Women’s Rights: Now and Then For over one hundred years women have been fighting for equality. It wasn’t until the 19th century that women would start to be seen as equal to men. From the start of America women were seen as men property, and not as citizens of the United States. Women were expected to bare children, tend to household duties; furthermore, if they had an inheritance or any money it went to their husbands. Women did not have the right to vote or run for any type of government office. Even as women started to gain more freedom and rights, they still would be faced with inequality into the 19th century and even today. Though the views and rights of women equality has changed through the year’s research still shows that women are …show more content…
Stanton was one of the first American women’s right activists. The goal of her declaration was for women to have the same rights as men had received in 1776 with Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence. In Stanton declaration she opens saying “We hold the truths to be self evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are institutes, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” (372). Stanton would go on to spend her life supporting the women’s right movement. For a while the movement seemed to move ahead, but became less important once the Civil War began. After the Civil War ended the 14th Amendment subsequently gave protection to all citizens, but states “male”. The 15th Amendment gave black males the right to vote. Most women advocates at the time like Stanton did not …show more content…
Women did not receive things such as a paid maternity leave, or affordable child care. By the 1960s the rate of women working was at its highest ever. The divorce rate was rising, and children depended on a single parent’s income, typically the mother. In 1961 President John F Kennedy establishes the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, he appoints Eleanor Roosevelt as the chairwomen. In 1963 the Equal Pay Act is passed by Congress making it illegal for employers to pay a woman less than what a man would receive for the same job. Before this act passed women earned fewer than sixty cents for every dollar earned by men. Soon after, in 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed which bars discrimination for employment based on race or sex. The 1960s proved how far women had come in gaining equality and justice for their
Stanton accomplished great things although; she did not actually experience what her accomplishments resulted in. She was an advocate for women’s suffrage and that was her goal. She died before she could see her wish come true, but all her hard work and accomplishments made it happen. Along with her friend and partner Susan B. Anthony, Stanton began her fight for women’s rights in politics after the American Revolution. She organized the first national women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls (Gordon, 2009). This was the first time that the advocates for women’s rights formally organized. At this convention Stanton also co-authored the Declaration of Sentiments which really was the Declaration of Independence for women (Gordon, 2009). These women knew how powerful the original Declaration of Independence was in the US, and they were hoping to do the same. This showed the people who women are in the same situation that the US was with Britain before the revolution. Writing the Declaration was a huge step because without it they couldn’t really illustrate how severe their situation really was. Another accomplishment was the enactment of the married women’s property statute in 1848. Stanton and her followers were determined to see change in the property rights of women. In England, women had no
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.
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.
Women have virtually the same rights as men. However, the fault needing to be recognized in today’s society is the way that women are treated. Even in simple areas, such as jobs, women are put on the back burner. A woman is able to become a CEO of a company, nonetheless, she will struggle twice as hard as a man would. Even as an employee, women are statistically paid less than men are.
In the nineteenth century, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a very important person of the women's rights movement. Stanton did several things over the years that were important to the movement. She "drafted a “Declaration of Sentiments, Grievances, and Resolutions" that echoed the preamble of the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal." ("The Women’s
Stanton then wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, which was taken from the Declaration of Independence. One of the famous lines was that “all men and women had been created equal”. To see that she took some ideas from the Declaration of Independence was very smart because, some very important men wrote that. Stanton also wrote eleven resolutions, one being that women had the right to vote. Over 100 people, men and women signed the Declaration of Sentiments, including Frederick Douglass who was an escaped slave who became a leader of abolitionist movement. This convention helped spread the message about Women suffrage. It just amazes me how much women suffered back then. They had literally no rights at all. They could not vote, sell or buy land and most of all they had no voice between men. Even after so many years women do still experience the same inequality, in which some women get paid less than men and also promotions are more likely to go to men than
Elizabeth Cady Stanton forever changed the social and political landscape of the United States of America by succeeding in her work to guarantee rights for women and slaves. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a leader in the 19th century for women’s activist and women’s suffrage leader. As an active American abolitionist, she gave many lectures and wrote books. Among those fighting for women’s rights, she was a primary leader. Though she was interested in women’s rights from many perspectives, Elizabeth realized that success hinged on women’s right to vote. Elizabeth often worked with Susan B. Anthony as a theorist and writer. Elizabeth was a very important person to the women’s rights movement, because she fought for equal rights of women to be considered equal to a man. Stanton’s unwavering dedication to women’s suffrage resulted in the 19th amendment to the Constitution, which granted that right. These facts will present to you the difficulties she encountered and her contributions.
Women have had a rough way to go for many years when it comes to equality. They face many negative things in today’s society and that is the way it has been for many years. History shows that women have been fighting for equality for decades, because many people believe they just can’t do the things that men can. There’s a website that has been helping women fight for that equality since 1966. That website is www.now.org. Before then women never really had any help. They had to rely on each other to show everyone what they could really do. Women have fought to try and end discrimination when it comes to jobs and economic justice. So the status of women throughout history has changed,
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
Thanks to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and many other women rights activists, from 1880-1910, the percentage of employed females rose about 300% (“Women’s Suffrage in the Progressive Era”). Throughout the women’s rights movement, Stanton influenced many females to fight for what they believed in, from better job opportunities, to voting rights, to divorce rights, and more. Stanton is one of the females who started the women’s rights movement in the late 1800s (Foner and Garraty). Elizabeth Cady Stanton had an influential early life, was involved heavily in the women’s rights movement, and had many different beliefs that were the basis of the movement.
Looking back with a historical lens, it’s evident that the fight for women’s rights has progressed in a step wise process. The nineteenth amendment opened a new door of opportunities for women to take advantage of. In modern times, the continued push for equal rights is evident through the fight for reproductive rights and equal pay. Even with the right to vote, women are still being under represented and out of control when it comes to their reproductive rights and in the workplace. Opposing beliefs regarding feminism have prevented the progression of more gender equality in the United States. What originally started as a plea for a political voice helped to shape the history of the nation. Women’s suffrage paved the way for countless groups and further feminist
When Elizabeth Cady Stanton was in the full swing of fighting for rights I think she was like most of reformers. She was tough and took on a whole lot of issues at a time. During this time period there were a lot of issues going on that women were fighting. The 1800’s saw a lot of change through these women also. Women began to view their own rights as significant and advocated for the realization of these rights. The issues were widespread from education to abolition to woman’s suffrage. Many women’s rights advocates worked closely with the abolitionist cause to secure suffrage for African Americans. African American men were granted the right to vote in 1870 with the passage of the 15th Amendment. However, it was not until 1920 that women
One of the last major social movements of the 1960’s was the Second Wave of Feminism. This wave would bring about profound and lasting economic and legal changes to the status of women. President Kennedy established the first Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. The commission issued a statement citing employment discrimination including unequal pay, legal inequality, and insufficient support services for working women. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended to include barring sex discrimination but for the most part the EEOC ignored
Throughout history, women have been viewed differently from men. In the 1880’s and before, women were in charge of making a happy home, her job above all was to make sure her husband was happy. Around, the 1910’s women began fighting for their right to vote and to be viewed as an equal to the janitor that works for them. Still, to this day, women and girls are fighting to be viewed as an equal and respected as men and boys are in our society.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton campaigned for women’s rights. Stanton is the “great speaker” of the early women’s rights movement. Stanton helped organize the first women’s rights convention. She make a plan and introduce the first women’s rights. She also founded multiple women’s rights organization to serve as a guide or a leader of the movement. According to Southard, Stanton says that it is for understanding what drove one of our nation’s most widely and favorably known social movement leaders. “Thus, her first formal public address, “Address on Women’s Rights,” delivered in 1848, is a key text not only for understanding early women’s rights ideology, but also for understanding what drove one of our nation’s most prominent social movement leaders.”