Historically, women have constantly had to fight to be considered equal to men and to have the right to make decisions for themselves legally. Through various events that have occurred during the Women’s Rights Movement, women have made progress in areas such as women’s suffrage, equal pay, reproductive rights, and domestic violence. One of the most notable individual women’s rights movements in history was the movement for women’s suffrage, or the right to vote. Before women began to express an interest in gaining the right to vote, no one else thought that women needed the right to vote because it was thought that the husbands would handle all of the political matters in the house and women should only be focused on child-rearing and housekeeping.
In 1869, Cady Stanton and B. Anthony formed the Nation Women Suffrage Association group. “They focused on voting rights for women. They thought African American Men, as well as women, should get the right to vote at the same time” (Isecke 17). One set back they had was trying to approach the Supreme Court to stating that by the 14th Amendment they had the right to vote, the leaders made three approaches, therefore women argued they were citizens and should be allowed to vote. However, the Supreme Court did not change their minds on women not having the right to vote. Therefore, since they saw that the Supreme Court would not change their minds they went state by state to try to fight the right to vote. As a result, Wyoming became the first state to grant women’s suffrage, they were allowed to vote in that state. Slowly they started changing things but still would not get the right to vote, it would take years still so they could vote. Forty years after the first women’s rights movement convention in 1848, they created the first international council of women in 1888. Women from all over the world came to this conference; they wanted to work together so every country passes a law so women have equal rights as men and would be allowed to vote. However, “The ICW did not work out the way Cady Stanton and Anthony had hoped. Women in other countries failed to start or keep their
In May of 1869, Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Women’s Suffrage Association. This group focuses on achieving women’s voting rights through a congressional amendment. In November of the same year, another group was formed, the American Women’s Suffrage Association, which also had the primary goal of attaining voting rights, but wished to do so through amendments to individual state constitutions. The first state to establish a women’s suffrage movement was the state of Wyoming. Women were allowed to serve on a jury as of December of 1870.
In the United States at the time the Constitution was written, it is estimated that only six percent of the adult male population was entitled to vote2. Under the influence of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy, religious and property qualifications were eliminated. Racial barriers to voting existed legally until the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified after the civil war. Although the struggle to achieve equal rights for women to vote did not include a declared national war, it was nevertheless, a fierce battle fought primarily by determined female “soldiers”. Even though the women’s suffrage movement started long before the civil war, it was the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment that set a precedence for human equality. This precedence was the antecedent that women needed to become more aggressive and increasingly vociferous, which ultimately led to their right to vote.
Women’s rights have been a concern around the World since almost forever. The biggest advances in these rights, though, happened in America. For almost two hundred years, give or take some breaks, women have been doing what they could to advance their rights. Women did more to expand their rights before and during WWII, though. They spread their message by holding protests, stepping outside of the boundaries given to them, and reaching out to other women.
In 1848, the American women's rights movement started, during this movement, even though the leaders of the women’s rights advocated for the Reconstruction amendments , such as Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, these amendment did not promote women’s suffrage. In 1869, the writers of the nineteenth amendment, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony worked in the National Woman Suffrage Association while Lucy Stone led the American Woman Suffrage Association’s state-by-state battle for the vote. After that, the two groups united to form the National American Women Suffrage Association. This association aimed to secure voting rights for all American women (American memory, 2010). During World War I, women contributed significantly to the nation's war effort. As a result, many politicians began to realize that women could be an important source of votes, and then the United States Congress supported the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Finally, in 1920, women won the vote throughout the nation (Jone Johnson Lewis, 2008). In simple English, the Nineteenth Amendment states that Constitution cannot deny or abridge the citizens’ voting rights, regardless of the sex.
American women demanded suffrage because they believed that it was the most crucial characteristic of full-citizenship. The underlying implication for this demand was that the women believed in the existence of their inalienable rights. When exercised, these natural rights maintain that women “should enjoy individual rights of self-government, rather than relying on indirect civic participation as the mothers, sisters, or daughters of male voters” (Pleck 1). Furthermore, woman suffrage asserted that women have the right to choose their own representatives.
The women’s suffrage movement was an uphill battle against the society of the United States. Many important people such as Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Ida B. Wells, lived for the fight to get their right to vote and some never actually lived to see the 19th amendment ratified into the constitution. The women’s suffrage movement affected many areas all around the United States. When the 19th amendment was added to the Constitution, women changed everything. They raised social expectations, they took economic roles, and they filled political positions.
The women's suffrage movement began in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York. The leader was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who joined in the 1850s, by Susan B. Anthony, who provided the driving leadership of the movement. In 1890, NAWSA (National American Woman Suffrage Association) was led by Carrie Chapman Catt, who aimed at winning the right to vote for women not through the state-by-state efforts that only give them right to vote in nine states; but now, the movement would concentrate on achieving women's suffrage through a constitutional amendment. This change of strategy gained much more public supports and h...
When this amendment was first put out into the society the men and people didn’t know what to think. They mostly thought of it as outrageous to let a woman vote. A lot of people also thought of this as something that they didn’t have to worry about that it was just some stupid thing that would go away. Woman on the other hand took this matter very seriously. They often held silent vigils and hunger strikes. When the women did this they were often heckled at, discriminated against, sent to jail, and some men even physically abused them.
As source B states, due to the removal of The Sex Disqualification Act in 1919, it was illegal to exclude women from jobs just because of their gender (BBC, 2018). This led to women being given the right to vote. Factual secondary source J states that NAWSA, National American Women's Suffrage Association and NWP were two significant Women's suffrage associations that made this happen. Both associations had a purpose to secure equal rights to all American citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, colour or gender. This was the most significant achievement for women in that era. (source
Just as the political, moral, and economic factors freed the slaves and made black males citizens so to does the political climate influence politicians to favor women's suffrage. There is a giant chunk of untapped voters, approximately half the population in america whose votes will determine their political office. If a party “delays” or “politcal dishonesty” hinders women's suffrage “the risk” of losing political favor could destroy a party. This type of political incentive caused great pressure as the fear of slaves rebelling did back in 1865 and the civil rights movement in the 1950s. It is these political pressures and movements by powerful women that enabled the success of women's suffrage when it
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.
victory was won. It was not until 1919 when the nineteenth amendment was passed were women had