Supporting the underdog: feminism,animal rights and citizenship in the work of Alice Morgan Wright and Edith Goode

Abstract

In this article, the author examines the overlap between feminism and animal causes, particularly through the lives of two women, the sculptor, Alice Morgan Wright (1881-1975), and her friend, Edith Goode (1882-1970). Feminism and animal causes had connections in the late nineteenth century, particularly in campaigns to abolish vivisection. Wright and Goode held to these politics throughout their lives, and were ‘precursors of a generation yet to come’ who would argue the connections – as many ecofeminists do today. Both women were involved in suffrage campaigns, and continued to be involved in women's organisations such as the National Woman's Party. They were, however, opposed to all injustice, including human mistreatment of animals. Feminism was, to Wright and Goode, part of a wider set of problems; animal cruelty reflected a greater barbarism leading to mistreatment of humans. Accordingly, they actively campaigned for legislation to protect animals and the environment, and lobbied the fledgling United Nations to include such measures. That challenge to the United Nations represented a unique attempt to bring animals into citizenship' a move being made again today, through initiatives such as the Great Ape Project.