Some women even ran for school board seats to help implement the Klan's goals. If we compare the anti-sweatshop campaign of the Hull House women to the racism and narrow-mindedness of the WKKK, the differences are indisputable.
On the other hand, the Hull House women and the WKKK both had the similar objectives of protecting women and children. In 1888, about thirty women's organizations joined together through the Illinois Women's Alliance, including Hull House, which was organized by Elizabeth Morgan. According to the alliance's constitution, "The objects of the Alliance are to agitate for the enforcement of all existing laws and ordinances that have been enacted for the protection of women and children." The Illinois Women's Alliance even adopted the motto of "Justice to Children, Loyalty to Women." Additionally, Hull House provided its members with a lifelong family. In 1891, while Florence Kelley was seeking shelter for herself and her three children, they were welcomed into the Hull House. The family was provided with room, employment and childcare. Women in the Hull House even helped Kelley pay for the children's school and college tuition. Similarly, the WKKK believed that the Klan was the best vehicle for protecting women and children and preserving home and family life. Since women earned the right to vote in the 1920s, they supported candidates who favored maternity and infancy protection and who were against lynching and child labor. Although the women reformers of the 1890s and the WKKK had very different approaches, both groups placed great importance on the protection of women and children within their groups.
Another similar theme within these two articles is the autonomy and independence from men that these women desired. Jane Addams, Julia Lathrop and Florence Kelley-all members of Hull House-had the shared experience of higher education. This was not common for women in the early 1880s and their level of education provided them with their own social identity and independence from men.