Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
suffragette, suffragist (nn.)
A suffragette historically was “a woman advocating women’s right to vote.” A suffragist is “anyone, male or female, who advocates the extension of the right to vote to all, but particularly to women.” Some people objected to suffragette originally because it began as a derisive term, but the more important objection was and is that it is narrow in scope, since it can be applied only to women and not to all who might support the same political view. Suffragette is now archaic in the United States, both for those reasons and because women now have the vote. But in some countries the issue is very much alive, and Americans will find suffragist the more generic term to use in discussing the issue. See also -ESS; FEMININE OCCUPATIONAL FORMS; INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE; SEXIST LANGUAGE.
