Women's Right to Vote
In the history of the United States of America, the people have always been revered and lead by great men. However, most people do not recognize that behind those great men, there have always been even greater women. In the 239 years since America has been established, women have only had voting rights for 95 of them. In 1920, women were finally given the right to vote. The reason, however, is a big question. Was it because of their efforts in World War I? Was it the movement of women's rights that changed the nation forever? Or was it the embarrassment that countless other countries had given them rights long before "The Greatest Country" in the world ever thought to?
In the time span between 1914 and 1918, our world
It was not until after the Civil War that these ideas started to change in America. “Dozens of women’s colleges were founded after the Civil War, and many formerly all-male colleges began admitting women.” (Shi and Tindall, pg. 569) By 1900 nearly one-third of college students were women (pg.569) In the early 1900’s women began to liberate themselves from the home, their social roles, and even some of their character traits. New public venues for female interaction were created, from charitable associations to women’s clubs. The increase of female interaction brought a means to change the lack of female influence in government. In 1869 the National Woman Suffrage Association was founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, which not only campaigned for woman suffrage, but also for new laws to make an abused wife get a divorce easier and for female workers to get higher pay (pg. 712-714) It was not until the spring of 1919 after WWI that the Nineteenth Amendment was passed giving women a Constitutional guarantee of their right to vote (pg. 775). Women gaining the right to vote was one of the greatest social developments that happened in America because since women made up forty percent of the electorate they had the capability to change the course of politics (pg.
What started with a small convention for 200 women would lead to an effort that changed history forever. In the 1840’s, the women’s suffrage movement began with a convention in Seneca Falls, New York. For almost 100 years after the event that “launched” the movement, supporters of women’s suffrage worked hard to diffuse ideas, educate, and fight for their right to vote. Under the leadership of many strong, influential women, the movement to advocate for women’s suffrage set forth. From the time the United States gained its independence, the ideals of democracy and voting have been core values. Before the nineteenth amendment was ratified, granting women the right to vote, only half of the population was being represented. Women were expected
Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest.” (19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women's Right to Vote (1920)). The only people that were allowed to vote in the early years of the United States were white males who owned land; the 19th Amendment changed history forever, it allows suffrage from women. The privilege of permitting women to vote caused distinct opinions due to the fact that women were kept away from politics since they were not supposed to take part in male roles. The participation of females in politics altered their lives, they voted and a few years later also ran for office (Women’s Equality Day:
The women’s suffrage movement finally came to a pause during the Civil War period. Right around two years after the war ended, the movement leaders directed their focus to the Midwest. In 1867, Kansas became the first state in the United States to hold a public referendum on women’s suffrage. A gathering of issues relevant to the nineteenth-century came along where women were presented at this meeting, but suffrage in regards to the right of voting immediately became the base of the women 's suffrage movement. When the U.S. Constitution that was formed in 1920 where the 19th Amendment was established; American women secured one of the most important, valuable rights of citizenship in regard to the right to vote. This particular amendment embodied a significant milestone in the larger and a continuous struggle to ensure equal rights for women.
One of the biggest changes in the late 1800’s was women earning the right to vote. This was a political change that shook the world upside down. Women banned together through several leaders such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone. With much effort they earned the right to vote in several states. The suffrage moment did not stop there so they pursued on in their movement. It was a valent moment and without it we would not have two female president candidates. Hillary Clinton as well as Carly Fiorina may even be working for women’s suffrage as they make history. For the women who were fighting to even vote to even imagine having a women president. In present day, more women vote than men. However
One of the most significant milestones in the history of women's rights, undoubtedly, was the concession of women's right to vote. Now, prior to this, women were not considered to have any legal rights/autonomy- back then, people believed their only purpose to be to “fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother.” As a direct result of that, they were also paid little to no consideration when it came to making and passing laws. Thus, this landmark decision to grant women the right to vote heralded a new era for them, an era of newfound freedom and representation in government. The fight for women's voting rights began in the latter half of the 19th century, when women's rights activists saw that they could use the 14th and 15th Amendments to make a case for suffrage.
Women’s rights were not always a part of society as it may seem in today’s world. Suffrage can date all the way back to 1776. Women had to fight for their rights and privileges, hard and for many years. In the late 1800’s women were seen as much less than a male and had no voice. Women were arrested, prosecuted and put down for wanting more freedom and power for their gender. As you see in many suffrage ads, women were desperate and wanted so badly the same equality as men. A few women in particular stood up for what they believed was right and fought hard. Although it took far too long and over 100 years, in 1920 women were finally given the opportunity to share the same voting rights as men. History had been made.
Back in the earlier days of Canada it was very easy to see which sex the country valued as dominant. It would not be until the 19th century that women in Canada begin to see even small changes in the way that they were valued in their country. Women gained the vote in certain provinces such as Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan in the year 1916. However it would not be until the year 1922 that women would gain the right to vote in Prince Edward Island and not until 1940 that women in Québec gained the right to vote. Women gaining the right to vote in Canada were a very controversial topic for many years. Many feared that by giving women the right to vote, it would change politics, that one women were into parliament everything would change,
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.
Voting can either be characterized as a “natural right” or others consider it as a privilege of civic duty. While this may be the case, why are some people not allowed to uphold their position on certain topics. The United States is said to be the country of freedom however, our opinions aren’t always what matters. In regards to women, they never had as much privilege as men or any other citizen. Voting was a way for all citizens to get their voice heard but, women were not a part of these decisions for a while. Women’s suffrage was a strategic long-fight in order to help women win the right to vote in the United States. This disagreement lasted for almost a hundred years. Women believed that they were just as equal as anyone else and they should get the chance to vote as well. Women are believed to have stereotypical lives and they could care less about political matters.
Women did not always have the privilege to vote and women’s suffrage efforts were elongated and troublesome. The first country that approved women’s suffrage was New Zealand in 1893. Many countries including the Canada, Great Britain, and Russia proceeded from New Zealand’s first step toward equality for women. The United States has progressed since the ratification of the nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution that allowed women the right to vote. However, not everyone has the same perception on gender equality. Former slave Sojourner Truth delivered her speech, " Ain’t I a Woman?" at the Ohio Women 's Rights Convention in 1851. Truth advocates for women’s rights and especially highlighting her position of women of color in the social
Women's Right to Vote After aeons of being treated as "second-class" citizens, the women of Britain, around the 1860s, decided to campaign for suffrage and gain equal rights and their reasons for campaigning are explained below. Married women were always superseded by their husbands, could not own property and had few other rights. Divorce laws, too, were partial, favouring men more than women and practices like wife-battering and marital rape were still legal. After continuous campaigning, acts like the Married Women's Property Acts of 1870 and 1882, changes in divorce laws during the 1870s and 1880s and the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1884 were passed which slightly improved the situation
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.
Up until the 1920s, women’s struggle for their right to vote seemed to be a futile one. They had been fighting for their suffrage for a long time, starting numerous women's rights movements and abolitionist activists groups to achieve their goal. “The campaign for women’s suffrage began in earnest in the decades before the Civil War. During the 1820s and 30s, most states had enfranchised almost all white males (“The Fight for Women's Suffrage” ). This sparked women to play a more emphatic role in society. They began to participate in anti-slavery organizations, religious movements, and even meetings where they discussed that when the Constitution states "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain
Women had attempted to call attention to the issue of woman’s suffrage for hundreds of years. Until August 18th, 1920 women had no right to vote for the politicians that governed them. Many women wondered why they had not been given suffrage, but African American men were given the right to vote nearly 50 years earlier. The fifteenth amendment states that citizens “shall not be denied the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude”. Why couldn’t gender have been included in the amendment? Many claimed that was not fair to the women who had helped Americans in the most crucial of times. During previous wars women were left to take care of the household while men were at war. They also worked