The feminist movement has changed American culture for the better. It is thanks to the hard work of many dedicated individuals that women enjoy the rights and freedoms they have today. If it weren’t for this concerted, effort women would still be kept to the home, unable to own property, obtain legal representation, control their rate of reproduction, or receive equal pay and wages.
Even if women still aren’t on equal footing with men, they have made great societal progress through action and activism. The first half of this activism focused on the legal status of women as seen in the construction of the Married Women’s Property Acts in the early 19th century, the election of Jeannette Rankin to Congress in 1916, the passing of the 19th Amendment …show more content…
Up until the 1850s, in certain states, this practice forbade married women from controlling their own property. A woman couldn’t receive credit for her own work. Any of her earnings would be controlled by her husband, and anything she invented would be attributed to him.
Women were essentially the chattel of their husbands. Even if the man was neglectful, abusive, or otherwise incompetent he would have full legal control.
Coverture was one of the primary issues tackled by first wave feminism. To quote the Declaration of Sentiments, written at the Seneca Falls convention,
“He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead. He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns. He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can commit many crimes, with impunity, provided they be done in the presence of her husband. In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master - the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer …show more content…
She was the only congressperson to vote against both of the world wars. Later in her life Rankin continued her activism and never backed down. In 1968, when she was 88 years old, she led more than five thousand women in an anti-Vietnam War Protest. This group of women was known as the Jeannette Rankin Brigade.
Women’s suffrage is perhaps the best known victory of the feminist movement. Before the 19th Amendment most women weren 't able to vote. They didn’t have any say in the political happenings of their country. Women throughout the world sought to challenge this idea. Some of the earliest and most prominent suffragists were Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Mott and Stanton decided to create a women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York after they were barred from attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention in
Even if women still aren’t on equal footing with men, they have made great societal progress through action and activism. The first half of this activism focused on the legal status of women as seen in the construction of the Married Women’s Property Acts in the early 19th century, the election of Jeannette Rankin to Congress in 1916, the passing of the 19th Amendment …show more content…
Up until the 1850s, in certain states, this practice forbade married women from controlling their own property. A woman couldn’t receive credit for her own work. Any of her earnings would be controlled by her husband, and anything she invented would be attributed to him.
Women were essentially the chattel of their husbands. Even if the man was neglectful, abusive, or otherwise incompetent he would have full legal control.
Coverture was one of the primary issues tackled by first wave feminism. To quote the Declaration of Sentiments, written at the Seneca Falls convention,
“He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead. He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns. He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can commit many crimes, with impunity, provided they be done in the presence of her husband. In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master - the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer …show more content…
She was the only congressperson to vote against both of the world wars. Later in her life Rankin continued her activism and never backed down. In 1968, when she was 88 years old, she led more than five thousand women in an anti-Vietnam War Protest. This group of women was known as the Jeannette Rankin Brigade.
Women’s suffrage is perhaps the best known victory of the feminist movement. Before the 19th Amendment most women weren 't able to vote. They didn’t have any say in the political happenings of their country. Women throughout the world sought to challenge this idea. Some of the earliest and most prominent suffragists were Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Mott and Stanton decided to create a women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York after they were barred from attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention in