The Effects of World War I on Women's Rights As women became independent, they demanded equal legal and political rights, but this wouldn’t be the case until World War 1. Women in the early 20th century strengthened their efforts to obtain the right to vote. Women wanted equality with men. Women believed that they would be able to influence the government and they were willing to do anything they could, even if they had to use violence. This was the case women started to use violence without thinking about their own lives or anybody else. Before women used violence, they used the peaceful methods. For example: demonstrations, large public meetings, writing letters to newspapers, they did everything they could and staying inside the boundaries of the law. Theses women pushed these boundaries quiet far. This group of women was known as Suffragists, women who didn’t believe in using extreme methods. The Suffragists tried peaceful methods but failed to get women the vote. This was because nobody toke any notice of peaceful methods. This is why women failed to get the vote to right to vote between 1900 and 1914. People of he early 20th century didn’t want any changes, a lot of people were happy with the way things were. People said “women had never voted before, why should they start now? Even Queen Victoria opposed the granting of full political rights to her own sex, believing that politics did not concern women. The Married Women’s Property Act gave women a new legal status, but women were still not entitled to vote in parliamentary elections. The Married Women’s property Act allowed women to vote for County and County Borough Council and they were allowed to become councilors. This still meant that they were not allowed to play any part in central government. This is why women failed to get the vote to right to vote between 1900 and 1914. Suffragettes, a group of women who were prepared to do anything and I
is only a snapshot of one moment in history. It does not tell us about
World War II opened a new chapter in the lives of Depression-weary Americans. The United States of America had an unusual importance in the war, it had been spared the physical destruction that had taken place throughout the world. Americans on the home front did not see the fighting and brutality as other countries experienced it. However, the events and changes on the home front due to the World War transformed America. One of the greatest conversions was that of the American woman. Women around the country were transformed from the average house wife into a person with a voice and most importantly a purpose.
The early rush of volunteers and later the conscription of men led to a shortage of manpower on the home front. Women, already working in munitions factories were encouraged to take on jobs normally done by men.
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...
World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in the history of mankind.
When the war began men had to leave their families and jobs behind. World War I was a complete war because all of the world’s assets had to be used and the entire nation’s population was involved. Anyone that had the ability to work had to work. The women had to take up jobs and went through a lot changes in order to support their families during the war. World War I gave women with the chance to have a significant part in the victory of the war which had an impact them and changed the lives of all women forever.
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
"Leeds Express: 4 March 1868 I wonder, Mr Editor, Why I can't have the vote; And I will not be contented Till I've found the reason out I am a working woman, My voting half is dead, I hold a house, and want to know Why I can't vote instead I pay my rates in person, Under protest tho, it's true; But I pay them, and I'm qualified To vote as well as you. " Sarah Ann Jackson The purpose of this investigation is to analyse the issues surrounding the eventual enfranchisement of women in 1918, to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the militant Suffragette campaign in the early years of the twentieth century and to decide whether the outbreak of war was instrumental in achieving enfranchisement, or merely a fortunate coincidence. The poem written by Sarah Ann Jackson underlines the fact that many middle class women had, throughout the reign of Queen Victoria, taken issue with men's dominance over their lives and had worked hard throughout these years to draw attention to women's right to equality. For these women, enfranchisement was not their sole aim.
When we look at the history of women’s paid employment in Canada, we can see that society has come a long way. Previously, women’s work was in the home, in the private sphere. Her work consisted of taking care uniquely of the home and the children. Rarely, would we see women working for a wage expect for poor women; only because, their families needed the income. Mainly, the only jobs that were available for women were domestic service, a job that relates to the private sphere of the home. People believed that if a woman had paid employment, she was taking away a paycheck from a man, or she would become too manly.
World War I is remembered as a soldier's conflict for the six million men who
On December 7th, 1941, approximately 360 Japanese aircrafts attacked the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii1. The Pearl Harbor attack took the American Army completely by surprise, and angered the country as a whole. Americans took the Pearl Harbor attack as a personal blow, and changed the minds of all who still believed in American neutrality in the war. The U.S. Congress declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, officially entering the U.S. into World War II. With the start of the war, came many changes in the everyday life of ordinary Americans. There were many shortages in household items, such as flashlights, batteries, waffle irons, plastic toys, and tea2. On the East Coast, the supply of gasoline was reduced by 20%, and the rationing of many household items and food was introduced into many homes of American citizens3. One of the biggest changes in ordinary American life during this time was brought about by the draft, which resulted in the loss of roughly 12,209,240 American men by 1945 who had gone to join the armed forces4. During World War II, the number of men away at war resulted in America being in desperate need of more factory hands to manufacture weapons and supplies for the troops and of service in the military itself. The women of America then found themselves being thrust into these positions and offered occupations of higher respect, rank, and pay than previously. The immense number of women who participated in World War II played an imperative role in increasing the freedom of American women in the workplace, in the military, and on the home front.
The lack of participation of women in society in the United States before the women's rights movement in 1948 was remarkable. They did not participate in activities such as voting and fighting in wars. They also could not own property and "belonged" to their father until they were married, when they would then become the property of their husband. They were brought up to get married, often while they were still very young, then to become a good mother and housewife. The lack of activity though changed during the American Revolution that lasted from 1775 to 1783. This American Revolutionary experience had a great impact on the eventual movement for women's rights.
Women have always been fighting for their rights for voting, the right to have an abortion, equal pay as men, being able to joined the armed forces just to name a few. The most notable women’s rights movement was headed in Seneca Falls, New York. The movement came to be known as the Seneca Falls convention and it was lead by women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton during July 19th and 20th in 1848. Stanton created this convention in New York because of a visit from Lucretia Mott from Boston. Mott was a Quaker who was an excellent public speaker, abolitionist and social reformer. She was a proponent of women’s rights. The meeting lasted for only two days and was compiled of six sessions, which included lectures on law, humorous presentations and discussions concerning women’s role in society. The convention was organized by a mostly radical group of Quakers while ironically their leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a non-Quaker skeptic. Stanton and her Quaker followers presented a document entitled the Declaration of Sentiments to the convention, which was accompanied by a list of resolutions that were to be debated by the members of the convention before it was signed. One hundred of the three hundred attendees of the Seneca Falls Convention signed the Declaration of Sentiments. The Seneca Falls Convention was merely a single step in the right direction for the women’s rights movement; it was seen as a revolution in which women were fighting desperately for equality to their male counterparts. The Declaration of Sentiments became a staple document in the women’s suffrage, as it was the first time that men and women came together to demand women’s right to vote. Women’s suffrage gained national attention due to the conventio...
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.
“Gee, I wish I were a man!” It is an odd thing for a woman to say, but during World War II this saying was a common advertisement to encourage women to join the workforce during the war. The