The Settlement House Movement

Women during the Progressive Era of the late 19th century on into the early 20th functioned in separate spheres, which meant that the men went out and worked and the women stayed home. During the 19th century women became more active outside of the home and wanted to be more involved. In 1890 the National Consumers’ League was founded in New York and went on to become national in 1899. This organization was put into place to provide protective legislation for women and children. Consequently, occurring during this year was the opening of the Settlement House Movement in Chicago, which was created by Jane Addams. She established the Hull house, which allowed middle class women to live in settlement houses in poor neighborhoods to provide examples for poor and immigrant women. In 1874 a new organization known as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union was formed and became the largest women’s organization in the country that only allowed female members. The association was focused on controlling alcohol consumption, because they believed that the women and children were the ones that suffered the most when men drank too much. They began to branch out in order to attract more women by looking into the areas of prostitution, health, and international peace. From …show more content…
Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton launching the National Woman Suffrage Association, women started a movement demanding that they be allowed to vote. In addition, the American Woman Suffrage Association was organized the same year however this group was more conservative and was composed of both men and women. The difference between the two was that the American Association believed that women should only be allowed to vote in local elections but not in national ones. In 1890 the two organizations combined although the progress was still slow they were eventually granted the right to vote in Colorado in 1896 which led to women be allowed on a state by state process to