"not coercive, but persuasive power"

“not coercive but persuasive power”

This quote refers to the discussion of the separate spheres of men and women in the seventh part of Manners by Sarah Josepha Hale. In this section, Hale discusses her opinions regarding women’s participation in government, which also subtly reflects her opinion of women’s position at home.
The statement “not coercive but persuasive power” basically means that women do not directly implement or enforce power—especially not in government—but that they simply influence such matters instead. This statement is not discouraging to women, however, in the way that Hale argues for it.
Hale argues that while women are not allowed to participate in government, women are predominantly powerful in government because such matters rely heavily on “moral power.” Earlier in the section, Hale sets up the standard that men are in charge of the material and industrial facet of life while women are in charge of the moral and spiritual. Therefore, since matters of government are predominantly moral ones, it is women’s influence that determines the decisions made by men in power.
This concept does not only ring true in matters of government, in Hale’s mind, but in matters of domesticity as well. If the men represent their wives in the public sphere, much of the values and morals implemented by the wives at home will affect the decisions made by the husband. Furthermore, the values and morals of the mother will be directly translated to those of the children, which they will take with them to their respective future spheres, whether they be male or female. All this is simply one facet of the concept of Republican Motherhood.

--Vida Djaghouri
Section 1B, with Ms. Johnson