Gender Conflicts and the Limits of Political Democratization in the Early Years of the Republic:As Exemplified by the Proposal for Women Suffrage

Soon after the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911 the Provisional Revolutionary Government was set up at Nanjing. Lin Zongsu, Tang Qunying and other woman revolutionaries submitted in March 1912 a proposal for woman suffrage to the Senate at Nanjing. The Senate turned down the motion, giving rise women petitioners' creating turmoil in the Senate. With the northward movement of the Provisional Senate, the center of the woman suffrage petition movement also shifted to Beijing. They once