The Role of Women in the American Eugenics Movement

Abstract This thesis examines the role of women in the American eugenics movement from 1900 to 1945, as well as how ideas about motherhood were manipulated to further eugenic ideals about race and hygiene. This paper analyzes primary sources such as propaganda posters about social hygiene, academic articles written by women, advertisements aimed towards women using eugenic ideology, and more in order to determine the prevalence and impact women had on the American eugenics movement. I conclude that women had a prominent role in all aspects of the American eugenics movement, contrary to how it has often been remembered and recorded by historians.