Context
In March, 1918, French teacher, feminist and socialist activist, Hélène Brion was trialed for treason and defeatism in regards to the spread of her propaganda items throughout France, that challenged the Allies war efforts in World war 1(Michallat, W. 2013). The primary source to be analysed in this essay is the statement Brion delivered at her trial for treason.
When the war began on August 1st 1914, the women of France put aside their fight for women’s suffrage, that had been intensifying over the years leading up to this time, to assume a role assisting the war efforts for their nation. There were some however, such as Brion, who refused to step down from their own battle and used the Great War itself as a means to further their
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During the early 20th century, women were highly subject to discrimination and lack of rights in such settings, being determined as guilty without fair trial (Grayzel, Susan R.2002). Brion acknowledges this as due to her inferiority and inability to vote within French society, and subjects heavily to the concept of exclusion of women in the decision making process in France. This exclusion is something she believes to be one of the main causes for the severe suffering being expereinced by the French, and many other countries across Europe at that current point of time. She illustrates that if women were given the right to vote, such as men, then the likelihood of France participating in the Great war would have been lessened, as feminism would have prevailed and used other means - “moral strength and intellectual values” rather than the violence and suffering that accompanied the conflict and the beast-like nature of men. Many other feminists across Europe highlighted a similar point during this time, illustrating the lack of compensation and the extent of the wars consequences on all of the nations citizens, half of which had had no input into its occurrence due to their lack of political rights. (Grayzel, Susan R.2002) Brion also mentions this particular point, but does do by forcing her target audience to question their logic …show more content…
The source allows readers to direct their attention toward issues, such as women’s suffrage, that were not generated because of the war, but were detrimentally and severally affected by the occurrence of it (Grayzel, Susan R.2002). The feminist movement for women’s rights, especially for the right to vote, was a highly significant movement during the 20th century. The document analysed in this essay exhibits that this movement was still trying to gain momentum even when the largest players of the world were at war with one another, an event so extensive it would make movements such as these irrelevant for the period being. But Brion allows historians to identify that there were still people using these movements to not only further their own agenda but prove to the rest of society the pointlessness and unjust nature of the conflict taking place. The document enables individuals to place things into context, to identify that although the Great War was extravagant and large-scale, it was not the only thing going on in history during that time, and it wasn’t always accepted by people within the nations fighting it. Brion’s statement allows readers to connect historical events, ideas and themes within society during World War 1, especially in regards to the lack of rights women had during this period and to what extent they had no say in such a
The woman suffrage parades of 1910–1913: Possibilities and limitations of an early feminist rhetorical strategy by Jennifer Borda is fashioned during a period when annual parades were being introduced for the first time in the United States. The parades stimulated a unity among US women empowering them to discuss their progress and elaborate on the future needs. As such, the parades amalgamated the women’s feminist movement enabling them to pursue an audience from the political leaders at that time (Borda, 2011, p. 213-216). However, Borda vocalizes the challenges postured by the parades could impede the feminine movement and bring disparity to their image. Therefore, the divergence among women triggered the derailment of advocating for women’s justice.
Women throughout the suffrage act were faced with many challenges that eventually led into the leading roles of women in the world today. Suffrage leaders adopted new arguments to gain new support. Rather than insisting on the justice of women’s suffrage, or emphasizing equal rights, they spoke of the special moral and material instincts women could bring to the table. Because of these women taking leaps and boundaries, they are now a large part of America’s government, and how our country operates.
After the success of antislavery movement in the early nineteenth century, activist women in the United States took another step toward claiming themselves a voice in politics. They were known as the suffragists. It took those women a lot of efforts and some decades to seek for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. In her essay “The Next Generation of Suffragists: Harriot Stanton Blatch and Grassroots Politics,” Ellen Carol Dubois notes some hardships American suffragists faced in order to achieve the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Along with that essay, the film Iron-Jawed Angels somehow helps to paint a vivid image of the obstacles in the fight for women’s suffrage. In the essay “Gender at Work: The Sexual Division of Labor during World War II,” Ruth Milkman highlights the segregation between men and women at works during wartime some decades after the success of women suffrage movement. Similarly, women in the Glamour Girls of 1943 were segregated by men that they could only do the jobs temporarily and would not able to go back to work once the war over. In other words, many American women did help to claim themselves a voice by voting and giving hands in World War II but they were not fully great enough to change the public eyes about women.
While the issue of women’s suffrage has roots based in every country in the world, most think that the initial inroads were painfully carved through the efforts of early women pioneers in America. This perception is easily formed due to the early publication of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Right’s of Women in 1792. However, the movement gained national attention in New Zealand in 1893 and in Australia in 1902, eclipsing the suffrage movement in Britain, Canada and America by at least 25 years. The struggle for women’s rights has been ponderous and slow moving throughout the years and not without internal divisions.
Women’s role in society changed quite a bit during WWI and throughout the 1920s. During the 1910s women were very short or liberty and equality, life was like an endless rulebook. Women were expected to behave modestly and wear long dresses. Long hair was obligatory, however it always had to be up. It was unacceptable for them to smoke and they were expected to always be accompanied by an older woman or a married woman when outing. Women were usually employed with jobs that were usually associated with their genders, such as servants, seamstresses, secretaries and nursing. However during the war, women started becoming employed in different types of jobs such as factory work, replacing the men who had gone to fight in the war in Europe. In the late 1910s The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) had been fighting for decades to get the vote for women. As women had contributed so much to the war effort, it was difficult to refuse their demands for political equality. As a result, the Nineteenth Amendment to the constitution became law in 19...
The lack of success of the movements for women’s suffrage in achieving their aims by 1918 cannot be held accountable to solely one reason due to the abundance of causes for this. Voting, however, was not the only area where women were subjected to inequitable treatment: in1850 women were regarded as second class citizens. It was common belief that their brain was smaller than their male peers and they were therefore provided with very little or no form of education which, consequentially, meant that jobs for women were unskilled and low paid. Many professions would not employ a female as it was considered that a woman’s place was in the home. Politics was an additional area where women were uninvolved. Political parties (except Labour) argued mainly against women’s suffrage. Certain individuals claimed that involving women in the world of politics would be wrong due to biological reasons. Movement groups who included women’s suffrage as part of their aims included National Union of Woman’s Suffrage Society (NUWSS) and the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). Each of these movements employed very different tactics from each other in the hope that their message would be conveyed effectively and action would be taken by the public and the government. Tactics utilised by these movements – the WSPU in particular – have been cited as a reason for the lack of success in winning the vote for women due to the government and public attitudes caused by their methods. Other factors, however, influenced the lack of success too, for example the arrival of World War I and other subjects that were occupying the government’s attention at that time like the miners and dockers strike and the naval race with Germany as World War I lo...
Whether it is the Ancient Greece, Han China, the Enlightened Europe, or today, women have unceasingly been oppressed and regarded as the second sex. Provided that they have interminably been denied the power that men have had, very few prominent female figures like Cleopatra, the Egyptian Queen, or Jeanne d'Arc, the French heroine, have made it to history books. Veritably, it was not until 1792 when Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women addressed the issues of gender equality, that some started hearkening the seemingly endless mistreatment of women. New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote in 1892. The United States did not endorse this until 1920 when the 19th Amendment was ratified, which states “The right of citizens of the United States votes shall not be denied or abridged… on account of sex.” This, however, was not the end to women’s plight. For the majority of the 20th century, America’s idea of a good woman was a good mother and a good wife. In the 1960s and 1970s, a movement that would later bring fundamental changes to the American society was spreading rapidly throughout the country: The Women’s Liberation Movement. With the increasing number of educated women, gender inequality received more attention than ever before. Hundreds of women came together to fight domestic violence, lack of political and economic development, and reproductive restrictions. One of these women was an ordinary girl from Ohio named Gloria Steinem who would later become a feminist icon in the United States. Steinem contributed to the Women’s Liberation Movement by writing about feminism and issues concerning women, co-founding Ms. magazine, giving influential speeches— leading he movement along with...
The events of World War II have established a new public perspective on women. Through women’s accomplishments, they justified females were capable of achieving high standards that existed once as only attainable by men. Once vulnerable to prejudices, they’ve given an opportunity for all to comprehend there can be a life when the populaces aren’t segregated by race or gender. Women have rehabilitated the faded thought of their rights and responsibilities, bringing history closer to a more righteous and responsible dawn.
“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.”
This movement which was inspired by the ideologies of courageous women and fueled by their enthusiasm and sacrifice is often unacknowledged by most historians in the chronicles of American History. Today the movement is often misunderstood as a passive, white upper class, naive cause. But a deeper study would reveal that the women’s suffrage movement was the one that brought together the best and brightest women in America, which not only changed the lives of half the citizens of United States but also changed the social attitudes of millions of Americans.
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.
Through the history, women have always fought for their rights creating a new space for their participation as citizens. After the First World War during the 1920s and 1930s new histories of women suffragettes have been written. During that period of time some activist groups were created, for instance, the Edwardian women’s suffrage movement that created in women a ‘Suffragette Spirit’ with the same goals and purposes even with the same militant procedures such as radical feminism that involved hunger strike and forcible feeding. This argument have become controversial due to different points of view in recent years. Another samples are the formation of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), a group led by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst under an autocratic system; Women’s Freedom League (WFL), a self-proclaimed militant organization and National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). These groups were formed in Britain giving way to creation of some texts that explain the actions of the feminist groups and were the basis to achieve the right of suffragettes. Furthermore, the author of this article talks about a second narrative published in 1914 by Constance Lytton that explain about her own experiences in a militant period and personal sacrifice in an attempt to vote. Finally, her experience of militancy had become the archetype of suffrage militancy. In addition, she became in a feminist and kept touch with important members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). According to Lytton (cited in Mayhall, 1995: 326) She said that whilst she felt sympathy towards men, children and even animals – those that she said were ‘down-trodden’ – she had completely ‘been blind to the particular sufferings ...
Although American women weren’t recruited for war, they played a vital role as they showed their patriotism and support of the war in the form of working in male oriented jobs such as factories, farms, and in offices. Additionally, they volunteered as nurses, and bought war bonds. During the era of War World I, the women suffrage movement which started in 1848, took advantage of Wilson’s stand on war, and actively fought for their rights by challenging traditional ideals of democracy. The women suffrage movement started long before the war in 1848. President Wilson was initially against the suffrage movement which caused the leaders of women suffrage to accuse him of hypocrisy as he advocated for democracy They had chained themselves to the White House fence and, when arrested, staged hunger strikes in order to shame a president who claimed to fight for democracy”(Gendzel, Section2). In January 11, 1917, suffragists started a protest at the white house, and held banners that asked
Suffrage is a very important topic regarding women, and it is something that they fought for during the years. There were several factors that led to women pushing and pushing harder for suffrage. An example was how they were regarded, how limited they felt, and to have autonomy from their husbands. Document B clearly shows the sexist view that damaged women ideal, which was that they were created for the purpose of bearing children. This ideal, led to women feeling limited in what they could do, and even doubt their own capacities.
Women's suffrage was the most dubious womens' rights issue of the late nineteenth and mid twentieth hundreds of years and partitioned early women's activists on ideological lines. “The country's first women's rights