Indiana County

Indiana Normal School Women and Votes for Women

By the second decade of the 20^th century, the movement for female suffrage was gaining strength across the United States. Vocal supporters of the movement could be found among the female students and faculty on the Indiana Normal School (INS) campus. Since 1875, Indiana had been the home of one of Pennsylvania’s state normal schools. By the second decade of the 19^th century, female students outnumbered male students by a large majority on the INS campus. Chart below includes numbers of male/female students at INS between 1910 and 1916. Image of students coming from class on the INS campus shows the predominance of female students.

INS could also boast of many highly qualified female faculty and administrators. The female faculty at INS (which included familiar names such as Ackerman, McElhaney, and Cogswell) were educated, articulate, and cultured women who demonstrated to female students that women could play significant roles in society outside, in addition to inside, the household. Chart below shows number of female faculty/administrators compared to the number of men.