The History of Women’s Suffrage

The rights of women have come a long way over an extensive period of time. There once was a time in history when women weren’t allowed to wear skirts that rose above their ankles, and now they can wear anything in any way they please. However, these laws didn’t just change overnight, it several years to change the minds of numerous individuals, including some women. However, many groups of courageous women, of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, joined together in one cluster to see the day that women would have the same rights and even be held to the same standards as men. Be it financially, ethically, or in terms of working the same jobs. While women are technically still not completely equal to men, women’s rights have developed greatly over time. The first feminist publication was written by Mary Wallstonecraft in 1972 Britain, entitled A Vandication of the Rights of Women. In this journal, she explains that women should have an equal education to men because women are “essential to the nation.” She argues that they “educate the children” and are “companions” to their husbands, not just wives. Though few people took notice to the article, Wallstonecraft became the rumble before the storm in the fight towards women’s rights. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the first woman to take an absolute position on women’s rights in 1848 when she attended a women’s rights convention. Later, in 1850 fellow activist Lucy Stune held the National Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY for different women’s rights activist groups across the U.S to meet. Stanton attended this convention as well and touched bases with Stune. Both women decided to integrate their two feminist groups and, in 1863, the Women’s National Loyalty League was formed and led by Susan B. Anthony. Anthony wrote the Right-To-Vote amendment in 1878 and proposed it to the Constitution. The movement had begun. Wyoming became the first state with Women’s Suffrage in 1890. This movement caused a domino effect and the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) arose in Britain, fighting for voting rights under Emmeline Pankhurst. Many women were thrown in jail, locked out of their private meeting places and thrown down he steps of Parliament. But they refused to stop. These women fought tooth and nail for their rights. This uproar became so influential that it caused a division in the nation. Many men were against women being held to their standard, but some fought with the women, believing that their rights were not “women’s rights”, but the rights of any living and breathing human being. These people fought the good fight for some time, however, the national divisiveness ended in a truce due to the outbreak of WWI in 1914. The WSPU joined in the war efforts and helped by volunteering for industrial and support services. This became influential in overcoming the government’s resistance towards women’s rights.
The Women’s Suffrage Association was later formed with Carrie Chapman Catt as its president in 1900. This campaign caught the attention of many educated, influential and wealthy women. These elitist women increased funding toward the campaign and developed huge parades and feminist demonstrations in major cities across the U.S. Making a splash from the east to west coasts. The movement became very powerful and almost impossible to ignore causing the ratification of The Anthony Amendment and its publication as the 19th amendment in 1920 giving all women of the United States the right to vote at the age of 30, but was changed to 21 in 1928. But the women weren’t so easily satisfied. Susan B. Anthony did not completely solve the problem, but she did become an influence for many