The Fight For Women Suffrage

In the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s, women were not given the rights they have today and were being mistreated, but because of a few brave women who gave up their lives to fight for what they knew was right, this all changed. Many of these women were educated and brave, but were still denied their rights. Women have suffered through this long battle to get what they knew they deserved and took time out of their lives to fight for what they believed in, which was to have a voice. Women wanted to get the same respect that men were given. The women’s suffrage movement was not only in the United States, but it was all over the world. It took the women’s suffrage movement many years to work and come through, but women were finally able to vote and have the same rights as men. Through their work in the suffrage movement, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony and many more changed the role of women in society.

Did you know that women in the United States did not have the right to vote until the year 1920? Exactly 144 years after the United States was granted freedom from Great Britain. The women’s suffrage movement, however, did not actually start until 1848, and lasted up until they were granted the right to vote in 1920. Women all over the country were fighting for their right to vote in hopes of bettering their lives. The women’s suffrage movement was a long fought process by many people all over the world, over all different races, religions, even gender. (Cooney 1)

Generations of women fought courageously for equality for decades. The ratification of the Nineteenth amendment was vindication for so many women across the country. After having spent so many years oppressed and unable to make way for themselves, women everywhere were growing tired of being unable to own property, keep their wages and the independence that an academic education gave them. The decades that ensued brought with them various female activists, men that supported them and a division of its own within the movement. The women’s suffrage movement lasted 71 years and cam with great discourse to the lives of many women who fought for the cause.

Remember your Ladies” (Revolutionary Changes and Limitations) is what Abigale Adams told to her husband John Adams when he was signing a new federal document. She was one of the earliest woman suffrage activists and her words towards her husband would eventually snowball into one of the most remembered suffrage movements in the history of the United States (Revolutionary Changes and Limitations). The women’s suffrage movement picked up speed in the 1840-1920 when women such as Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Alice Paul came into the spot light. These women spearheaded the women suffrage movement by forming parties, parading, debating, and protesting. The most renowned women suffrage parties that were created during the 1840-1920 was the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and the National Woman’s Party (NWP). The parties not only had similar names but similar goals: women will one day receive the right to vote. Each party had its own unique agenda of how women will receive the right to vote, the NWSA had Susan B. Anthony’s dedication, the NAWSA had Catt’s “Winning Plan” (Carrie Chapman Catt) and the NWP had Alice Paul’s perseverance to go to extremes by captivating people’s attention. Eventually the goal of the parties was reached when the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. The Amendment granted women the right to vote, granting them all the same rights that were held by men. Women would have never

The battle for suffrage was a long and slow process. Many women tried to initiate the fight for suffrage, like Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. “These were the New Suffragists: women who were better educated, more career-oriented, younger, less apt to be married and more cosmopolitan than their previous generation.” (pg 17) Eventually, in 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified; allowing women to vote, but it was not any one person or event that achieved this great feat. It was the confluence of certain necessary factors, the picketing and parades led by Alice Paul, militaristic suffrage parties and the influence of the media that caused the suffrage amendment to be passed and ratified in 1920. But most importantly, they successfully moved both

Back in the mid 1800’s the first women’s convention was initiated by Elizabeth Stanton, along with others who founded the Women’s Suffrage Movement. After attending an World Anti-Slavery Society meeting, where the women were required to sit is a separate area away from the men, the women decided that they were little better than slaves and decided to do something about it. (Pearson, 2017)

This photo captures American women voting for the first time after the 19th Amendment was passed on August 26, 1920. Women were always thought of less than man and were expected to stay home and take care of the children. They lacked important rights such as voting, being able to own property, and having legal claim to any money they might earn. But after about seventy years women proved that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Gaining the right to vote was a historical step for women in America that was achieved through hard work and perseverance.

Dolly Parton once quoted, “If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain.” This quote helps understand the impact the Women’s Suffrage Movement makes on the present day. In 1848 the battle for women’s privileges started with the first Women 's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment, which provided full voting rights for women nationally, was ratified in the United States Constitution when Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it (Burkhalter). Freya Johnson Ross and Ceri Goddard stated a quite valid argument in a secondary source Unequal Nation saying, “Since the ratification of the 19th Amendment, major social changes have transformed the lives of women and men in many ways but the United States has not noticed how far away our nation is from the gender equal future” (5). When women were finally granted the right to vote, barriers were broken which would allow an increasing chance to make progressive steps to a more equal nation, but our nation has yet to realize our full potential.

The right to vote, the right to go to college, the right to own property. Some people take it as a right that they had all along. That is far from the truth. Suffragists fought long and hard for many years to gain women suffrage. Before the suffrage movement began, women did not have the right to vote, child custody rights, property rights, and more (Rynder). The American Women Suffrage Movement was going to change that. People known as suffragists spoke up, and joined the effort to get women their rights. Without them, things would be very different today. The American Suffrage Movement lasted over the course of many years and changed the lives of American women forever.

They did not have the right to vote nor were they able take action in anything. They also did not have a say in anything surrounding them. Government decisions were only taken by men. As years went by, women felt the need that they had to have a say in stuff. Today nearly fifty percent of the population in the United states are Women according to census. Considering that the average woman takes part of governmental elections, it is no surprise that women have such a big influence in the government side. An investigation into the terrific events surrounding the famous Women 's suffrage movement, one of the most important events for women will clearly show the

During the late 1700s, women were not seen as being equal to men. They were imaged as one who stayed at home and took care of the kids. No one ever imagined a woman voting. Some women actually supported the fight in allowing blacks to vote. During the time the 15th amendment passed, many women who supported Women’s Suffrage were disappointed in which they were excluded in the idea of allowing “everyone” to vote. Before the Civil War, the movement for Women’s Suffrage started to pick up steam, but had become lost due to the interruption of the Civil War. One of the acts that stood out the most for Women’s Suffrage was the Seneca Falls Conference in 1848. This was organized by two American activists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. They were the first to organize a conference to address Women’s rights and issues, and with sixty- eight women and thirty two men, they signed “The Declaration of Sentiments”, a document that was similar to the Declaration of Independence, but directed towards women’s rights. Getting suffrage for women was not an easy campaign. During 1890- 1919, many states were in a mix on their decision on suffrage for women. Some agreed with equal suffrage, others partial, and the rest wanted no suffrage at all for females as displayed in Document 6. Women’s Suffrage finally became a reality when it was ratified as an amendment (19th) in

The Women’s Suffrage Movement of the 1920’s worked to grant women the right to vote nationally, thereby allowing women more political equality. Due to many industrial and social changes during the early 19th century, many women were involved in social advocacy efforts, which eventually led them to advocate for their own right to vote and take part in government agencies. Women have been an integral part of society, working to help those in need, which then fueled a desire to advocate for their own social and political equality. While many women worked tirelessly for the vote, many obstacles, factions, and ultimately time would pass in order for women to see the vote on the national level. The 19th Amendment, providing women the right to vote, enable women further their pursuit for full inclusion in the working of American society.

The woman suffrage movement, which succeeded in 1920 with the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment, coincided with major national reform movements seeking to improve public education, create public health programs, regulate business and industrial practices, and establish standards agencies to ensure pure food and public water supplies. In 1870, the first attempt that Virginia women, as a campaign, fought for the right to vote in New Jersey when native Anna Whitehead Bodeker invited several men and women sympathetic to the cause to a meeting that launched the first Virginia State Woman Suffrage Association in Richmond. Though it is not the same concept as fight for the right to vote, women have been fighting an invisible fight for along time in the terms of rape culture on college campuses. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women are sexually assaulted while in college. The fight women take to get help on college campuses is a hard battle when many times put through victim blaming and rejection by the police. Those who chose to stand up for their rights against the injustice, often placed upon them by societal and cultural expectations, make progress towards

The women 's suffrage movement, the time when women fought for their rights, began in the year 1848 and continued on all the way through the 1860s. Although women in the new republic had important roles in the family, the house, and other obligations, they were excluded from most rights. These rights included political and legal rights. Due to their gender, they have been held back because they did not have as much opportunities as the men did. The new republic made alterations in the roles of women by disparaging them in society. During this era, men received a higher status than women. Because women were forced to follow laws without being allowed to state their opinions, they tried to resist laws, fight for their freedom and strive to gain equality with men. This leads to feminism, the belief in political, social, and economic equality between men and women. It is the feminist efforts that have successfully tried to give rights that men had, to women who have been denied those rights. Upon the deprivation of those rights, the Seneca Falls convention and the Declaration of Sentiments helped women gain the privileges and opportunities to accomplish the task of equality that they have been striving for.

California women and men worked tirelessly to strengthen the women’s suffrage campaign from 1893, when the state legislature passed an amendment permitting women to vote in state elections, through the final passage of the amendment in 1911. The strength of the movements themselves, passionate support overcoming harsh opposition, pushed by the people and the organizations championing for the women’s vote were the main contributing factors which accumulated in the eventual passage of Amendment 8. Since California women have begun to vote, there have been many advancements and setbacks in the other women’s rights movements, including the Nineteenth Amendment and the Equal Rights Amendment.