Women have come a long way ever since the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920 and thereafter with the Equal Rights Amendment Act in 1972 to the U.S Constitution. After decades of struggling and protesting, the 19th Amendment was passed and ratified to grant women the right to vote. Fifty-two years later worth of revisions and persistency, the Equal Rights Amendment was ratified in which it declared that everyone had both Human and Civil rights in the States regardless of sex. Not only did these amendments have an immense impact on the lives of women and sequentially with the rest of the citizens of this nation, but on the people of today’s century. Women have done a tremendous job in proving society wrong about the roles women are …show more content…
By the late 19th century and early 20th century women were more involved in the workforce. They were doing domestic service, working in factories, workshops, tin and coal mines, farms, etc. Many of the jobs that women were doing required a lot of physical labor, and even though they still wanted or needed to have these jobs they weren’t compensated with a proportional wage. What they received was looked as a second earning for the household and the men of the house whom had far more “skillful” jobs required a higher pay. Truth is, women were the ones doing the difficult jobs and working more than the men were but that was of no importance but to women themselves.
During World War I (1914-1918) a massive number of women joined the armed forces in hopes of being able to serve their country and those in need. There was a high demand for nurses to attend injured soldiers, and as a result from that women wanted to join the armed forces knowing that while the men were treated for their injuries they too could help out their country if permitted. Furthermore, women had to take on the jobs left by all of the men that went to war. Opening the possibilities of women to keep working even after the war is over, creating the employment rate to go higher. Some women had to go back to what they were doing before but a majority of women were able to keep working alongside men. Their wage was a lot less than men but
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.
Throughout the nation’s history, American’s have sought to put an end to discriminatory practices and bring equality toward minority groups. For example, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech were directed at putting an end to mistreatment of African Americans. Likewise, Jane Adams and Susan B. Anthony used their authority as women’s rights activists to push for greater equality amongst the genders. While some may argue that women are lagging behind in the race to equal rights, others claim the opposing approach. In today’s society, women are achieving true equality due to a shift in the old stereotypes toward women, increasing opportunities for women to become educated, higher expectations for women in the workplace, and a stronger influence of women in government positions.
In 1921, women were granted suffrage, but suffragists were still hungry for more. Knowing that the right to vote would not eliminate sex discrimination in America, Alice Paul wrote the Equal Rights Amendment to step closer to equality. After half a century of struggle, women in America are still fighting for rights that men were given to when they were born. Even though women are just as intelligent, capable and hardworking as men, if not more, they are not considered an equal under the U.S. Constitution. Can you believe that today, in the 21st century, we still degrade women and treat them as inferiors to men? Can you believe that just because you are a woman, you are less than equal to the male population? Look around you, all those boys and girls are not equal to each other under our “just” country’s laws. As it is long overdue, the Equal Rights Amendment should be ratified because there is no other amendment that talks about sex discrimination, it would eliminate any inequality in regards to sex, and it would make the judicial stance on sex discrimination cases much clearer.
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.
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.
Women’s rights in the United States have come a long way in the last two centuries. Women have gone from being seen as minorities to being viewed as powerful and independent by many. Basic rights such as initiating divorce, working and earning a salary, going to college, owning property, and voting were denied to them. The list of these denied rights goes on, but women such as Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Elizabeth Blackwell worked to change this. They helped women gain the rights they know today.
WWI was a trying, and difficult time for all people, especially with the unnecessary casualties, but it was also one of the moments in history where women finally got to step up to the plate after a lot of discrimination against their gender, a thing no can control. When men had gone to fight in the war, women were recruited in abundance. There was some clash between whether women should or should not have jobs that were considered “men's work”, but ever since the Conscription Crisis, women workers were massively needed. Which meant manual labor such as working heavy machinery in engineering. There were also many other jobs that were opened up to women, such as tram conducting,
Campaigning for the Equal Rights Amendment in the early twentieth century, women found it particularly difficult to have their efforts opposed by other women. One of the hovering questions that went along with the proposal of the amendment was whether those supporting equality for women, advocating the equality of opportunity, would also support the enablement of women to be freely different from men without consequence. There were passionate feelings on both sides of the arguments and this debate brought into focus many questions about equality. Despite the magnificent accomplishments of all the movements and efforts of women, complete gender equality had yet to be achieved.
The fight for women’s voting rights was no short-lived battle. Since the beginning of civilization, the lives of men and women have been different and unequal. While there have been hundreds of prominent female figures throughout history, it is common knowledge that the woman’s job was considered to be taking care of the household. Women have always fought to be treated more equally, and throughout the years they have made great steps. The true fight for women’s rights in the United States began during the nineteenth century. During the colonial years, there was not much of a push to women to be treated equally. Since most important laws, regulations, and taxes were passed by Britain without giving any
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.
For many years now, women have had to fight for their right to be considered equal human beings in a state of law. Although the Women’s Suffrage movement did incredible things for the female race, did it solve all of America’s gender inequality issues? On a legal stance, yes, but in an everyday practice of social norms, there is still work to be done.
Throughout history, women have fought for the same cause – equal rights. It starts with the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY fighting for equality for not only themselves, but also slaves. After the proposal of their Declaration of Sentiments, the country still did not take their rights seriously, but women did not stop there. In 1919, the 19th Amendment allowing women the right to vote attained half of the states needed for ratification. After attaining all the votes needed, the 19th Amendment was issued by
Since the beginning of time women have struggled to prove themselves to society so that people understand they are just as good as men. However, society has made a mockery of women for years. Using women for sex appeal and for personal gains. Women were those who stayed home cleaning, took care of the children, and prepared meals for the family. This sounds quite familiar with today’s society, but women today aren’t only limited to these things. Not only were women not allowed to work outside of home, but voting was off limits also. On June 4, 1919 the 19th amendment was passed by Congress. This honored all American women the right to vote. This Amendment was approved on August 18th 1920. On account of women suffrage, women should be granted equal rights politically and economically, especially after the hardship they faced. Because of their contributions to society, women exclusively should be allowed to help the country grow at an economical standpoint and politically while having the privilege of voting.
The day of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment was ninety-six years ago. Women were given the right to vote with its passage. Women’s rights had become more than just a whim. In the next years, flappers came into play, and in years after, women began to be able to work what were considered “man-only” jobs.
Women’s rights and the fight for equality has come a long way in the United States. Decades before us the Women’s suffrage came into play (History, 2010). It was a way for women to stand up and protest for their rights as a human because no matter If you’re a man or a woman everyone should have equal equality. However, it took awhile for the women to be heard, but when they did, they passed the law for women to have the right to vote in 1920. Which is known as the 19th Amendment (History, 2010). Considering the law that was being passed, over eight million women across the United States voted for the very first time. Ever since then, women’s right had continued to grow. Especially during World War II, women’s employment increased