The Acquisition of Women's Suffrage
In this essay I will Asses the validity of the two views on why women
over 30 gained the vote in 1918. Some people believe that women got
the vote because of the struggle to gain the vote, for example the
activities of the Suffragists and Suffragettes. Other people however,
would argue that women got the vote due to their contribution to the
war effort.
Those people who believe that it was the activities or the campaign of
the Suffragists and Suffragettes that earned women the vote in 1918
would argue that their activities made the public realise that women
could be doing other things apart from looking after the children.
They made a lot of effort to try and convince other women that men
were not better than them by producing their own newspapers, holding
public meetings, presenting petitions to the government and forming
peaceful marches.
However those people that don’t agree with this could argue that the
illegal, violent and militant activities of the Suffragettes hardened
the opposition to their demands. The government decided that they
didn’t want to give women the vote if they were lawless and destroyed
other people’s properties as well as risking other people’s lives. The
activities of the Suffragettes made the government very angry and
disappointed.
Women helped the government during the war. They worked in the armed
forces as nurses, in the Voluntary Aid Detachments as drivers and
secretaries and in the motorcar industry as mechanics. The government
would not have survived during the war without the help of the women
so they decided to give women the vote as a reward for their hard
work.
Based on the evidence presented above, I can conclude that both
arguments are very valid. We cannot lose the site that women struggled
to get the vote. They put their lives in risk just to achieve their
In the 1840’s, most of American women were beginning to become agitated by the morals and values that were expected of womanhood. “Historians have named this the ’Cult of True Womanhood’: that is, the idea that the only ‘true’ woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned exclusively with home and family” (History.com). Voting was only the right of men, but women were on the brink to let their voices be heard. Women pioneers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott wrote eleven resolutions in The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments; this historical document demanded abolishment of any laws that authorized unequal treatment of women and to allow for passage of a suffrage amendment.
Women, like black slaves, were treated unequally from the male before the nineteenth century. The role of the women played the part of their description, physically and emotionally weak, which during this time period all women did was took care of their household and husband, and followed their orders. Women were classified as the “weaker sex” or below the standards of men in the early part of the century. Soon after the decades unfolded, women gradually surfaced to breathe the air of freedom and self determination, when they were given specific freedoms such as the opportunity for an education, their voting rights, ownership of property, and being employed.
During the late 19th century, women were in a society where man was dominant. Women did not have natural born rights, such as the right to vote, to speak in public, access to equal education, and so forth, did not stop them to fight for their rights. Women's lives soon changed when Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony played a prominent role to help bring about change.
What does “movement” mean? There are many definitions for the word. In this case, I am referring to a political meaning. Movement is a series of organized activities working toward an objective. There have been many groups in history to start up movements throughout the decades. One that stands out to me the most is the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Women’s movements are led by powerful, courageous women who push to better the lives’ of women or lives’ of others. Most familiar movements are those involved in politics, in efforts to change the roles and status of womanhood in society. Groups of women also attempt to improve lives of others with the help of religious and charitable activities. Either it was a political, religious, or charitable women’s movement, each woman of each group have made an impact on today’s view of women and achieved greater political involvement.
During the reconstruction of the South many people had opposing views on black rights. The south predominantly thought blacks were inferior, but the North was more accepting of black rights. After years of fighting between confederates and abolitionists black rights were finally put into place. Black rights caused disunity between the people just as Women's Suffrage in the 20’s did. Just as black rights were sanctioned with time, Women's suffrage should also have been acknowledged. Throughout the 20’s many woman tried to obtain popularity in women's suffrage by holding meetings. The Seneca Falls Convention, organized by Elizabeth Staton, was a convention held by women's rights activists. These meetings addressed many issues that affected women's rights. These meeting were held to start giving notoriety to the issues pertaining to woman. Women's rights in the 20th century was an extremely controversial topic. Although women had been seen as inferior for many years, looking at the documents it’s unequivocal that woman should have been given the same domestic, political and social rights as men.
During the last 4 months, I’ve studied a lot about Canadian history and come across many great historical events that have shaped Canadian identity. The two most defining moments between the years 1900 to 2000 were women’s suffrage which was an issue to determine if women should have the right to vote or not. The other defining moment for Canada was Expo 67, which was the most successful worlds fair in history.
Women had no rights compared to a man. Women had to fight for the rights which led to a change in the United States which last till today. Women in 1920s the fight to have rights was called the women’s suffrage movement which impinged on how they have rights; and have to fight against a dissident to get the 19th amendment and how the suffrage movement affects today.
Jane Addams, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These women lived at the turn of the century, and fought vehemently for a cause they believed in. They knew that they were being discriminated against because of their gender, and they refused to take it. These pioneers of feminism paved the road for further reform, and changed the very fabric of our society.
Women used many different methods to earn the right to vote in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The first method they used to try and gain their suffrage was a parade held throughout the town. Many women wanted to march in the parade to prove their point. It drew a large crowd which was mostly full of men. Some of the men beforehand were drinking. When the parade started there were lots of floats and balloons and some women were riding horses with flags. Halfway through the parade lots of men got angry. It quickly erupted into violence and everyone was fighting. There were at least 100 people wounded from the parade. The second method used to try and gain suffrage was picketing the White House. Women stood in front of the White House from dawn
he and the other men “remember the ladies” In response, the Declaration is worded as “all
As a means of consolidating the nature of the debate involving women's suffrage, it should be understood that this was a time in history in which America was leading the world in exports, imports, growth, freedoms, rights and gloablization, they were also falling way short in terms of equality. Women in the 19th century didn't have an equal voice in any form of election, in the home, the workplace or in the laws eyes this was the Womens Sufferage. Stanton and Anthony founded the National Women's Suffrage Association in 1869. This association was one of the central forces in the movement for women's suffrage. Such is the term, however dated, that refers to the right to vote as a fundamental part of the Constiution of the United States. The
During the beginning of the 20th century, the increase activity of the National Union Of Women attractive additional support of the suffrage movement. “However, it was possible to criticize the policy and tactics of the constitutional suffragist on several grounds. It was argued that the suffragists should have revolted in 1884, when the amendment to the reform bill of that year failed through the opposition of the liberal leadership, but the suffragists were too well mannered to do more protesting and concentrate all of their efforts on one private members bill.” The women suffrage’s organization could not force the political parties to adopt the cause of women’s suffrage and need a major party to pick up their campaign or there was no hope of a government bill. Women’s suffrages leaders saw that they need more of a drastic tactics to gain public awareness. Women started protesting by undergoing violence methods and tactics however, the National Union Of Women believed that any aggression or violence acts of protesting would only weaken the movement. These actions would persuade male’s voters that women are too emotional and thus could not be trusted with the responsible of voting. These gentle ways of protesting was unconvincing, as many political believed would give up or lose interests. The lack of actions cause many women to take strongest methods of protesting their rights and formed a more violent group called Suffragettes.
This article, intentionally, speaks about how women and men interrelate. The basis of her argument is
Imperialism is policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. Between 1850-1914 Europe began the development of national state and imperialism. During this imperialistic time, women started to have different views towards things. Imperialism benefited women socially and politically. While the movement for female suffrage cause much tension between women and the government. Women wanted the right to vote, as a result of not getting that, they revolted. I believe women were starting to see their value and rights during this time of the century. I do not think it was fair women had to go through all those reforms to receive the right to suffrage.
It was not until the year 1920 that women in the United States of America gained the right to vote. Yet, American women always believed they were equal to the average American man; the government, including the president and lawmakers did not have the same beliefs as these women. Female civilians tried for many years to gain basic rights of any American citizen. Women’s rights were very hard to obtain, which led to a long and strong fight to achieve minimal rights. Three very important women who really made the American government realize women deserved the right to vote were Alice Paul, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These three women worked individually with different tactics to help American women achieve basic human rights, including the right to vote.