The Struggle Of Women 's Participation

Just one hundred years ago, women in the United States were not allowed to vote. The 19th amendment was not ratified until June 4, 1919. The 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. Women activists had been fighting decades to have such a right. There were many factors that made the 19th amendment possible such as women’s rights organizations, advocates, conventions, and marches. The women’s right movement paved the way to accomplishing the ratification of a female’s right to vote.

Women were not allowed to vote nor were they paid as much as men for completing the same job. In a 1889 payroll from Lyman Mills in Holyoke, MA we see that a man and a woman performing the same work for the same duration of time, could have a three dollar difference in their weekly wages. Three dollars may not seem like much but it is equivalent to $74.36 in today’s money! Suffragist Susan B. Anthony once said that the preamble of the Constitution says “’We the people of the United States…’ It was the people; not we the white male citizens; nor we, the male citizens; but we the whole people, who formed the union.” Women gained their right to vote in 1920 when the nineteenth amendment was passed.

After World War 1 ended the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified on August 18th 1920, this granted American women the right to vote, it stated, “The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex”, (The Nineteenth Amendment, Smentkowski). Before the 1800s through the early 1900s female citizens in the United States were not permitted the same rights as men. It was not until 1848 where Elizabeth Cady Staton and Lucretia Mott organized a convention in Seneca Falls, New York, to demand the right to vote should not be based on sex. Staton and Mott along with many other activist established organizations that raised public awareness to admit

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.

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.

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.

On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enforcing that all American women had the right to vote, and were granted the same rights and responsibilities as men in terms of citizenship. Until this time, the only people who were allowed to vote in elections in the United States were male citizens. For over 100 years, women who were apart of the women’s suffrage movement fought for their right to vote, and faced many hardships and discrimination because of it. The American women’s suffrage movement was one of the most important political movements in history, and could not have been successful without the perseverance of many women over many years.

Having the chance to vote in the United States changed completely in the 19th century for Women all over the country. From 1807 to 1890 Women were not allowed to vote and most of their rights were minimized. Even though slaved men in 1870 were allowed to vote. The first Women’s Rights convention started in Washington and they discussed many topics during that meeting. Women disagreed with the old roles of what a woman in a family should and should not have to do some wanted rights for every women one day that one day will have a say in their government. The 1830’s played an important role in important changes in America for Women since this would impact their futures children's life for the next era. Out of all the women who questioned the

Women’s suffrage, or the crusade to achieve the equal right for women to vote and run for political office, was a difficult fight that took activists in the United States almost 100 years to win. On August 26, 1920 the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified, declaring all women be empowered with the same rights and responsibilities of citizenship as men, and on Election Day, 1920 millions of women exercised their right to vote for the very first time.

Until August of 1920 women couldn’t vote. The issue wasn’t well-known until 1850 when the National Women’s Rights Convention was formed. After that, the issue was recognized and more groups like this were popping up. More women realized that this was an issue and fought to make it legal for women to vote.

Women were denied this basic right until 1920. Without this right, women had no say in the laws that were passed and officials that were elected. The women’s suffrage movement faced a long road with many trials and setbacks. The first major setback was the wording of the 14th amendment to the constitution. This amendment was designed to ensure African American men would be recognized as citizens, and as such would be able to vote. Women had for a long time worked together with the civil rights movement in their struggle for equal rights. The authors of the 14th amendment did not want to upset the “natural order” of things too much, and thus added the specifying word “male” to the amendment to maintain that women could not vote. The leaders of the civil rights movement touted the 14th amendment as a victory which caused a rift between them and women’s rights activists. In the late 1800s a strong anti-suffrage movement came into being. They believed suffrage had a direct connection to “promiscuity, looseness, and neglect of children” (Brinkley 575). While this claim seems ridiculous, many Americans, including women, supported it. After years of protesting and demonstrating, success finally began to find the suffrage movement. In 1910 Washington granted women the right to vote. By 1918 California, Illinois, New York, and Michigan had also granted women the right to vote. The success culminated in the ratification of the

In August of 1920, women gained the right to vote after a long and brutal seventy-two year battle.

Before the 1700s, women in the United States didn’t receive any good education. When women did start to get good education, they started to get more into politics and started asking questions about why couldn’t they vote among other things. The year 1948, marked the birth of women suffrage movement when the first women’s right convention was held in Seneca Falls. The convention was organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Together with other women they declared that women should have rights in education, voting, property and more.

On the other hand, women started to fight for their rights at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twenty century “the changes came in part because of practical problems of maintaining property, inheritance, and settlement in new states and territories” (Lowi 109) since women at that time could not own property. The women suffrage movement was created and with this many women and men contribute to the “National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA) [which] was formed in New York, and it immediately began an effort to amend the U.S. Constitution to allow women to vote” (Lowi 109). It wasn’t until 1919 that “Congress ratified the Nineteenth Amendment granting women the right to vote… the amendment was ratified by the states,

In 1869, women started to see some more change; it was a big year for them. In May 1869 the national Woman Suffrage Association was formed by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton, where their main focus was getting the right to vote through an amendment to Constitution. In November another association was formed called the American Woman Suffrage Association by Lucy Stone and others, their main focus was to gain the right to vote through amendments to individual state constitutions. In Dec Wyoming passes the first women’s suffrage law and the year after women began to serve on juries in the territory. In Aug of 1920 the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote.