The women rights struggle was one of the longest, most successful, and perhaps most radical challenge ever posed to the American electoral politics. While women political inactivity was a reality from the colonial era to the early twentieth century, it is difficult to imagine now that there was a time when women were largely removed by custom, practice and law from the local political rights that supported and structured the country’s democratic ideals. The suffrage movement was an important event the revolutionized the understanding of democracy in America. However, even though women were not allowed to vote, they still played a key role in the political development across the state by different methods. This essay explores the manner in which women stayed influential in the American society regardless of their limited political rights.
For many years, women fought on the local, state, and federal level for themselves and for their sisters to earn the right to vote. Even as the struggled continued, American women stayed in course to ensure that they were not dormant in matters that were influential for politics and governance. Dubois & Dumenil argue that while many people underestimate the role of women in the society, it was an influential one. Many scholars thought that American women were insignificant in the county governance. Compared to the status of European woman during the colonial era, the American woman had more privilege and honor that was absent for many European women. In fact the colonial period is often regarded as the “golden age” for women in America. The women’s influence in the colonial period increased as a result of scarcity of women in the colonies. In some colonies such as Maryland, there was a time when men out numbered women for one for three. This implied that the competition for women was stiff and subsequently men had to be favorable to women to ensure that they got wives. During this time, women who were close the political leaders had influence in the affairs of governance.
Even though the women’s resistance faced aggressive resistance when seeking a voice in the political influence of the country, the primary idea was to challenge the traditional belief that women’s primarily place of focus was domestic and men’s role was political governance. Women such as Josephine Dodge, who was married to a New York investor, formed the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. One core premise of this organization was to educate women to influence their men by using indirect methods. Dodge argued that if women took an active role in politics, they would undermine their men and cause a more hard battle to fight with men.
Still, before 1920, most women’s role was confined to the home. The basic role for the women at the early twentieth century was motherhood. However, this was not the only things that women were doing. The First World War took many men from the American society that left a void in the work force. Because of the absence of men in the society, women became professionals in areas such as finance, doctors, and engineers among others. When the war was over, the women had started occupying important positions in the society that had made them equally active and vibrant politically just as men. For many scholars, the First World War was an important event that transformed the American society.
Works Cited
Dumenil, Lynn, and Ellen DuBois. Through women’s eyes: an American history with documents. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print.
