The Woman's Christian Temperance Union Report

The recently formed Women 's Christian Temperance Movement (WCTU) took up the campaign for the vote in 1885. The movement was strongly linked to church and had the motto ‘For God, Home and Humanity.’ The WCTU had previously been involved in a temperance movement and this was one of the main reasons they decided to campaign for the vote. According to Wood “social climate had the greatest effect on mobilising women into a combined effort to rid themselves of laws that discriminated against them. Drunkenness and crime were two major reasons why women made the move to throw off the shackles that prevented their recognition as equals with men. The vote became imperative if the lot of women and children were to improve. ” The women 's vote did have many purposes, but improving the low moral level of society at that time was easily the most important. Many believed that female franchise would lead to the purification of New Zealand society and the Christianisation of politics. It was believed that women had a stronger, nobler vision for a pure society which would lead to higher levels of sobriety and morality in New Zealand. The suffragists promoted the vote as a way that women could have social control over undesirable elements in the population.

The new republic of the 1830s-1850s was a society that devalued the role of women. By comparing men and women against each other, giving men a superior status, making their differences more evident, and allowing men to demand more rights, to think and do freely, this society has been created to view women as less than. Women are viewed as the weaker vessel and property to their father, or husband that need to be protected and should be wifely, child bearing, motherly and dedicated to their homes instead of viewing women as their own beings.

In the world today, women have a say in what they want to do and things that they desire to do. Back in the day, before the 1800’s, women had to be submissive to their male counterparts and do according to what was required of them. In the end, this led to the demeaning of the woman and the concept that women were inferior to men. Even though this concept and perception changed, there have been some countries and regions of the world that have not yet recognized the equality that women deserve. Such areas do not allow women to vote, attend school, have a say in the community, and the women are at the mercy of their husbands, fathers or male superiors (Hartmann, Susan M).

In the mid-1800s American women united to participate in social reforms movements more than ever before. This movement’s involved: struggle to abolish slavery, outlaw alcohol, and ban child labor among others (Rupp, 1987). Despite the failure of the women's movement to attain one among its primary goals, the passage of the ERA , the movement overall accomplished an excellent deal. For several women activists, management over their bodies was a central issue in the campaign. Women needed to be liberated to explore and control their gender, while not being judged by society. An oversized a part of management during this arena concerned having access to birth control, or contraception ways (Fishman, 1998). The contraception pill, associate inoculant,

Carrie A. Nation brought disrespect to prohibition movement bc of her violent campaign; The Anti-Saloon League formed in 1893

Over the history of time women were not allowed to have prominent roles and rights in society. Through history and time women have fought for the right to vote, to work for equal pay, the women’s suffrage, gaining property rights, and much more. The first women’s right movement in the United States of America, which started in the 1830s, arose from the campaign too end slavery. Many things such as evangelical Christianity, the abolitionist critique to slavery, and debates about the place of women in the abolitionist movement played valuable roles in the development of the antebellum women’s right movement. These efforts and large steps that women took to destroy and tear down the walls that limited them from having a voice still resonates today.

Mary Wollstonecraft’s famous book, Vindication of the Rights of Women, is “one of the earliest expressions of a feminist consciousness.” Wollstonecraft claims that women are upset mainly due to the fact that they are not receiving the education they deserve, and goes on to explain how women are notorious for being weak, and mentally unstable. She blames the education system for this since all the books are written by men, and they claim that women are barley humans and are treated as another species. She questions the eligibility of men to claim they are better than women. A useful education, in her opinion, is one that teaches students how to be strong and independent. Her directed audience is anyone who is unsure of the true definition and meaning of feminism. Wollstonecraft believes that all humans are capable of the same intelligence, no matter the gender. Her overall idea is that every individual, both male and female, deserve equality.

During the 1930s women is not treated equal with men and they are very different with each other. The amount of women actually getting jobs are less likely to men getting jobs. Fashion is also very different, women are in plain dresses while men are in blue denim jackets. Women during the Great Depression are actually depressed because they can not get jobs and their wages are half as as much as men. Men gets good jobs and amazing wages but at least both still got their fashion.

During the late 1800’s, American women were treated poorly and unequal to men because of their marriage rights, lack of women’s rights, and their rights in the workforce. Women who stayed in intimate relationships were treated poorly and were viewed as diseased and masochistic, according to Carolyn B Ramsey. She also said that the wives’ had to assume ignorance of their husbands’ affairs with the slave women. Ramsey’s article summarizes about the myth that explains how in the late 1800’s state’s intervention in intimate relationships to protect abused women and punish violent men turned into an article of apathy and discrimination that women’s advocates criticize.

The 1800s in the United States marked the beginning of many reforms that would be characterized as Progressive. Progressives fought to overcome ineffective governments, corrupt political institutions, and the horrible living and working conditions of the poor. Women’s reform began when the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in 1874. The women who made up this union were non-violent protesters against the dangers of alcohol. Within three months, the group was able to drive out alcohol from 250 communities. This was the first time that women were able to see

The Antebellum Era is defined as the time before the the Civil War. Many important things happened in America during this time period. Including the rise of abolitionist as well as people who supported slavery. In the North the economy started booming and also in the South cotton became huge. Many things happened during this period that helped shape our nation to what it is today. During the Antebellum period a movement was started because of religious reasons mostly This movement was called the Temperance Movement.

Difficult because, as the early suffrage battles indicated, the membership was as varied as it was large. Many WCTU chapters—especially those in small towns and those in the South—were narrowly focused gospel temperance societies. Using moral suasion (e.g., affecting change through religion and education rather than through politics), these chapters concentrated on ending the sale and manufacture of alcohol at the local level. But other WCTUs—especially those in the North and in urban areas—were highly politicized organizations committed to wide-spread societal reform. WCTU leaders needed to build a national organization that made space for both these extremes.

In her essay, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller discusses the state of marriage in America during the 1800‘s. She is a victim of her own knowledge, and is literally considered ugly because of her wisdom. She feels that if certain stereotypes can be broken down, women can have the respect of men intellectually, physically, and emotionally. She explains why some of the inequalities exist in marriages around her. Fuller feels that once women are accepted as equals, men and women will be able achieve a true love not yet known to the people of the world.

In the mid to late 1700's, the women of the United States of America had practically no rights. When they were married, the men represented the family, and the woman could not do anything without consulting the men. Women were expected to be housewives, to raise their children, and thinking of a job in a factory was a dream that was never thought impossible. But, as years passed, women such as Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Elizabeth Blackwell began to question why they were at home all day raising the children, and why they did not have jobs like the men. This happened between the years of 1776 and 1876, when the lives and status of Northern middle-class woman was changed forever. Women began to

Into the Pulpit: Southern Baptist Women and Power Since World War II, by Elizabeth Flowers, as the title suggest, is a historical account of women and their treatment in the Southern Baptist Convention from the mid 1940’s to present. Flower’s work revolves much around the well accounted for story of the SBC conflicts of the late 20th century, however, providing the often untold story of women in ministry and particularly their mistreatment. The book is broken up chronologically, chapter one and two begin with years leading to the struggle, 1945-1978. Chapter three revolves around the years entering the struggle for women in ministry, 1979 to 1984. Chapter four and five deal with the years of turmoil and destruction within the SBC, and