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The early women’s rights movement
Women's rights movement 1848-1920
Is there gender equality in the 21st century
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As Susan B. Anthony once said, “There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers”. As a matter of fact, during the mid-19th century, a movement called the Women’s Suffrage has begun to achieve some progress until the Progressive Era. However, some Americans feel that if it still needs some work and completion. The Women’s suffrage was all about achieving equal rights for women and it was granted by the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Hence, all women stood together and fought with the hope of earning their rights, so their future generations can appreciate the equality among women and men. The rights and privileges fought for by the suffragettes have been achieved somewhat throughout in …show more content…
First of all, looking at the social point of view, there are some major key points that have made our society today that’s far different from the society in the past. For example, education is a big priority an individual who determines to achieve in their life. However, viewing the past not everyone could obtain this goal especially for women’s. Referring from Source F, today in the 21st century there are more women going into higher levels of education which is tremendously increasing every year. To demonstrate, about “140 women will graduate with a college degree at some level this year for every 100 men” according to Source F. This enables one to realize how a role of women has been changed over a time period. In addition, both men and women can go for the same degree or be able to participate in any activity they wish. As a matter of fact, no segregation remains today or discrimination being tolerated at any extend. For …show more content…
In particular, during the 21st century, there are more women’s in congress, politics, and government or as elected officials. As years progress, our country seems to be opening up more opportunities for women’s to experience. As a matter of fact, according to Source D, there are “more women [today] in politics [who are] influencing the political agenda at higher levels”. For instance, America have a high percentage of minsters if compared to other countries. Specifically, 22.9% are of women ministers (Source D) and still continues to grow. In comparison, suffragettes have fought their way to get women’s into executive level as its stated in Source D. Hence, women’s have shown “the critical importance of political leadership in effecting changes”. Statistically, in the House of Representatives, women’s tend to occupy 18% where men occupy 82% of the seats in the House according to Source B. Clearly, one could see the tremendous change of women entering into politics and government positions. In the past, it was only men’s who are illegible to maintain a seat in the House of Representatives. In addition, these numerical percentages show how women’s fight to make a stand in government or anything that relates to political. Subsequently, according to Source A, the speech by Hillary Clinton persuades all women that women’s will fully achieve equality when a female president is in
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.
The need for women’s rights began back in colonial America where women were referred to as “inferior beings”. This era, though it is not particularly noted for it’s feminist movements, did hold such people as Margaret Brent, who was a wealthy holder of land in Maryland and was a strong, but unsuccessful voice in securing a place for women in the legislature of the colony. It was also a period where Quakers, and many other individuals, such as famous American patriot, Thomas Paine supported the rights of women, but at the time it was not enough to make a significant difference and it wasn’t until the 19th century that women would get the real chance to make a difference.
Clearly, a turning point in the history of the women's movement was women joining the services of World War One (WWI). It can be seen that initially women were not invited to join the war effort or services. Later, there was a change of strategic plan and woman were called to arms. This led to further development of the women's suffrage movement - without the "war" this may not have occurred.
Throughout history, women have always fought to gain equal political rights, but conventional roles kept women from getting enough political representation. Many suffrage groups founded by women challenged the conventional roles of women during 1840 to 1968 with the dream of obtaining equal political representation. In 1919, the nineteenth amendment, drafted by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was passed. The 19th amendment has been desired by many women for years. Although the 19th amendment passed and women thought that they were able to be equal in politics, many women did not get equal political representation due to their conventional roles at the time period. Women were not able to achieve high roles in politics, shown through the fact that there has never been a woman president in the history of the United States. The presidency of women did not occur due to the perceptions that generally, women should be protected and hidden, not out in the open and leadin...
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.
During the 19th century women around America began to fight for their right to vote which became the Suffrage Movement. The 19th amendment which is the bill that legally gave women in America the right to vote, was first introduced to American congress in 1878. On August 18th 1920 the amendment was implemented and ratified. However, between 1878 and 1912, nine western American states granted full voting rights to females. On may 21st 1919 the house of representatives passed the bill and within two weeks the American senate followed and approved the 19th amendment. It wasn’t until Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18th 1920, that law was implemented and ratified around the country. Although, across the globe Australia already
The Fifteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits the government, federal and state, from denying citizens the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Nevertheless, this amendment still did not give women the right to vote. Gender equality in current times is an essential part to the modern democratic government. Under international standards, both men and women should have equal opportunities to participate in the political process. However throughout history, women, the numerical majority, were neither encouraged nor allowed to participate in the United States political process through political attitudes and institutions. Women gained momentum for the women’s rights movement, their struggle for suffrage and equality, through their ability to bring their differentiating views together to work towards one goal.
“During the late 1800s and early 1900s, women and women's organizations not only worked to gain the right to vote, they also worked for broad-based economic and political equality and for social reforms” (“Women’s Suffrage in the Progressive Era” 1). There was a turning point in the late 1880s and early 1890s, during which “the nation experienced a surge of volunteerism among middle-class women.” The previously separate wings of women’s rights movement united to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Their relentless effort was finally rewarded in 1917, when “President Wilson (a convert to the suffrage cause) urged Congress to pass a voting rights amendment. Another crowning achievement also occurred that year when Montana’s Jeannette Rankin (elected two years after her state enfranchised women) was sworn into the 65th Congress on April 2, as the first woman to serve in the national legislature.” Although these were great leaps on the way to gender equality, the 19th amendment was not passed until 1920, “providing full voting rights for women nationally” (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848-1920”
Through the 20th century, the communist movement advocated greatly for women's’ rights. Despite this, women still struggled for equality.
Nothing simply begins. Everything needs something else in order to develop and live continuously. Fire needs wood to burn, water needs heat to boil, and the women’s right movement needed abolition to begin the real fight. The women’s rights movement of the nineteenth century emerged out of abolition activism because it was not until after abolitionist groups formed and began fighting slavery that women began to realize they had no rights themselves and began their own fight.
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.
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 for the nineteenth Amendment in the United States Constitution that allowed women to have 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 the workforce that was started by the right to vote and given momentum in the late 1950s. The focus of The Women’s Liberation Movement was idealized off The Civil Rights Movement; it was founded on the elimination of discriminatory practices and sexist attitudes (Freeman, 1995).
The rights for women have been fought for bravely throughout centuries by women who were able to overcome many forces of oppression. In the late 19th century the efforts for women’s equal rights became an identifiable movement, the first wave of feminism was aiming to allow equal opportunities for both men and women which focused on political change. The suffragettes were a group of women and men who partitioned for women’s right to vote, in 1894 this legislation was granted in Australia.
...o become professionals in all business and personal aspects of life. Today, we see women working in all work fields including, lawyers, engineers, doctors, etc. Although, they still faced some type of discrimination especially when it comes to wages, they have achieved what they were trying to achieve many years ago. After the women’s right movement, some privileges such as voting rights, no discrimination of jobs, and equal pay in jobs have been put in the same level as men in today’s society. Actually, we now see men being the “housewives” and the children caretakers while their wives are the ones to work and bring the money to the family. That is how much impact women have in today’s society. People didn’t realize that what a men was capable of doing so could a women. We can now express how women are free and how they were taken for granted in the earlier years.
Women’s underrepresentation in politics has been an ongoing issue in the todays world. Feminism is one the main reasons women can get an education. However, with more women likely to be enrolled in college than men, there is still a continued underrepresentation of women in leadership roles throughout the society (McKenna 2007, 7). The inequality has lead women into stepping back and not considering much for themselves. There are many reasons behind the underrepresentation that women hold in politics. Since the early times, women have been told to be stay at home moms, do the cooking, the cleaning, care for the elders and the children. Women are expected to be caring wives and moms, delicate and quiet. They are not seen to be powerful, independent and strong. Women will feel less inclined to consider the idea of running for office until someone suggests it to them; even at that point the thought of not being qualified enough will cross their minds (Why Aren’t There