The role of women in the society historically was homemaking. Thus, the since old day's women’s activities were limited to staying at home, cleaning, cooking, raising children, and ensuring that household was intact and running smoothly. This was as opposed to other economic, political or social endeavors into which men freely ventured. However, this narrative was shaped by the men with no regard for the views of women. It is this realization by women that inspired the earliest opposition to this narrative , signaling the start of the women’s movement. Consequently, owing to these efforts, women today freely enjoy various freedoms confirming that the past efforts have been immensely fruitful. Thus, with the aid of a timeline, this essay will explore the Women’s Movement in the 19 th and 20 th Centuries.
1920 , 19th Amendment of the Constitution which allowed equal voting rights to women
1848 , The beginning of the women’s movement
1850 , First Women's Rights Convention held
1869, Formation of National Women's Suffrage Association
1963, Publishing of the Feminine Mystique
1964, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act is passed
1967, Amendment of the executive order 11246
1968 First African-American woman is elected into the House of Representatives
1972 Title XI of the education code is passed
Figure 1: The timeline of the women’s movement from the 19 th to the 20 th Century
Currently, there is a consensus that everyone is born equal, and is therefore entitled to equal rights. However, the realization of this feat for women has taken bold and concerted efforts over a couple of decades. Specifically, the women's movement has for the past century and a half fought for the rights of women and created awareness across the globe. Significant events have marked the progression of the movement over the years. These are highlighted in Figure 1 above.
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The women’ movement was pioneered by Elizabeth Cady Stanton who was the brains behind the initial gathering that entirely devoted to women’s rights in the United States (U.S). This meeting took place on July 19-20 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. Consequently, the meeting came to be called Seneca Falls Convention 1 ( McMillen, 2008). The convention attracted about 100 people, and two-thirds of those present were women. It is during this convention that a “Declaration of Sentiments, Grievances, and Resolutions” was presented . T his document went into the specific details of how and why the women thought they were being treated in an unjust manner. Some key issues included the fact that women were not allowed to vote. Secondly, the married women lacked property rights while divorce and child custody favored men. Further, women were deprived of any self-confidence and were made to be wholly dependent on the men. This unjust treatment raised awareness about the unfair treatment of women. Consequently, more people joined the cause. Most of the women who had signed the Declaration of Sentiments withdrew their signatures due to the persistent discrimination that they received after publishing companies shared their names with the masses.
The aggressive persuasion of the government to grant women equal rights acted as the source of inspiration for the first National Women's Right Convention in 1850 in Worcester at Brinley Hall (Siegel, 1994) . 2 The meeting attracted over 1000 people who committed to pursuing the agenda of the women’s movement until the start of the American Civil War except 1857 ( McMillen, 2008). In the course of the few years that followed Cady and Susan B. Anthony established the National Women Suffrage Association in 1869 (Siegel, 1994) 3 . The primary objective of the association was to achieve equal voting rights for women through congressional amendment of the Constitution.
The campaign for women suffrage lasted for the better part of the late 19th century until women gained the right to vote. This was only possible because the pioneer of the women’s movement spent approximately forty years moving across the country while lecturing and organizing. A merger of the American Women Suffrage Association and National Women Suffrage Association took place in 1890 which led to the formation of National American Woman Suffrage Association 4 . This new outfit organized state to state campaigns agitating for equal voting rights for women.
The movement was finally able to achieve its primary objective after 72 years of staunch opposition. This is because on 26 th August 1920 the 19 th Amendment to the Constitution that granted (Ramirez et al., 1997) 5 . Consequently, the right of women to vote was signed into law by Bainbridge Colby, the Secretary of the State. This was a significant achievement of the women's movement. Subsequently, inspired by this, the leader of the National Women's Party drafted an Equal Human's Right Amendment for the Constitution. Achieving equal rights for women opened the doors for intense agitation for rights in other fields. This is exemplified by the birth control movement which was introduced by Margaret Sanger, a public health nurse. Her aim in this pursuit was to enlighten and convince women that it was their right to choose whether or not to become mothers. This movement empowered women to learn how to control their productivity and sexuality.
The second wave of the Women Suffrage Movement took place in 1960 when the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of birth control pills. This enabled women across the U.S to take full control of their productivity. Esther Peterson, of the Women's Bureau of Department, in 1961, emphasized that it was the responsibility of the government to protect and take an active role in addressing discrimination of women. The fruits of this action empowered the movement in the sense that states and local governments established commissions for women which would carry out research on existing conditions and recommend the needed change. Another remarkable event that grounded the women’s movement and made it stronger was the publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique in 1963 (Ramirez et al., 1997) 6 . This was a helpful book that was based on a 20-year survey. The book clearly explained how middle class educated women were oppressed on an emotional and intellectual level due to limited life options. In addition to the book being a best-seller, it also inspired thousands of women to find their purpose other than being homemakers. As is the case in any just cause, inspiration is needed to fuel the cause, and Friedan's book did just that to the women's movement.
In 1964, the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was passed, which prohibited the discrimination of employment based on sex, race and religion and national origin (Ramirez, 1997) 7 . Informed by this, an Employment Opportunity Commission was established to handle any complaints. However, despite receiving over 50,000 complaints in the course of five years, the commission ignored most of these complaints. Feminists were enraged by this and formed National Organization for Women, which addressed the needs of specific groups of women. During this time, young women in campuses participated and took active roles in the anti-war and Civil Rights movement. This empowered women further as the perception of them as being no more than homemakers was shattered by their active engagements in such movements.
These young women later formed their women liberation movements to establish their status in the society. Many upcoming Women Rights movements worked together to address a broad range of issues. Small groups of many women in communities worked on small projects such as building for of children homes and cafes'. Women in such professions as medicine opened up clinics to offer counseling, abortion and birth control services to women who had low wages. These developments significantly helped the majority of the women.
Further, the number of women entering and competing in the job market greatly increased in the year 1967. This year is remembered to the women fighting for equality in the movement and the broad women empowerment because it was during this period that President Johnson amended the executive order 11246 which aimed at prohibiting discrimination in the job market employment (Jones Jr, 1982) 8 . Discrimination based on one’s sex was included through affirmative action in the list of prohibitions. It was also in the same year that one of the leading feminist groups was formed in New York. The group was named The New York Radical Women. Further, in August of 1967, the National Welfare Association was established in Washington DC to cater for the welfare rights of women. The association still serves this purpose up to this date.
One year later, in 1968, the National Women’s organization launched a massive campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment. Further, 1968 was yet another iconic year for the women’s movement as Shirley Chisholm became the first African-American woman to the U.S Congress (Ramirez et al., 1997) 9 . This achievement inspired women across the nation to take part up leadership roles. Another notable event that influenced the movement was the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling that being a woman was not a bonafide qualification for being a flight attendant. A widespread media attention based on the liberation of women was brought about by the Miss America Protest that followed. Likewise, there was the birth of the radical feminist group RedStockings in New York. The group staged an abortion parade insisting that women’s voices be heard on the matter rather than leaving the decision-making to men legislators and nuns. Moreover, the inclusion of the Title IX of the Education Codes of 1972 in the constitution made access to higher education and professional schools compulsory (Ramirez et al., 1997) 10 . As a result, women in professions such as architecture, engineering and law increased drastically as quotas that denied women from joining graduate school were outlawed. The Title IX also enabled women to participate in athletics. The rise of women taking part in sports such as the Olympics is credited to Title XI. In this regard, statistics show that one in three girls participates in sports as compared to one in twenty-seven as was seen fifty years ago. Finally, in 1972 the Equal Rights Amendment was passed which enabled millions of women across the nation to take part in Women's rights movement from their communities.
In conclusion, the women's movement has fought for equal rights of women across the U.S from as far back as one hundred and sixty-six years ago. In this light, Elizabeth Cady Stanton has been highly celebrated for pioneering the Women's Right Movement. The string of events undertaken by the movement has left an impact which is felt up to this day. This is seen in women participating in elections either by voting or vying for leadership positions. An example, in this case, is Hillary Clinton who was a presidential aspirant in the 2016 U.S elections. However, the most notable change is the financial liberation of women. Due to this, women are for instance able to take loans by themselves without a male counterpart as was the requirement a long time ago. The success of the women’s movement in promoting development and democracy in the U.S, and globally by extension cannot be overstated.
References
Jones Jr, J. E. (1982). Twenty-One Years of Affirmative Action: The Maturation of the Administrative Enforcement Process under the Executive Order 11,246 as Amended. Chi.-Kent L. Rev. , 59 , 67. Retrieved from: http://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2472&context=cklawreview
McMillen, S. (2008). Seneca Falls and the origins of the women's rights movement . Oxford University Press. Retrieved from: https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/upload/_7-HRS-SectionI-10-18-08-printed-1EBA.pdf
Ramirez, F. O., Soysal, Y., & Shanahan, S. (1997). The changing logic of political citizenship: Cross-national acquisition of women's suffrage rights, 1890 to 1990. American sociological review , 735-745. Retrieved from: http://www.vonsteuben.org/ourpages/auto/2015/3/20/54841189/international%20suffrage.pdf
Siegel, R. B. (1994). Home as Work: The First Woman's Rights Claims Concerning Wives' Household Labor, 1850-1880. The Yale Law Journal , 103 (5), 1073-1217. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2090&context=fss_papers
