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Why Women Failed to Gain the Right to Vote between 1900 and 1914 In the following essay I will talk to you about why the women of Britain did not achieve the right to vote in the early nineteenth century. I will inform you of the women’s arguments for why they thought they should be allowed to vote, and also the argument against women gaining the right to vote. Most people didn’t like the idea of women having the right to vote. They thought that women weren’t capable of making sensible judgments on political issues, and they also thought of politics as being ‘unfeminine’, maybe because they’d never ever given women the opportunity to even step into politics and see what it’s like. Even the queen of the time, Queen Victoria wasn’t in favour of giving women the vote and she quoted it as ‘mad, wicked folly’. However I don’t blame the people for not wanting to give women the right to vote because in all this time, women had never been given the chance to prove themselves worthy of something more than just a housewife because the community had always pushed them down and treated them as something lower than themselves. This could have created doubt in peoples’ minds as to whether women could be trusted to use the vote wisely and not to treat it as a joke. Another reason for why women weren’t given the vote is because some women of the time said that they were absolutely fine how they were, as they believed a woman’s rightful place was in the house, looking after her husband and bringing up her children. Another cause for why women didn’t get what they wanted was because of a group of violent ‘ladies’ who protested for the right to vote. As you may have already guessed, they were the Suffragettes. The suffragettes had a very vulgar and disliked way of approaching people whilst trying to persuade them to help their cause, instead, they harmed it. In 1906 the British magazine Punch, designed a poster
Martin Pugh, in his evaluation of women’s suffrage, focuses his narrative on the Victorian Suffragists, especially from the 1870s to 1890s, arguing- unlike many other historians- that their contribution to the securing of votes for women was instrumental. Presented through 10 essays, focusing on specific topics related to the Suffragist movement, Pugh provides an in depth analysis of both the tactics and political climate the Victorian Women’s Suffrage movement faced. Organised in roughly chronological order, the prose is fluent with constant reference to central ideas featuring in each text, consolidating Pugh’s point.
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.
The women’s job in that era are meant keep her house clean and feed her children (Doc C). They are also dependent on the city administration to make their lives decent (Doc C). The women’s suffrage movement fought because woman needed to fulfil her traditional responsibilities in the house and to her children, which makes it a must to use the ballot and have the home safe (Doc C). All women needs to have a chance to voice their opinion to help the community strive, and one way to do that is making them able to vote.
In the years after 1870 there were many reasons for the development of the women’s suffrage movement. The main reasons were changes in the law. Some affecting directly affecting women, and some not, but they all added to the momentum of Women’s campaign for the vote.
I also think that she has another audience in mind. She is also addressing the city officials, the politicians and the rest of the male population in society. She is addressing the city officials and the politicians because they are the people responsible for the decision making in the implementation of any new changes in the voting rights. She is also addressing the rest of the male population, such as the husbands, the fathers, the brothers, the nephews to stand by the women and support them in gaining their voting right in order to raise and educate a better generation of sons and daughters.
Their argument was that the 13th and 14th amendment had already given African American males the same amount of authority that women had. Therefore, in their opinion, giving black males the right to vote would make them superior over females and only further their oppression. Feminists also brought up the argument that giving females the right to vote would bring a new element into American politics. Males had always had the right to vote, therefore adding the black males’ vote wouldn’t bring in any new or beneficial aspects.
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.
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....
Mainly because women weren’t fully exposed to the happenings outside of the home, which led to the male figure believing that it was impossible for women to vote if they didn’t know the facts. Men thought that if women were able to vote, that they would reach a power, that they could not take away and they didn’t want that. Men wanted to be the head of the household and everything else in between. There were many women, who thought the fact of not being able to vote was outrageous. They wanted the same rights as men, and nothing was going to stop them.
As the beginning of the 1900s drew near there was a change in the rights of women. As more women were working and getting higher education there was a huge movement. Dresses got more practical as the hoop skirt was replaced with a narrower dress. Organizations of women worked very hard and finally in 1917 they finally got the right to vote.
Women used many methods to gain their rights to vote and evidently they faced a lot of obstacles while trying to gain
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.
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
It was Theodore Roosevelt, who stated that, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care”, conveying the idea that with no voice comes no change. In the morning of August 26, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, which centralized mainly on the enfranchisement of women. Today, they have the legal right to vote, and the ability to speak openly for themselves, but most of all they are now free and equal citizens. However this victorious triumph in American history would not have been achieved without the strong voices of determined women, risking their lives to show the world how much they truly cared. Women suffragists in the 19th century had a strong passion to change their lifestyle, their jobs around the nineteenth century were limited to just children, family, and domestic duties. It consisted of a very low rate of education, and job opportunities. They could not share their opinion publicly and were expected to support their male family members and husbands during the time. Women knew that the way to enfranchisement was going to be tenacious, and full of obstacles along the way. Therefore a new organization was formed, The National American Women Association (NAWSA), representing millions of women and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as the first party president. This organization was founded in 1890, which strategized on the women getting education in order to strengthen their knowledge to prepare for the suffrage fight. NAWSA mainly focused on the right to vote one state at a time. In 1917, a member named Alice Paul, split apart from NAWSA because of the organization’s tactics and major goals. Due to this split, many other suffragists from NAWSA bitterly divided into a new organization named, National Women’s ...
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.