Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
the fight for women suffrage
summary of the womens suffrage movement
elizabeth cady stanton american suffragist
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: the fight for women suffrage
The Work of Suffragists and Suffragettes
In the early 1800's, very few people were allowed to vote. Unlike
modern times voting was not seen as a 'human right'. Only the rich
were allowed to vote, it was thought that if you owned property then
you were 'respectable' and were sensible enough to use the vote
properly. There was also a gender qualification, in which only men
could vote.
In 1832, 1867 and 1884, Electoral Reform Acts were passed which
reduced the property qualification, increasing the amount of men who
could vote. By 1900, most working class men who had a permanent
address could vote. But women were still not given the vote.
In 1867, MP John Stuart Mill suggested giving women the vote. 73 MP's
were in favour of the motion but the bill was abandoned. Recognising
the support for women's suffrage, Mrs Millicent Garrett set up the
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). This group was
made up of hundreds of suffrage groups around the country who were
determined to give women the vote. The groups consisted of mainly
middle-class women. By 1902, the campaign had gained the support of
many working-class women as well. These groups were called the
suffragists.
The suffragists did not demand in getting the vote for all women. They
wanted women to have the vote on the same term as men. They saw their
campaigns not as an attack on male suffrage but for the good of
everyone. They used peaceful methods of trying to direct public
opinion towards the fact that women should have the vote. They did not
use violence instead just issued leaflets and held meetings with
politicians to discuss the issue of women's suffrage.
But, by 1903 women's suffrage was getting no further and Mrs Emmeline
Pankhurst, a member of the Manchester Suffrage Society, grew tired of
Labour's lukewarm attitude of votes for women and set up the Women's
Social and Political Union (WSPU).Mrs Pankhurst thought that the
movement had to be more radical and militant if it was to gain any
(Nugent, p. 116) The amendment granted woman’s suffrage, and was the fruit of many years of labor of several women’s rights groups, such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and prominent women’s rights activists, such as Susan B. Anthony. The amendment expanded the bounds of popular democracy, bringing attention to women who felt increasingly ignored as participants in the political system (Piott, p. 166). Being the inalienable right of any citizen, the right to vote inevitably expanded the political freedom of American women, and also opened other doors of opportunity to them; they could advocate for more job opportunities, better economic security, and advantageous marital and family
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.
After this Act, many women felt that if the majority of men, regardless of class, were able to vote, why should women not be able to vote as well? Later, in 1870, the first part of the Married Women’s Property Act was passed. Until this act was passed, when a woman married, any property she owned was legally transferred to her husband. Divorce laws heavily favored men, and a divorced wife could expect to lose any property she possessed before she married. The implications of these two Acts combined, was enough to start women questioning the reasons for them not being able to vote, it started the campaign of votes for women.
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.
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.
On August 18, 1920 the nineteenth amendment was fully ratified. It was now legal for women to vote on Election Day in the United States. When Election Day came around in 1920 women across the nation filled the voting booths. They finally had a chance to vote for what they thought was best. Not only did they get the right to vote but they also got many other social and economic rights. They were more highly thought of. Some people may still have not agreed with this but they couldn’t do anything about it now. Now that they had the right to vote women did not rush into anything they took their time of the right they had.
Women used many methods to gain their rights to vote and evidently they faced a lot of obstacles while trying to gain
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 ...
... to stop in order to help their country flight the war. They understand they needed to helping on the home front and this was the time for them to step up and show the British Parliament how valuable they are to their country. Lobbying did take place quietly, some women suffrage groups saw this time for to show they can do the same jobs as men and contribute to the war efforts. In 1918 passed the Representation of the People Act and enfranchising women over the age of 30 who meet property qualifications. This act was the stating of women gaining equality to men. Even though, women had to meet qualifications to vote, it was a start in changing society view on women’s rights. In 1928, ten year after the Representation of the People Act, the Conservative government passed the Representation of the People Act finally giving women vote right to all over the age of 21.
Effectiveness of Suffragists and Suffragettes The suffragists and suffragettes campaigned for votes for women from 1906 to 1914. The suffragists campaigned politically, organising petitions, marches and meetings. The suffragettes were violent protesters, vandalising public property, private property, and men's affairs. But how effective were these campaigns, of violence and peace. The suffragist's greatest achievement was arguably the introduction of the conciliation bill.
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
Women were getting tired of not having the same rights as men, so they wanted to make a move to change this. Women got so tired of staying at home while the men worked. Women wanted to get an education. So they fought for their freedom. Abigail Adams said to her husband, “in the new code of laws, remember the ladies and do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.” John’s reply was, “I cannot but laugh. Depend upon it, we know better than to repeal our masculine systems.” These were said in 1776. The women’s suffrage actually began in 1848, which was the first women’s rights convention which was held in Seneca Falls, New York. Prominent leaders began campaigning for the right to vote at State and federal levels. Susan B. Anthony was the leader for getting women their rights in the United States. Susan B. Anthony voted in Rochester, NY for the presidential election. This occurred in 1872. She was, “arrested, tried, convicted, and fined $100.” She refused to pay the fine. Supporters of The Equal Rights Amendment would march, rally, petition, and go on hunger strikes.
The suffrage movement first emerged at the turn of the century and Civil War when African American slaves were denied the right to vote, a benefit that a majority agreed was associated with citizenship, and therefore should be applicable to all freed slaves. This set the grounds for a suffrage movement that later evolved into a larger issue centered on antislavery reform. Joining together to fight for benefits that were being withheld from American citizens, the role of women came into play during this time as the most active abolitionists who came together to organize petitions, conventions, and raise funds to help further the movement. Women played a vital role in being heard through protests and local publications of their thoughts. Novels such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Clotel, along with articles in popular news publications, shed much light and attention on anti-slavery reform, while also sparking the inspiration for women’s rights (Britton, 2006).
Women were trying to get the vote for many years before 1900, however this was not a serious concern and they were not doing much to achieve this. However in 1900 this all changed. The NUWSS (Suffragists) and the WSPU (Suffragettes) were set up in the early years of 1900; their goal was to allow women to get the vote. Their reason was that women were already allowed to work on city councils and become doctors, some notable ones too such as Florence Nightingale. The NUWSS believed that if women were house owners and had respectable jobs they should be allowed to vote. This is because men who were allowed to vote could be white slave owners and lunatics so why could these men vote and women could not? Notably however Queen Elizabeth herself proclaimed that women should not get muddled up with the world of politics.
Just as the Irish wanted good work and the farmers wanted a good banking system, women wanted equality. Women and women's organizations worked for various rights for different groups of people. They not only worked to gain the right to vote, they also worked for political equality and for social reforms.