptions of the women who
participated in the women suffrage movement
(C) treated feminism as a social force rather than as
an intellectual tradition
(D) paid little attention to feminist movements
(E) expanded the conventional view of nineteenthcentury
feminism

2.The author of the passage asserts that some
twentieth-century feminists have influenced some
historians view of the
(A) significance of the woman suffrage movement
(B) importance to society of the family as an
institution
(C) degree to which feminism changed nineteenthcentury
society
(D) philosophical traditions on which contemporary
feminism is based
(E) public response to domestic feminism in the
nineteenth century


3.The author of the passage suggests that which of the
following was true of nineteenth-century feminists?
(A) Those who participated in the moral reform
movement were motivated primarily by a
desire to reconcile their private lives with their
public positions.
(B) Those who advocated domestic feminism,
although less visible than the suffragists, were
in some ways the more radical of the two
groups.
(C) Those who participated in the woman suffrage
movement sought social roles for women that
were not defined by women's familial roles.
(D) Those who advocated domestic feminism
regarded the gaining of more autonomy within
the family as a step toward more participation
in public life.
(E) Those who participated in the nineteenthcentury
moral reform movement stood midway
between the positions of domestic feminism
and suffragism.

4.The author implies that which of the following is
true of the historians discussed in the passage?
(A) They argue that nineteenth-century feminism
was not as significant a social force as
twentieth-century feminism has been.
(B) They rely too greatly on the perceptions of the
actual participants in the events they study.
(C)Their assessment of the relative success of
nineteenth-century domestic feminism does
not adequately take into account the effects of
antifeminist rhetoric.
(D)Their assessment of the significance of
nineteenth-century suffragism differs
considerably from that of nineteenth-century
feminists.
(E) They devote too much attention to nineteenthcentury
suffragism at the expense of more
radical movements that emerged shortly after
the turn of the century.