20th Century Women's Rights Movement

Women in the nineteenth century lived in a time characterized by gender inequality. At the beginning of the century, women could not vote, could not be sued, were extremely limited over personal property after marriage, and were expected to remain obedient to their husbands and fathers.( women’s suffrage movement 1) In most situations, the men would have to go to work and bring home the money, and the women would have no choice but to stay home, clean the

In the 1900’s, women began to fight the battle that would eventually be the win of a lifetime: the right to vote. The 19th amendment finally granted them their wishes. In 1920, women wanted the same rights and equality as men. Women during this time were treated as minorities because they were immigrants, or people of color, but all were unable to vote. These strong and encouraging women put together large groups and organizations to fight for what they wanted. They were fearless and ready for anything that came their way.

Over a hundred years ago, one event created chaos among gender roles and here are some of the initial factors of how rights for women started as a predicament which later began to evolve into a much larger problem that involved many people around the nations. Over the course of history, many issues had change the world to what it has become today. Many problems led to social, economic, and other changes. One small event is able to cause more obstacles, which eventually leads to larger complications. Even though society had tried to resolve these issues, they still encountered many hardships that were disruptive to their own perspectives as also for other people within the community. Thus, this was an important issue because it had changed

In the mid 1800’s in the US, women were responsible for completing duties at home and raising their kids. Their everyday routine consisted of waking up the kids, cooking all three meals, cleaning the house, washing dishes, doing laundry and completing all other household chores. If they lived on a farm, women would help with farming and raising livestock. Married women were considered property to their husband. The status of a woman is based on her husband's status. All women, regardless of social status, were not granted any rights. During this time, some women were into politics and began to question the establishment of political authority. The common question was why was political authority only granted to men. In the mid 1800, in some

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.

With the advancement of suffrage to equal pay, over the last century, women’s rights have progressed immensely. Through historic marches and demonstrations across the United States, women protested for their equal place in politics and social progress. Despite the fear-mongering components used in achieving these rights, women’s rights are still thoroughly debated within society today. Over the last century, incredible and unreachable goals have been fulfilled for women, such as the right to vote and a sense of equal state in the “Free World,” and can only improve in the years to come.

The women 's rights movement of the nineteenth century had a major impact for women. It had unified women around a number of issues that were seen as fundamental rights for all citizens. These rights included: access to higher education, the right to own property, reproductive rights, and suffrage. All was achieved and even more between 1870 and 1930.

For decades, women struggled to gain their suffrage, or right to vote. The women’s suffrage movement started in the decades before the Civil War, and eventually accomplished its goal in the year of 1920 when the 19th Amendment was ratified into the U.S. Constitution. After the U.S. Civil War, the women’s suffrage movement gained popularity and challenged traditional values and sexism in the country; the increase of progressive social values benefited the women suffragists by allowing them to succeed in passing the 19th Amendment which changed the role of women in society, guaranteed them a voice in politics, and encouraged future generations to struggle for women’s equal rights.

Women reformers adopted the arguments that they could bring moral and maternal instincts to political matters if they were granted the right to vote. This new approach was highly effective in gaining support towards woman suffrage because women showed that they could bring certain things to politics that men could not. Therefore, a well-rounded political system sounded appealing to the public and seized their support. The moral and maternal approach to woman suffrage showed the public why female input in political matters would be advantageous to the overall political system. As a result, different states began to recognize what they were missing out on and eventually approved woman suffrage. While the trend was in motion, women reformers wanted to take the movement a step further. Even though they were participating in political and social matters, they still did not have the right to vote. Therefore, women still did not have the political power that they truly desired. Without the legal right to vote in politics, their power was still very limited. As a result, women reformers campaigned for a national constitutional amendment to gift all women with the official right to vote. Finally, in 1920, Congress approved the 19th amendment and it was ratified by the states. “The Nineteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution declares that ‘The right of

Passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, the 19th amendment was a milestone for which many had struggled, it had taken years of agitation and protest to finally achieve this milestone. Female supporters of women suffrage organized, petitioned, and picketed to win the right to vote, but it took them decades to accomplish their purpose. By 1920, the American electorate had changed forever, but many argued that giving the right to vote to women wasn’t going to be enough. Women wanted independence, equality, they wanted the right to buy a house, practise blue collar jobs, they wanted to escape their domestic, housewife stereotypes. They proved themselves when the situation called for it; they served as nurses in all the wars, provided food, they served as telephone operators, journalists, and over 25 000 U.S women served in Europe during World War l. Had they not been successful in providing for the war, had they not been supportive and had they chosen to stay at home like they had been taught to do, this amendment would never pass. While both World Wars were and still are a very low point in history, it was nesessary for the enchancement of “equality”.

Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest.” (19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote (1920)). The only people that were allowed to vote in the early years of the United States were white males who owned land; the 19th Amendment changed history forever, it allows suffrage from women. The privilege of permitting women to vote caused distinct opinions due to the fact that women were kept away from politics since they were not supposed to take part in male roles. The participation of females in politics altered their lives, they voted and a few years later also ran for office (Women’s Equality Day:

On the 18 of August, 1920, the 19th Amendment went through. The U.S. Constitution permitted American women to vote. Before the U.S. made these changes women had to suffer plenty to get the rights they have now a days. One of the biggest struggle was having the freedom to have a voice in the United States of America. This part of history is known as woman suffrage. The women in the U.S. did everything possible to obtain the rights they deserve.

Women in America never felt equally to the men. They never felt as if they had the same potential or freedoms the men had. Women, like men, felt they were entitled these rights. This lead to many campaigns, protests, etc. Women fought for these rights for years with little to show for it. But, on August 26th, 1920 the Nineteenth Amendment was passed giving women the right to vote. In the 1920’s women wanted equality, which fueled the suffrage movement that allowed key women to lead the charge and fight for reforms.

According to Berkin, “As their men went off to war, these women took on the task of managing shops and farms in addition to caring for large families and coping with shortages of food and supplies”(Berkin, 2012, Pg. 150). Many women adapted to their new roles well and spoke of being satisfied with the independence and sense of accomplishment. The feeling of accomplishment caused women to become more assertive after the war. Members of America’s political and social elite began rethinking the role of white women in their new republican society. After the war, white women were given some new legal rights. However, these rights were primarily for the elite white women. White women were permitted to divorce, own property separately from their husbands, own businesses and received an

In August 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, granting white American women the right to vote. This ended the suffrage movement that women were allowed the same rights as men. "The long fight for suffrage” Is known as the beginning of American feminism. These women shared the ideal of improving the countries social political policies. "We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men and women are created equal" This statement was presented at Seneca hall in defense of women's right to citizenship and voting.