As the 19th century progressed, women were quite successful as they were able to get the civil rights such as to vote in local elections. However, some women wanted the right to vote in parliamentary elections. These women joined a campaign called the suffrage movement. I will explain all the factors of why women didn’t gain the right to vote before 1914 in this essay. One long term reason for women not gaining the vote was the Victorian Ideal. A wife had to do everything that was told by her husband who was her protector and advisor. Women were expected to be the ‘perfect being’, which meant that women were supposed to be beautiful, intelligent and loving, but according to men, they were unable to handle political issues. Men also thought that women were too emotional, couldn’t make decisions and looked after the family but weren’t the boss like the men were. Another long term reason of why women didn’t gain the vote was the attitudes of women. Not all women wanted to vote. Most of the upper class women didn’t want to vote as they had a luxurious life and their husbands had j...
Today, women and men have equal rights, however not long ago men believed women were lower than them. During the late eighteenth century, men expected women to stay at home and raise children. Women were given very few opportunities to expand their education past high school because colleges and universities would not accept females. This was a loss for women everywhere because it took away positions of power for them. It was even frowned upon if a woman showed interest in medicine or law because that was a man 's place not a woman’s, just like it was a man 's duty to vote and not a woman 's. The road to women 's right was long and hard, but many women helped push the right to vote, the one that was at the front of that group was Susan B. Anthony.
After this Act, many women felt that if the majority of men, regardless of class, were able to vote, why should women not be able to vote as well? Later, in 1870, the first part of the Married Women’s Property Act was passed. Until this act was passed, when a woman married, any property she owned was legally transferred to her husband. Divorce laws heavily favored men, and a divorced wife could expect to lose any property she possessed before she married. The implications of these two Acts combined, was enough to start women questioning the reasons for them not being able to vote, it started the campaign of votes for women.
According to Ellen Carol Dubois, the campaigns to acquire women suffrage were not easy that they required voters to “be persuaded to welcome new and unpredictable constituencies into the political arena” (420). There was also severe resistance in the North about the immigrant vote and the exclusion of African American and poor whites in the South (420). Immigrants in the North and African American in the South were not fully qualified to vote for the women. Harriot Stanton Bl...
Why Women Did Not Gain the Vote in 1914 In 1914 women could work as highly respected members of society. They could be teachers, moulding the minds of future generations, doctors or nurses caring for the sick and injured and of course mothers possibly the most important role in society. Yet, they had no say in how the world around them was run. This essay will explain why women were blocked from the right to vote, why their say was disregarded, and why they were seen as inferior, in early 20th centaury society. Firstly, this male dominated society viewed women as weak, overly emotional and under educated.
Although women have been seen as inferior for many years, looking at the documents it’s unequivocal that women should have been given the same domestic, political and social rights as men. In the early 20th century, many Americans perceived women as unskilled and deficient, as this woman has never had the chance to prove how they can positively affect society. Document A, Supports Woman states; “They still love their homes and their children just the same as ever, and are better able to protect themselves and their children because of the ballot”. If women were given the right to vote, it would not only have helped the society by having more opinions, but it would have also helped women protect themselves and their children by voting for things like better education. Supports Woman explains how giving women the right to vote has only been beneficial to the society....
Women used many methods to gain their rights to vote and evidently they faced a lot of obstacles while trying to gain
The Changing Role and Status of Women in Britain Since 1900 Before the Victorian era, women were deemed very much as second class citizens; any idea of women being anywhere near as equal to men would be having been thought ridiculous before this era. But the Victorian era was one of innovation and change, everything was questioned; religion, society and the idea of women being equal to men. But would British politics surely allow women the vote, many men thought that if women were allowed to vote, they might have been kicked out of office due to sheer weight of numbers. The idea of women suffrage began during the 1800s when many powerful land owners who were women thought why they should not have the vote when they are just as powerful and influential as many men. Entering this world at the same time was the lady philanthropist who wanted to go on a journey of self discovery; they found that going out to help people instead of remaining in their so called "domestic havens" was so much more fulfilling.
One argument in favour of women shows pictures of what men could be: A convict, lunatic, owner of white slaves, unfit for service and a drunkard. This portrayed men as being responsible, but they still could vote. Then it shows what women could achieve: Mayor, nurse, mother doctor or teacher or a factory hand, which showed them as responsible but they still couldn't the vote.1 Men's attitude towards women during the First World War was still negative. The ability of women to take on the roles of men meant that increasing numbers of men were vulnerable to conscription.2 The women were told that they couldn't vote because they weren't fighting for their country. They couldn't fight because they weren't allowed to.
“Compare and contrast women’s suffrage movements of the late nineteenth and early centuries with the European feminist movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s.” Whereas the women’s suffrage movements focused mainly on overturning legal obstacles to equality, the feminist movements successfully addressed a broad range of other feminist issues. The first dealt primarily with voting rights and the latter dealt with inequalities such as equal pay and reproductive rights. Both movements made vast gains to the social and legal status of women.
It used to be that the only people who were able to vote in our democracy were white men who owned land. According to the article “The Nineteenth Amendment Grants Women Full Suffrage: August 18,1920” it states, “It was widely assumed that, among married couples, wives would share the views of their husbands and one vote by the husband in effect expressed both spouses’ views” (2). The argument against allowing women to vote was that your husband or father would tell you who to vote for any way so why vote and secondly, women had limited rights on their own. Women were known as second class citizens. A numerous amount of people who were religious opposed the idea of giving women the right to vote. They believed that according to the Bible, women have to listen to what their husbands say. The article also includes that many liquor industries were afraid that if women were granted suffrage they would make alcoholic beverages illegal due to the fact they were big supporters of the
In social studies class we watched the movie The Iron Jawed Angels. This movie takes place in the 1900’s and women have decided to go against the law and want to be able to vote like the men. The movie shows that no men are happy about what's going on and clearly think the woman are stupid and not smart to do such a thing. Men believed that women should not have the right to vote and shouldn't get involved with politics. They also thought that the only thing women can and should do is stay at home and do work like for example take care of the kids, cook dinner, clean the house, etc. Lots of women wanted to stand up in what they believe in and many did, but other wish they could they couldn't they had to watch the kids and had husbands that
in pre 1914 in a society were women had no vote, were unable to voice
Although they were fighting for a worthy cause, many did not agree with these women’s radical views. These conservative thinkers caused a great road-block on the way to enfranchisement. Most of them were men, who were set in their thoughts about women’s roles, who couldn’t understand why a woman would deserve to vote, let alone want to vote. But there were also many women who were not concerned with their fundamental right to vote. Because some women were indifferent in regards to suffrage, they set back those who were working towards the greater good of the nation. However, the suffragettes were able to overcome these obstacles by altering their tactics, while still maintaining their objective.
Unlike what some others have said, it wasn't the lack of land that made it so that women couldn't vote. Yes, there was a brief time in American history (as well as British) that only land holders could vote. But it was land holder white males. In America, there were instances where women could inherit land and have the property in her name (if she was an only child, if her husband died and there were no children-- that sort of thing.) Regardless, even if she had land, she was not allowed to vote. The major reason politicians stated that women should not vote was becuase "women were too emotional" and "could not make rational choices". Essentially it was believed that women were too easily swayed by emotions and politicians feared what "emotional"
Beginning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century women began to vocalize their opinions and desires for the right to vote. The Women’s Suffrage movement paved the way to the nineteenth Amendment in the United States Constitution that allowed women that right. The Women’s Suffrage movement started a movement for equal rights for women that has continued to propel equal opportunities for women throughout the country. The Women’s Liberation Movement has sparked better opportunities, demanded respect and pioneered the path for women entering in the workforce that was started by the right to vote and given momentum in the late 1950s.