What Led Up To The Women's Rights Movement

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

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.

The entire Women’s Movement in the United States has been quite extensive. It can be traced back to 1848, when the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. After two days of discussions, 100 men and women signed the Declaration of Sentiments. Drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, this document called for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women. This gathering set the agenda for the rest of the Women’s Movement long ago (Imbornoni). Over the next 100 years, many women played a part in supporting equal treatment for women, most notably leading to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which allowed women the right to vote.

3. Urban industrialism dislocated women’s lives no less than men’s. Like men, women sought political change and organized to promote issues central to their lives, campaigning for temperance and woman suffrage., Susan B. Anthony, launched the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869, demanding the vote for women suffrage, though not yet generally supported, was no longer considered a crackpot idea. Thanks to the WCTU’s support of the “home protection” ballot, suffrage had become accepted as a means to an end even when it was not embraced as a woman’s natural right.

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

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.

Darkness reigned over America as women fought for their freedom. Women suffered from discrimination based on gender for decades, always subordinate to men. This led to protests across the nation during the Progressive Era, and started a 72 year long dispute. After years of discrimination, an amendment finally passed in the states granting women more freedoms and less gender discrimination. Due to the change, America was led into a better future. The Nineteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was finally passed which legalized women’s right to vote and created a voice for women.

Other influential women in women suffrage history, such as Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell, formed the American Woman Suffrage Association in late 1869. This group’s goal was to continue Anthony’s and Stanton’s goal and gain voting rights for women through amendments to individual state constitutions. The territory of Wyoming was later the first to pass the women’s suffrage law; and women began to serve on juries there as early as the following year.

Susan B Anthony, a real dedicator to gaining women's rights, was introduced to abolitionism by Amelia Bloomer. (Weatherford 161) Her friendship ended up with a meeting with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, her lifelong partner in fighting for women's rights. Susan B Anthony did travelling and spoke widely, and became more focused on women's suffrage. She also helped to found the American Equal Rights Association and the National Woman Suffrage Association. with Lucy Stone. In 1872, in an attempt to claim that the constitution already permitted women to vote, Susan B. Anthony cast a test vote in Rochester, New York, in the presidential election. She was found guilty,

The 19th Amendment guarantees a vote for women in the United States of America, but how did this constitutional change happen? Many females prior to this accomplishment faced struggles from external forces that denied their rights and capabilities. Feminism and equal rights were and still are prominent in American society. In order to provide women of the future what is rightfully theirs, women during the 1700s have taken control of their opinions and used their strong-will to make the necessary changes in American society. During the Seneca Falls Convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton exclaimed in her address, “The right is ours. The question now is: how shall we get possession of what rightfully belongs to us,” (Stanton). The leaders, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott of the Seneca Falls Convention, along with other female leaders, displayed civil disobedience, provided powerful lectures, and organized conventions that gave a new perspective on gender equality.

During the late 19th century, women were in a society where man was dominant. Women did not have natural born rights, such as the right to vote, to speak in public, access to equal education, and so forth, did not stop them to fight for their rights. Women's lives soon changed when Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony played a prominent role to help bring about change.

This new generation of activists fought with this new agenda for almost 20 years until a few states in the West began to extend the vote to women. The Eastern and Southern states still refused to give in, but this didn’t stop the National American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1916, Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the NAWSA, worked vigorously to get women’s organizations from all over the country together and fight side by side. “One group of activists, led by Alice Paul and her National Woman’s Party, lobbied for full quality for women under the law” (Divine). She used mass marches and hunger strikes as strategies, but she was eventually forced to resign because of her insistence on the use of militant direct-action tactics (Grolier). Finally, during World War 1, women were given more opportunities to work, and were able to show that they were just as deserving as men when it came to the right to vote. On August 18th, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, allowing women to vote. This drawn-out and arduous battle opened a new window of opportunity for women all over the country. Significant changes in both social life and job availability began to create what is now referred to as the “new women.”

Despite the adversities women faced, such as gender discrimination and the backlash from anti-feminist groups, the perseverance of many strong female figures helped the movement progress and gave women in contemporary America equal opportunities, both in politics and in the workforce. The late 1800s marked the beginnings of many social reform movements for women who advocated equality through both federal and state reforms. In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony organized the first woman’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. They addressed issues such as “limited women’s rights, including family responsibilities, a lack of educational and economic opportunities, and the absence of a voice in political debate” (“The Women's Rights Movement, 1848–1920.” US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives, ? ).

Ninety six years ago women throughout the United States were not allowed to vote in public elections. Fortunately, on August 18th 1920, after being passed by Congress, the 19th amendment was ratified by the states, giving women the right to cast a ballot. The road to women’s suffrage was long and winding with a few U-Turns and full stops on the way to equality. Nevertheless, the suffragettes persevered and accomplished what is arguably one of the greatest achievements of the women’s rights movement. The ratification of the 19th amendment had thousands of women behind its success, but the vast majority of it is due to Alice Paul, whose traditional Quaker upbringing, time spent in England among radical suffragettes, and determination, even at

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.