It has always been thought perfectly womanly to be a scrub-woman in the Legislature and to take care of the spittoons; that is entirely within the charmed circle of woman’s sphere; but for women to occupy any of those official seats would be degrading.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) American reformer, aboltionist, sufferagist

Address to National Woman Suffrage Association, Atlanta (31 Jan 1895)

Regarding the argument that women's involvement in politics would "degrade" them. Quoted in Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper, History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 15 (1902).