The Nineteenth Amendment And The Women's Rights Movement

The Nineteenth Amendment and the women’s rights movement were turning points in history because they challenged the previous notions of women’s voices and led to women being treated as though they are human beings. The women’s rights movement was an amalgamation of things, each contributing to its origins. The Nineteenth Amendment was the most major result of the suffrage efforts. The Nineteenth Amendment was important because it gave a voice to women which they had not previously had and allowed them to have a proper representation in the government. As more than half of the population, it seems only fitting that women should be allowed to present their ideas and thoughts in a government space, and to create an all-gendered, all-equal government …show more content…
Anthony was one of the prominent suffragette figures in this era. After being arrested for voting illegally in an election, Anthony made a speech entitled “Woman’s Rights to Suffrage.” In this speech, she explains that she was exercising her “citizen’s rights,” the same ones that were promised to her and “all United States citizens,” “beyond the power of any state to deny” (Anthony). Anthony’s words roused women into action as she said, “Being persons, then, women are citizens,” and then exclaims that no State can limit any law that goes against the Constitution’s promises of equal rights (Anthony). Anthony’s words, as well as her efforts to forward women’s rights, are what earned her the affectionate namesake of the Nineteenth Amendment--after all, it is also nicknamed the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. Susan B. Anthony’s speech roused women into action, inspiring them to want to work for their rights and be allowed to have the basic human rights that were promised to them in the Constitution made by their forefathers many decades …show more content…
The first of these effects was the flapper movement and the general air of the independent woman. In the Roaring Twenties, women began to break free from conservatism that was established by their families and rejected the culture of the generations before them (Brinkley). These independent women called themselves flappers, and appreciated short hairstyles and showing off their knees. Flappers drove cars and smoked. These new cars, technologies, styles, and societal movements provided chances for new ideas to spread. As the movement of flappers became more prominent, women began to realize their independence, both from men and from the previously conceived notions about roles and spheres of this era and those before