Historically, the society defined the primary role of women as being homemaking. In this respect, women were expected to stay at home, clean, cook, raise children, and keep the household intact. Thus, male domination restricted women to staying at home and denied them the opportunity to be involved in myriad nation building activities. This biased view started to shift in the late 19th century and throughout the industrial revolution. Consequently, women began to enjoy various freedoms as legislations were passed that challenged the status quo. Against this backdrop, this essay aims to explore the Women’s Rights Movement between the years 1848 and 1920.
In the United States (U.S), a large movement for women’s rights informed the start of the fight for women’s suffrage. The evolution of these reform efforts dates back to the 19 th century. This movement initially emphasized a broad range of goals before focusing solely on women affairs. Subsequently, the initial gathering devoted to women’s rights in the U.S took place in Seneca Falls, New York on July 19-20 1848 ( McMillen, 2008; Wasniewski, 2006; Sweeten, 1994) . The gathering attracted about 100 people, and women represented two-thirds of the participants. During the convention, a “Declaration of Sentiments, Grievances, and Resolutions” was presented ( Wasniewski, 2006; Sweeten, 1994) . This declaration, besides calling for the equality of both man and women, emphasized the need for women’s rights. This took place in response to an era that glorified the power of men over women. Women were viewed as properties that belonged to their husbands and as such were expected to abide by the decisions made by men without questioning. Moreover, women were denied the rights to vote as they were considered uneducated and ignorant.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Following the meeting at Seneca Falls, the reformers focused on the institutional and formal barriers that curtailed the rights of women, including family responsibilities, lack of economic and educational opportunities, as well as the lack of women’s voice in the political discourses ( McMillen, 2008; Wasniewski, 2006) . Consequently, much of the 1850’s was focused on agitating for the denial of women’s basic economic freedoms ( Sweeten, 1994) . However, following the U.S civil war, efforts shifted towards a focus on the right to vote. This led to the emergence of two conflicting factions in 1869. These were the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) . Informed by increased support for the movement, the two factions merged in 1890 to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The NAWSA operated as a nonpartisan organization for two subsequent decades, focussing entirely on increasing reach at the state level. The success of the suffrage movement was exemplified by the granting of voting rights to women in Wyoming in 1869. This was followed by Colorado (1893), Utah (1896) and Idaho (1896). With intensified lobbying, however , California, Washington, Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona followed suit between 1910 and 1914 ( Wasniewski, 2006). In 1917, President Wilson urged the Congress to pass an amendment on voting rights. The same year, Arkansas and New York gave partial and full rights to vote respectively. O n 2 nd April the same year, Jeannette Rankin was sworn into the 65 th Congress becoming the first woman to be a member of the national legislature. The Congress approved the rights to vote on 21 st May 1919 followed by the Senate on 14 th June 1919. Ultimately, on 26 th August 1920 the 19 th Amendment was ratified after Tennessee approved it. This amendment gave women nationwide full voting rights indicating the success of the suffrage movement ( Wasniewski, 2006; Sweeten, 1994) .
Queries have been raised as to whether the suffrage movement experienced fundamental change or sustained continuity in the period before and after the year 1920. In response to this, it is prudent to note that the achievement of the voting rights ended one phase of the suffrage movement. However, this feat opened the doors for an equally hard task of increasing the power of women in both local and national political offices (McMillen, 2008). In this respect, Rankin and the others that joined the Congress in the 1920’s faced the hard task of not only consolidating their powers but also sustaining pro-women legislation ( Wasniewski, 2006). For instance, after the entry of the U.S in World War I, the public’s enthusiasm for increased women’s rights effort decreased. This made it difficult for women to maximize their newly gained political strength to advance social change. Likewise, nationally participation in voting declined, while fewer people were informed about political issues, which were mostly defined by lobbies and special interest groups. Further, due to other reform causes, the women’s suffrage movement was splintered. This is because smaller women groups were focussing their efforts across a big f ield of competing initiatives. Moreover, and interestingly, women never voted as one, unified bloc. This is because they were split along party affiliations, issues and short-sighted politics. Also, they voted in small percentages contrary to the predictions. Additionally, women never voted independently, but rather their voting habits mirrored those of the men in their lives and families. In conclusion, therefore, while the Women’s Rights Movement attained tremendous achievements up to the year 1920, significant challenges were experienced after 1920 in the pursuit of building upon these successes
References
McMillen, S. (2008). Seneca Falls and the origins of the women's rights movement . Oxford University Press.
Sweeten, L. (1994). Demanding Citizenship: The US Women's Movement, 1848-1930.
Wasniewski, M. A. (2006). Women in Congress, 1917-2006 (No. 14903). Government Printing Office.
