Women's Failure to Gain the Vote Between 1900 and 1914 Essay

During the 1900s, many women were beginning to stand up for themselves and no longer wanted to be inferior to men. Prior to 1918, women were disrespected and under - valued in society. There was a change in attitudes towards women as the image of the "New Women" began to arise. They were becoming involved in various different jobs, having the ability to be better educated and get involved in politics. However, this view that the "New Women" was the only factor that contributed to women getting the vote is untrue. Women began their own campaigns in order to get the vote. This included

For the longest time, women’s role in society was very narrow and set in stone. Women weren’t given the chance to decide life for their own, and there was a very sharp distinction of gender roles. Women were viewed as inferior, weak, and dependant. They were expected to be responsible for the family and maintainance of the house. But as the 19th century began, so did a drastic change in society. Women started voicing their opinions and seeking change. Trying to break away from this ideology called “cult of domesticity” was a lengthy, burdensome, and demanding struggle.

Why Women Gained the Vote in 1918 In 1918, women had finally gained the right to vote, after 68 long and hard years of campaigning and rebelling they finally got the vote they wanted. The women had tried everything like campaigning, getting them selves arrested, using the media and many more things were done. However, there were a couple of things that they did which really helped them get the right to vote and they were the fact that they helped the men in World War I, like loading the bombs shells with explosives and tidying the bomb shelters.

We know that women did not have the right to vote in the United States from the time they were granted freedom from Great Britain in 1776, all the way up until 1920, but why did they not have the right to vote? Women during that 144 year span had virtually no rights at all. Many people had the mindset that since women could not fight for their country, they did not deserve the right to vote. Men viewed women as their weaknesses, not someone who is equal to

August 26, 1920 was perhaps one of the greatest victories of the century for women. Now when the polls open women and men stand next to each other and cast a vote that holds the same importance. Every person should remember the time and effort it took to get here as they approach the poll booth. There was a struggle to over come and that struggle was won. The landmark acceptance of the Nineteenth Amendment changed the way of life in American forever.

Women, like black slaves, were treated unequally from the male before the nineteenth century. The role of the women played the part of their description, physically and emotionally weak, which during this time period all women did was took care of their household and husband, and followed their orders. Women were classified as the “weaker sex” or below the standards of men in the early part of the century. Soon after the decades unfolded, women gradually surfaced to breathe the air of freedom and self determination, when they were given specific freedoms such as the opportunity for an education, their voting rights, ownership of property, and being employed.

Women’s rights is apparent in the fight for suffrage in the late 1800’s-early 1900’s . It can

In the 1920’s women suffrage was a substantial impact because that year women gained the right to vote and run for office. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right (“The Fight” par. 1). Before the Election Day in 1920, women didn’t have the right to vote or basically do anything a man could do. Women fought against the court and formed multiple groups until they made a change in the law, to let women vote. Many American women were tired of being known as an unimportant role in their generation. They were beginning to become annoyed with what historians referred them as which was “a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned exclusively with home and family” (“The Fight” par. 2). “All of these contributed to a new way of thinking about what it meant to be a women and a citizen in the United States”(“The Fight” par. 2). “The suffrage movement in the United States gained prominence with the first women’s rights convention in the world”(“Women’s Suffrage” par. 5). Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the convention in 1848. “American

Women's Suffrage was one of the many well knows Progressive reform movements. Women became involved in political issues like the Temperance Movement through the WCTU (women’s Christian Temperance Union). Document H, shows that many women were feeling angry and were being cheated out of their right to vote and to be involved in the government. The message of the poster is that the U.S., especially President Wilson, needs to stop worrying about other countries and start worrying about the 20,000,000 women that don’t have the right to vote. Herbert Croly also thought that the President needed to do more at home. He accuses the president of deluding, “ himself into believing the extravagant claims which he makes on behalf of the Democratic Legislative achievement.”(Document F)

Before 1918, women were considered to be very much within their own sphere of influence separate from men. Throughout the 19th century women had slowly been gaining voting privileges, but only in areas considered to be within their spheres such as the vote for school boards, the vote for poor law boards and the vote for county councils. Traditionally many historians have argued that the main reason for the enfranchisement of women in 1918 was their work during world war one. This view is being disputed on multiple levels; some argue that the war itself called for a rearrangement of the whole electoral system. Alternatively other historians argue that the work of the women's suffrage workers such as the suffragist's and the suffragettes,

This section on women's history will show the events that led to the suffrage movement and what the outcome was after the movement, plus how those events are involved in today's society. The women of the post suffrage era would not have the ability to the wide variety of professions were it not for their successes in the political arena for that time. In the early 1900’s when women were barred from most professions and limited in the amount of money they could earn, a group of suffragists led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton started to develop the women into an influential and powerful leaders of this country. The original women who started the suffrage movement had nothing to

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.

Women's Suffrage During World War One World War 1 in 1914 brought all the campaigning for women's suffrage to a standstill. The campaigners believed that serving their country was of mroe importance than coercively trying to win the vote for women, and pursuading the Government. Mrs Fawcett, the representative of the N.U.W.S.S, said this,'Women, your country needs you. Let's show ourselves worthy of citizenship, whether our claim is to be recognised or not'.

Campaigns for Women Suffrage and their Effectiveness Throughout the nineteenth century, the suffragists and the suffragettes worked hard campaigning for women suffrage. Finally, in 1918, the vote was given to women, but only women over thirty. But suffrage campaigns, although important, were not the only reason that the franchise was granted. Some other reasons include, a fear of the return of suffragette activity, the government following an international trend, the government making changes to the voting system anyway, and the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, being more sympathetic to the cause that the previous Prime Minister was.

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.