Feminist Movement Feminism

When one closes their eyes and hears the word feminist, one can imagine seeing a mob full of women marching down the street burning their brassieres while chanting anti-male chants, while holding signs that sheds light on the unfair treatment women were exposed to for several decades. On the other hand, if one closes their eyes, and hears the word feminine, one can imagine seeing either a dainty female looking sweet and innocent, something like a princess, or a lady with “tasteful” sex appeal. These images along with other images associated with femininity and feminist comes from how the media, new papers, and stories portray them. Looking on the surface, they seem quite the opposite in nature. In Claire Miye Stanford’s essay “You’ve Got the Wrong Song: Nashville and Country Music Feminism” Stanford poses a question, “Can a show that is so ostensibly interested in the ‘feminine’…also be feminist?” (Stanford 277). At first glance, one would disagree, but more TV shows are portraying their leading women as a feminine feminist. Shows like Nashville, Insecure, and Orange is the New Black are breaking the boundaries and changing the views on what the new feminine feminist looks like.

Before the suffrage movement could gain prominence, the women’s rights movement had to formulate the idea that they should be able to vote. In 1848

During this convention, men and women signed a Declaration of Sentiments, which demanded that women be equal with men before the law, employment, and education. This was also the first proclamation demanding to give women the ability to vote. In 1869, two women’s suffrage associations were formed with the goal to gain voting rights for women nationally and statewide. In December of that year, Wyoming territory passed the first women’s suffrage law that allowed women to serve on juries in that territory. The two associations then merged together and formed the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1890. Colorado became the first state to grant women the right to vote in 1893. Utah and Idaho follow in 1896, Washington State in 1910, California in 1911, Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona in 1912, Alaska and Illinois in 1913, Montana and Nevada in 1914, New York in 1917, Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma in 1918. In 1903, the National Women's Trade Union League was established to support improved wages and working conditions for women. The Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor was formed in 1920 to collect information about women in the workforce and secure good working conditions. The 19th Amendment was established, granting women everywhere the right vote. On June 10th of 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, which made it

Early feminism was typically focused only on white women, likely because racism was still extremely prominent at the time feminism began emerging. It was not until Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced the term “intersectionality” in 1989 that feminism started to look at oppressed group’s needs (Nash, 2008, 2). Intersectionality is a way of thinking that acknowledges that when a person has identities that belong to more than one oppressed group, it impacts their quality of life more negatively. In this paper, I will argue that intersectionality is important in the discussion of feminist theories and activism because it ensures that feminism is for all women, not just a select group of them. Intersectionality has changed the way the feminist movement handles the overlapping of different identities, which has helped feminist theorists understand the experiences of women of colour much more clearly. While intersectionality has a very important role in the conversation and practice of feminism, there are certainly critiques of the concept that should be brought up. These critiques, however, can offer a way to improve the study of intersectionality.

3. In June 1919 a bill was passed by Congress, the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. This bill was made law on August 26, 1920.

By 1890, The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSAA). This became the movement’s mainstream organization and NAWSA started state-by-state campaigns in order to obtain voting rights for women. Colorado was the first state to adopt an amendment granting the right to vote in 1893. Closely after, Utah, Idaho, Washington State, California, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona, Alaska, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New York, Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma all adopted the amendment by 1918.

Lingering inequalities and other social trends from previous decades brought forth the modern feminist movement in the 1960s. These feminists campaigned for gender equality with causes such as equal pay for equal work, abortion rights, and social parity. In 1963, author Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, which contained reports from a study conducted on female college graduates during the 1950s and early 1960s, which uncovered that most women labelled themselves exclusively as mothers and housewives, and were unsatisfied with the roles forced upon them. Friedan argued fervently that women needed to discover their own identities outside the roles of a wife and mother. Many believe that the arguments made in The Feminine Mystique marked the start of the modern feminist movement (Loveday, 1)

The Territory of Wyoming passes the first law in the country granting women over age 21 the right to vote. Later joining the Union in 1890, Wyoming becomes the first state to let women the right to vote in all polls, yet in 1887, Kansas let women to vote in municipal elections. Women knew every step to success in their goals is to have a domino effect. One state will start off and every other state will end up granting equal rights to both genders, therefore more support from more women from different states means support overall.

The women’s suffrage movement finally came to a pause during the Civil War period. Right around two years after the war ended, the movement leaders directed their focus to the Midwest. In 1867, Kansas became the first state in the United States to hold a public referendum on women’s suffrage. A gathering of issues relevant to the nineteenth-century came along where women were presented at this meeting, but suffrage in regards to the right of voting immediately became the base of the women 's suffrage movement. When the U.S. Constitution that was formed in 1920 where the 19th Amendment was established; American women secured one of the most important, valuable rights of citizenship in regard to the right to vote. This particular amendment embodied a significant milestone in the larger and a continuous struggle to ensure equal rights for women.

The timeline of women’s suffrage is a one that spans from 1848 to 1920. The women’s rights movement in the United States started in the year 1848 with the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York. During this convention the ‘Declaration of sentiments’ was signed by 68 women who agreed that women deserved their own political identities. This document set forward the agenda for the women’s rights movement. In the year 1869, Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Women’s suffrage Association which demanded that the 15th amendment be changed to include women right to vote. In the year 1890, The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merged to form National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Colorado was the first state to grant women the right to vote in the year 1893, followed by Utah, Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona, Alaska, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New York, Michigan, South Dakota and Oklahoma. The National Association of Colored Women was formed in the year 1896 to promote the civil rights of colored women. The National Women’s Trade Union League was established in the year 1903 in order to improve the working condition for women and also to bring their wages in par with that of men.

Up until the 1920s, women’s struggle for their right to vote seemed to be a futile one. They had been fighting for their suffrage for a long time, starting numerous women's rights movements and abolitionist activists groups to achieve their goal. “The campaign for women’s suffrage began in earnest in the decades before the Civil War. During the 1820s and 30s, most states had enfranchised almost all white males (“The Fight for Women's Suffrage” ). This sparked women to play a more emphatic role in society. They began to participate in anti-slavery organizations, religious movements, and even meetings where they discussed that when the Constitution states "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain

The National Women’s Suffrage Association held those parades and rallies because it wanted to press for more extensive changes, such as granting property rights to married women. After the NAWSA started to get the attention of reporters, news started to spread through different states about what the women wanted. Then, efforts were made to give women the right to vote, and in some state the right to vote in municipal and local elections. In 1869, however, a rift developed among feminists over the proposed 15th Amendment, which gave the right to vote to black men. The turning point came in the 1880’s and the early 1890’s. Amendments to the Federal Constitution concerning women’s suffrage had been introduced to congress in 1878 and 1914. In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution granted nation-wide suffrage to women. Also it granted the ballet to American women. When Wyoming entered the Union in 1890, it became the first state to award women the right to vote. Colorado entered the Union in 1893, Utah entered in 1896, and Idaho entered in 1869.

Some historians believe that the war was a key element in the granting of the franchise to women over the age of 30 years who held property in 1918. However, gratitude for women 's war work cannot explain why only women over the age of 30 got the vote while it was the younger women who had done the work. Early 1919, the House of Representatives passed the 19th amendment by a vote of 304 to 90, and the Senate approved it 56 to 25. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Anti- suffrage legislators fled the state to avoid a quorum and their associations held massive anti-suffrage rallies and attempted to convince pro-suffrage legislators to oppose it. For example, Maryland did not ratify the amendment until 1941 and transmit the ratification on the document to the State Department until 1958. Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan were the first states to ratify it. In 1919, one year before women gained the right to vote with the adoption of the 19th amendment, the NAWSA reorganized into the League of Women Voters. Starting in 1920, some states in the West began to extend the vote to women for the first time in almost 20 years. It was not until 1928

     Throughout the history, women were being discriminated against by ignoring or not paying much attention to them when it comes to dealing with political issues. One in particular, was the controversial issue regarding women’s right to vote. By the end of the 1880’s feminist movements did not meet their expectations due to lack of support from women themselves. “ If by the end of the 1880’s the suffragists had reached something of a stalemate, by the end of 1890’s and early 1900’s the movement had entered a completely new phase. This was largely the result of new factors in the situation: the growth of support for women’s suffrage amongst women themselves, and the increasing importance of the labour movement in British politics” (Banks, p.121). For these women, voting was becoming more like a powerful tool to be recognized in the society and understand the importance of voting and to also participate actively in the campaign. Women suffragists finally reached their goal, in which women at the present are getting more involved in politics by running for office and being leaders of the society. One good example is present senator Hillary Clinton. This former first lady is one of the top senators in the United States today. She fought

For many years, women have aimed for gaining equality with men. They’re opportunities were taken away because of the fact that they were women. Overtime feminism has expanded and diversified in many different aspects including approach and priorities. The changes in them are result of many different social economic groups of women because of the various goals set for methods of creating change, which are implemented within the movement. The feminist movement has been trying to give equal rights to women who have been destitute of their equality and privileges that man have never given them. Feminism is beneficial to men, women, and their families because it is allowing everyone to have an equal opportunity in life to achieve all they can without any discrimination based on their sex.