Gender Discrimination During The Reconstruction Era

Discrimination comes in many forms, but there is one thing that is certain: no discrimination stands morally superior to the other. Thus, if we acknowledge that any kind of discrimination is wrong, we must work to eliminate all discrimination. Despite their best intentions, it was difficult for lawmakers during the Reconstruction to see that the effects of gender discrimination were as harmful as those inflicted on ethnic and racial minorities. During the Reconstruction Era, lawmakers viewed women, especially married women, as part of the family unit and not as citizens themselves (Swidorski 103). When drafting the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, many lawmakers failed to consider the implications these amendments would have for the rights of women, black or white. Women thus had to prove that they were not only individual citizens who warranted consideration under the law, but also that they were …show more content…
They chose the best and the most obvious way to do so: challenging discriminatory laws in the courts using the Equal Protection Clause.
The Fourteenth Amendment reaffirmed the iniquity of race discrimination and declared discrimination against all US Citizens, except for criminals or traitors, unconstitutional. Many within the Women’s Rights Movement saw this as a victory for women as well; they soon learned, however, that the Equal Protection Clause would not apply equally to women. Though they were instrumental in the fight for emancipation and the passing of the Fourteenth Amendment, lawmakers not only excluded women from the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment in practice but went as far as to introduce the word “male” into the Constitution for the first time with its passage. The Fifteenth Amendment also notably