Edward William Bok, the Ladies' Home Journal's editor from 1889 to 1919, remained a confirmed proponent of Victorian womanhood. Yet, dramatic changes in American society made his perceptions increasingly anachronistic and, recognizing this, he reluctantly permitted his magazine's portrayal of woman to change with the times. The first part of the dissertation examines Edward Bok's Victorian attitudes toward woman's role in society. According to him, woman's intellectual, emotional, and physical inferiority and her moral and intuitional superiority harmonize perfectly to define a special sphere for her--the home—where she fulfills her roles as wife, mother, and homemaker. Outside the home, Bok permitted only a narrow range of activity for woman—church and club activities and even employment outside the home if finances required it. The second part of the dissertation illustrates how the Journal's image of woman changed during Bok's tenure, especially during the second decade of the twentieth century. At the outset, all departments of the Journal reinforced the editor's concept of woman, but by the time Edward Bok retired, in 1919. the magazine's image of woman contrasted sharply with Bo'k's personal views.

In this study the term "woman's movement" is defined as any advancement made by women, socially, economically, legally, or politically. In addition to information gathered from various collections, memoirs, diaries, and contemporary newspaper accounts of Louisiana women's activities, material from a number of pertinent secondary works is included. Chapter one gives a brief overview of the women's movement as it developed in America in the latter half of the 19th century. This is followed by a chapter on women in Louisiana before 1879- Evidence suggests that a number of Louisiana women shared a common bond with other southern women in longing for an emancipation from their limited role in society. The last six chapters are devoted to the woman's movement in the state, beginning in 1879 when women first dared to to speak out in public in behalf of women. After the Civil War, a large number of women were forced by post war conditions to depart from the traditional life-style of home and family and venture into public life. Liberated from their societal mold, women slowly expanded their sphere, going beyond the immediate need to provide a livelihood. Early women's organizations, temperance unions, church societies, and women's clubs, provided …