Women's Suffrage Movement In The 1800s

At the turn of the century, women’s roles in the United States were very different than today. Back then in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, women had one role, which was getting married and having children. Women were basically slaves, they lived in a home with their husband and children, and were expected to raise their children and do whatever their husbands desired. After getting married, women would give up many of their rights. They were not allowed to own property, keep their own wages, or sign any contracts or paperwork. At this time, women weren’t expected to pursue any type of career, and definitely weren’t expected to obtain a college education, they were strictly expected to be housewives that would take care of everything at home, …show more content…
The women’s suffrage movement was the fight for women’s rights, at the time, women didn’t have as much rights as men; it was a form of racism. There was a big difference between the amount of jobs for men and the amount of jobs for women, aside from that, the pay for these jobs was very different as well. Most jobs that were available for women were very low paying and dead end jobs. This suffrage movement was also the fight for women’s civil rights. The main reason for the women’s suffrage movement was because women were fighting for the right to vote in elections. In 1890, two national suffrage organizations that were rivals merged together and made the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA), led by Susan B. Anthony. They made many attempts to vote in the early 1870s but were turned away, after being turned away they filed lawsuits in hope the Supreme Court would agree that women had the right to vote, because of the constitution. Once the Supreme Court ruled against women’s vote, they began their campaign for an amendment that would allow women to vote. Later on in 1916 the National Women’s Party (NWP) was formed by Alice Paul, this group focused on a national suffrage amendment being passed. I think that what prompted women to organize and push for their right to vote, own property, and obtain equal rights, was because they …show more content…
Before learning about feminism and gender inequality, I felt that it wasn’t such a big deal and that the history of this issue was often exaggerated. After reading the first two chapters of “A History of U.S. Feminisms” by Rory Dicker and watching the “Makers” videos, I realized I was very wrong and didn’t actually know much about the issue. After reading the first two chapters, I learned that it wasn’t just one wave of feminism but actually multiple waves, and each wave accomplished different goals, the first wave of feminism obtained women the right to vote, which in my opinion is one of the biggest accomplishments in United States history. After watching the three parts to the “Makers” video, I learned that some women that are alive today, had to deal with some of the gender inequalities in the country. I thought that most women who were victims of the gender inequality were all in the early 1900s, seeing familiar faces like Oprah Winfrey and Hilary Clinton, made me realize that this issue was still happening not too long ago. I know that it is still going on but not as bad as before. Understanding the roots of gender inequality made me feel bad, because of my previous feelings and thoughts toward gender inequality. At the same time though, I feel happy and proud, because women fought for what they deserved and they never gave up until they