Women’s Suffrage in the U.S.
Women's suffrage took over a century to win, and it was one battle at a time, a slow and tedious process that took generations of women's entire lives to fight. In the US, a sweeping movement in the late 1700s held back voting for women. In one state after another, women lost their right to vote - New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey among others. (Mann) It will not be after over a century when a state would allow women to vote, then deny it, then grant it again, as was the case in Utah. Idaho followed suit, then California - one by one, the US has to be won by state before the entire nation granted the suffrage to all women by law (Mann).
The fight for women's righst, especially suffrage, was hand-to-hand with the Abolitionist movement. In the early 1800s, anti-slavery groups composed of women were formed (Mann). These two issues come up together so often in the law-makers' concerns, the Congress to be specific, that they might have helped advance the concern of each other, even if sometimes it seems that they are competing against each other for favor in the law.
This law, called the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitutions: Women's Right to Vote was granted to all American women. There may be struggles in race or social class across America, but this law is guaranteed to all women without discrimination, except age, of course.
The American struggle for women's suffrage is an encouragement to the women of the world to actively participate in changing the status quo. This story varies, though, in every country. Switzerland, for example, experienced having their own women fight against suffrage. It is not until the 1970s that suffrage was fully granted to Swiss women. (Switzerland)
Work Cited
Mann, Laurie. Timeline of Women's Suffrage in the United States. Women's Sites Resources. 1995. Web. Feb. 7 2014.
Switzerland's Long Way to Women's Right to Vote. History of Switzerland. 2004. Web. Feb. 7, 2014
