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1919 Women's Rights Movement

Decent Essays

There have been groups of women though out history that have acknowledged that not everyone is born equal and has a fair voice. In 1919, The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) held a conference in Zurich, Switzerland. Some of the things that they examined were women’s equality, women’s marriage rights and their kin, economic efforts, and peace and liberty for all people. In the past 97 years since the conference, there has been a great deal of progress in equal rights for all women. While there has been progress there is still more work to be done for women’s rights. Looking back since 1919 we can see how far women have come and still have to go today in our culture. There were many issues that woman faced in 1919 …show more content…

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom stated “that the mother should have the same rights of guardianship or her children as the father.” (200) After the Civil War mothers were allowed to care for their daughters although not always their sons. This gave rise to the sex based belief of separate spheres, which then gave women more moral authority where men gained more preemies to the market place and politics. In later years around the time of the women’s rights movement women used the fact as being seen as more morally innate then men to gain favor of her child’s custody. There was a point when state laws automatically gave women guardianship during the younger years. The law was later changed and the courts would not favor the mother or the father; however, this gave rise to women being more likely to obtain guardianship of her children opposed to the father. While today mothers are more likely to gain guardianship in a divorce fathers hold equal rights according to the court system, which is what the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom meeting agreed should happen. The reason why women are more likely to keep the kids is due to the belief that the mother would do a better job of raising the children and not to waste time and money at court. Moreover, the WILPF agree “That the responsibility not only of

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