Editing L. Frank Baum (section)

====Women's suffrage advocate====
When Baum lived in [[Aberdeen, South Dakota]], where he was secretary of its Equal Suffrage Club, much of the politics in the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] ''Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer'' dealt with trying to convince the populace to vote for [[women's suffrage]].<ref name="Baum Suffrage">{{cite news |last1=Torrey |first1=Edwin |title=Six Suffrage Campaigns In South Dakota |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn2001063549/1918-11-14/ed-1/seq-6/ |access-date=October 18, 2021 |work=The Saturday News |agency=The United Press |date=November 14, 1918 |location=Watertown, South Dakota |page=6 |language=English}}</ref> [[Susan B. Anthony]] visited Aberdeen and stayed with the Baums. Nancy Tystad Koupal notes an apparent loss of interest in editorializing after Aberdeen failed to pass the bill for women's enfranchisement.

Sally Roesch Wagner of The [[Matilda Joslyn Gage]] Foundation published ''The Wonderful Mother of Oz'', describing how Matilda Gage's feminist politics were sympathetically channeled by Baum into his Oz books. Some of Baum's contacts with suffragists of his day seem to have inspired much of ''The Marvelous Land of Oz''. In this story, General [[Jinjur]] leads the girls and women of Oz in a revolt, armed with knitting needles; they succeed and make the men do the household chores. Jinjur proves to be an incompetent ruler, but [[Princess Ozma]], who advocates [[gender equality]], is ultimately placed on the throne. [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]]'s 1915 classic of [[feminist science fiction]], ''[[Herland (novel)|Herland]]'', bears strong similarities to ''The Emerald City of Oz'' (1910); the link between Baum and Gilman is considered to be Gage.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Massachi |first1=Dina Schiff |title=Connecting Baum and Gilman: Matilda Gage and Her Influence on Oz and Herland |journal=The Journal of American Culture |date=2018 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=203–214 |doi=10.1111/jacc.12872 |s2cid=149563492 |access-date=}}</ref> Baum's stories outside of Oz also contain feminist or egalitarian themes. His Edith Van Dyne stories depict girls and young women engaging in traditionally masculine activities, including ''[[Aunt Jane's Nieces]]'' and ''[[The Flying Girl]]'' and its sequel. [[The Bluebird Books]] feature a girl sleuth.