Introduction:
The women’s rights movement in the United States came about due to the dissatisfaction of many women within the United States about their lack of influence in politics, equality in the home, and opportunity to study. The reason that this was even an issue was due to the fact that women lost a great deal of freedom in history when Christianity gained popularity. Due to the spread of Christian values, women took a different role that was more modest and family-oriented. As a result of this, women over the ages grew very stagnant in their role in the family and began to dream of having opportunities of their own. This paper will focus on the women’s rights movement in the United States and how it evolved to where our society currently is today.
A Discussion of Suffrage:
The women’s rights movement began in the United States when women rallied to have their voice heard by earning the right to vote, (“The Fight For Women’s Suffrage,” 2016). While the right to vote was first enacted in the state of Wyoming, it took many years for the right to vote for women to be put into law, (“A Brief History of Women’s Rights Movements,” 2016). In fact, women had fought for the right to vote for one- hundred years until the Nineteenth Amendment was passed in 1920, (“The Fight For Women’s Suffrage,” 2016). The women’s right to vote was truly symbolic in that it gave women the voice that had been silent for so many years. It began the dawn of a new era where women’s opinions were being respected and heard by the masses in America.
Looking back to the fight for women’s suffrage, the first meeting to discuss and rally for the women’s right to vote was held in the State of New York in 1848, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016). The primary pamphlet that was passed out this rally was a reenactment of the Declaration of Independence that included the caption that all men and women were equal, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016). This rally had 75% women in attendance and even had some men, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016). This was the first meeting that openly discussed and challenged the societal barriers that were available to women at that time. Women debated furiously why they were not legally allowed to have a voice, could not inherit property, and also, did not have the equal opportunity to have access to education, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016).
When the African-Americans were being debated as citizens in the end of the Civil War, women’s rights were also proposed that were viewed as premature and too outrageous for the times, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016). There was a period in the wake of the Civil War where women were internally beginning to challenge their rights, but there was no activism seen at that point in United States history, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016). It was not until 1889 that there were associations formed with the objective of promoting the women’s right to vote, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016). One was called the American Woman Suffrage Association and the other was called the National Women Suffrage Association, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016).
World War I, II, and the Great Depression:
The precursor to the women earning the right to vote came when women first left the home, which was actually not during World War I and World War II. It came when women began to volunteer in organizations that gave them an alternative purpose than the traditional family life, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016). These volunteer groups gave women a schedule and something to look forward to that was beyond their families, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016). As a result of this, women began to advocate in several charities and organizations in order to get an excuse to leave the home. This is where women began to see the unrest between other women in the manner that they wanted a collective voice as a group to implement change.
Another turning point in the women’s suffrage movement was the Great Depression where women and children had to go to the workplace in order to support families in the poorer and middle class families, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016). This was very important in that women had to go to work. There was no social choice or consideration and even though these families did not want the wife to work, she had to and in many cases, she did not want her life to revert to what it was before. This is important to understand in that this also affected aspects such as family planning. Families were unable to afford so many children, which is when the debate about Planned Parenthood and birth control came into effect when Margaret Sanger founded Planned Parenthood and began to educate women on the issue of family planning, (“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920,” 2016). This is essential to understand how women were able to limit the family size and actually have access to having to raise less children, (Imbornoni, Ann-Marie, 2016). This is where we see the modern family come into effect that we know today.
The women’s rights movement took another shift when the world was faced with World War I, (“Women’s Rights,” 2016). World War I is another event in history that caused the women to band together in order to support the nation, (“Women’s Rights,” 2016). This is relevant to the movement in that women were removed from the home to support the men in organizations and job opportunities. Given how many causalities there were in World War I, women were forced into the workplace. Regarding the evolution of the women’s rights movement, there was an evolution in the movement in the periods between World War I and World War II in that women did not want to give up the new freedom that they had received. This is essential to understand to see how women got a taste of having a role more similar to a man’s, which gave them the drive to want to pursue an education and work in the roles that were traditionally occupied by a man, (“Women’s Rights,” 2016).
The true transition in the women’s rights movement in the United States transpired both during and after World War Ii. It is in this period that we see women starting to go to college and actually finishing. While these degrees were not related to business or law per se, they were related to history and sociology majors. These fields, while more domestic in nature, allowed women to have access to a college education for the first time since ancient civilizations. The women from the upper class were enrolled in universities were able to attend school until they got married. This was a hindrance in the women’s rights movement, but it started the wave of seeing women entering in the collegiate class.
Even though the vote was an important first step, the women’s rights movement took an unprecedented turn during World War II, (“A Brief History of Women’s Rights Movements,” 2016). The reason that World War II was so symbolic is that women were forced into roles that were beyond the home. This created another life possible for these women that wasn’t possible before. Women were put into working roles that gave them a sense of satisfaction that they were not receiving in the home. This greatly changed the tide of the women’s rights movements forever because once the men returned home, women did not want to leave the workplace, (“A Brief History of Women’s Rights Movements,” 2016).
Modern Issues Women Face:
Since the suffrage movement and World War I and II, women have made great strides in America. What this equality has done is that it has created new issues that have been very controversial in the notion of the traditional family. Women now working have created the possibility of a household that has two working parents. This has been both good and bad in the fact that women have to juggle a great deal in order to raise their children. Additionally, there has been an issue in making fathers stay home, which is even more unusual than any of the founders of the women’s rights movement could have predicted.
This has been wonderful that women have had the equal access to the education and jobs that were traditionally held by the man; however, this did come with yet another price. Women were considered to have a “glass ceiling” of how far they could be promoted and still have a great deal of salary inequality with regards to men. This is important to understand because we even still see this today. Women are paid an average of 40% less than men in many cases, which is astounding, (“Women’s Rights,” 2016). That being said, women also have had to deal with sexual harassment law suits with male bosses for decades, (“Women’s Rights,” 2016).
Conclusion:
Women have fought a great deal to get where they are today. The spark that ignited the desire for a woman to still be maternal, but to have a purpose that went beyond the home was a powerful one. The challenges that the American society faces today are a result of those women who fought very hard to get equal voting rights, education, and job opportunities. The issues that we see today are related to how a woman can balance the role of truly doing it all. Some women even question whether they would have given up the luxury of staying home with their children had they possessed the opportunity to rewind the women right’s movement. However, the majority are grateful for the progress that has been made for women in the United States.
References
“A Brief History of the Women’s Rights Movements.” Scholastic. 2016. Web. 4 May 2016.
Imbornoni, Ann-Marie. “Women’s Right Movements in the U.S.” InfoPlease. 2016. Web. 4 May 2016.
“The Fight For Women’s Suffrage.” The History Channel.2016. Web. 4 May 2016.
“The Women’s Rights Movement, 1848 – 1920.” History, Art, & Archives: United States House of Representatives. 2016. Web. 4 May 2016.
“Women’s Rights.” HistoryNet. 2016. Web. 4 May 2016.
