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Women's Rights Movement Begins

The campaign for women's suffrage began in earnest in the decades before the Civil War. During the 1820s and '30s, most states had extended the franchise to all white men, regardless of how much money or property they had.

At the same time, all sorts of reform groups were proliferating across the United States- temperance leagues, religious movements, moral-reform societies, anti- slavery organizations-and in many of these, women played a prominent role.

Meanwhile, many American women were beginning to chafe against what historians have called the "Cult of True Womanhood": that is, the idea that the only "true" woman was a pious, submissive wife and mother concerned exclusively with home and family.

Put together, all of these contributed to a new way of thinking about what it meant to be a woman and a citizen of the United States.

Seneca Falls Convention

In 1848, a group of abolitionist activists-mostly women, but some men-gathered in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss the problem of women's rights. They were invited there by the reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.

Most of the delegates to the Seneca Falls Convention agreed: American women were autonomous individuals who deserved their own political identities.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident," proclaimed the Declaration of Sentiments that the delegates produced, "that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

What this meant, among other things, was that they believed women should have the right to vote.

Civil Rights and Women's Rights During the Civil War

During the 1850s, the women's rights movement gathered steam, but lost momentum when the Civil War began. Almost immediately after the war ended, the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment to the Constitution raised familiar questions of suffrage and citizenship.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, extends the Constitution's protection to all citizens-and defines "citizens" as "male"; the 15th, ratified in 1870, guarantees Black men the right to vote.

Some women's suffrage advocates believed that this was their chance to push lawmakers for truly universal suffrage. As a result, they refused to support the 15th Amendment and even allied with racist Southerners who argued that white women's votes could be used to neutralize those cast by African Americans.

In 1869, a new group called the National Woman Suffrage Association was founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. They began to fight for a universal-suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Others argued that it was unfair to endanger Black enfranchisement by tying it to the markedly less popular campaign for female suffrage. This pro-15th-Amendment faction formed a group called the American Woman Suffrage Association and fought for the franchise on a state-by-state basis.

Gallery: The Progressive Campaign for Suffrage

This animosity eventually faded, and in 1890 the two groups merged to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the organization's first president.

By then, the suffragists' approach had changed. Instead of arguing that women deserved the same rights and responsibilities as men because women and men were "created equal," the new generation of activists argued that women deserved the vote because they were different from men.

They could make their domesticity into a political virtue, using the franchise to create a purer, more moral "maternal commonwealth."

This argument served many political agendas: Temperance advocates, for instance, wanted women to have the vote because they thought it would mobilize an enormous voting bloc on behalf of their cause, and many middle-class white people were swayed once again by the argument that the enfranchisement of white women would "ensure immediate and durable white supremacy, honestly attained."

Did you know? In 1923, the National Woman's Party proposed an amendment to the Constitution that prohibited all discrimination on the basis of sex. The so-called Equal Rights Amendment has never been ratified.

Winning the Vote at Last

Starting in 1910, some states in the West began to extend the vote to women for the first time in almost 20 years. Idaho and Utah had given women the right to vote at the end of the 19th century.

Still, southern and eastern states resisted. In 1916, NAWSA president Carrie Chapman Catt unveiled what she called a "Winning Plan" to get the vote at last: a blitz campaign that mobilized state and local suffrage organizations all over the country, with a special focus on those recalcitrant regions.

Meanwhile, a splinter group called the National Woman's Party founded by Alice Paul focused on more radical, militant tactics-hunger strikes and White House pickets, for instance-aimed at winning dramatic publicity for their cause.

World War I slowed the suffragists' campaign but helped them advance their argument nonetheless: Women's work on behalf of the war effort, activists pointed out, proved that they were just as patriotic and deserving of citizenship as men.

Finally, on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. And on November 2 of that year, more than 8 million women across the United States voted in elections for the first time.

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Women's Suffrage - The U.S. Movement, Leaders & 19th Amendment

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The women's suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

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What is the suffrage movement? Who resisted women’s suffrage and why did they feel that way? (Kiera)

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What is the suffrage movement? Who resisted women’s suffrage and why did they feel that way? (Kiera)

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Women were deprived of the same or equal rights as men. The women's suffrage movement was a fight for women's political rights to vote. This lasted decades and took almost 100 years in order to gain these rights. They practice civil disobedience, marching, lecturing, and protesting for their rights. Histroy.com states, " But on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.," (History.com Editors, 2009, para.1). This movement ended in the creation of the 19 Amendment. Women were now equal citizens of the U.S. and were allowed to vote for their presidents and rights.
On the other hand, there was a group of people including women who were against this movement. There was a group under the abbreviation of NAOWS, which stood for the National Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage. This group was formed in 1911 in New York City. This was led by Josephine Dodge and this group believe contributing to the movement would decrease their opportunities for jobs in the community. This group consisted of mostly white and wealthy women and they argued, "...that most women did not want the vote. Because they took care of the home and children, they said women did not have time to vote or stay updated on politics. Some argued women lacked the expertise or mental capacity to offer a useful opinion about political issues," (Lange, 2015, para.5). While some women were afraid of the consequences, others believed that women did not need to vote. Men did the voting, fighting, and money-making, while the women stayed at home to care for the children and house.

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What is the 19th amendment? What Impact did it have on the U.S. politically, economically and socially?  (Samantha)

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What is the 19th amendment? What Impact did it have on the U.S. politically, economically and socially?  (Samantha)

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The 19th amendment is the amendment that gave women the right to vote. The 19th amendment impacted the United States politically by giving them the legal right to run for different office positions. In the article it states "Recognizing the voting rights of women, the 19th Amendment inspired many women to run for political offices. "(NPS,2021,Para #3) This quote is explaining that after the women were given the right to vote they felt like over the hills about it and became empowered to go even further and run for different positions in the office.  The 19th amendment impacted the US socially because it made women feel more

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Developing the American Economy - Women’s History (U.S. National Park Service)

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(Samantha)
Source number 2 https://www.americanprogress.org/article/womens-equality-day-celebrating-the-19th-amendments-impact-on-reproductive-health-and-rights/#contributer-group-1

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Today is Women's Equality Day, a day commemorating the certification of the 19th Amendment, which granted U.S. women the right to vote. On August 26, 1920, more than 26 million women had their citizenship affirmed and gained a mechanism to empower themselves, their families, and their communities.

The 19th Amendment played a pivotal role in promoting reproductive rights for women, ushering in a new voting population with a political agenda that would ultimately legalize contraception and abortion. Women also experienced economic progress as a result, with the increased availability of family-planning services and supplies allowing more women to enroll in higher education and enter professional occupations.

Although the amendment enfranchised all women, to ensure the amendment included women regardless of race in practice rather than just on paper, African American women worked tirelessly to connect suffrage to both gender and race in all regions of the country. African American suffragists believed voting was a tool to protect the African American individual's citizenship and a mechanism to promote racial equality in society. The amendment ultimately granted suffrage to the majority of African American women in name only, but African American women continued to fight for the vote, as well as economic opportunities and reproductive rights and health. On the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, we honor their efforts, which were fully realized only after the Voting Rights Act was enacted in 1965.

Women voters reshape the political discourse

Prior to winning suffrage, state laws prohibited women from owning and inheriting property, signing contracts, serving on juries, and voting in elections. Job opportunities for the women who had to work outside the home were limited to the service industry, and wages were menial. Women were encouraged to marry as a way of ensuring economic security. Childbearing was considered a duty of the marriage contract.

In 1848, however, suffragists at the Seneca Falls Convention-the first woman's rights convention to be held in the United States-asserted women's right to be free from coercive marriage and motherhood in order to have societal value, income, and political power. Moreover, women saw their full integration into society as a way of making the nation better. In fact, according to historian and author Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, "[W]oman suffrage supporters advanced the belief that women were more moral beings than men; therefore, women would make more effective reformers if armed with the ballot." The first women's rights agenda was anchored in valuing women as full citizens and arbiters of society beyond marriage and childbearing.

Since then each wave of feminism has continued to shape the political discourse, engaging policymakers and ushering in new policies that have incrementally codified self-determinate and autonomous laws. The most recent wave of reproductive politics includes not only the rights of women to determine if and when they will marry but also the right to have children or not to have children and the right to parent the children they have with the social supports necessary.

Voting ensures women's reproductive and economic progress

The 19th Amendment helped millions of women move closer to equality in all aspects of American life. Women advocated for job opportunities, fairer wages, education, sex education, and birth control. After women were enfranchised, candidates catered to women in an effort to get elected, and women took advantage, advocating for laws that would allow them to have individual economic security, such as inheritance and divorce laws. Women voted and eventually ran for office to improve not only government but also their individual lives.

Within 20 years of the amendment's passage, federal courts had undermined the contraception provision of the Comstock Law of 1873-a federal amendment to the Post Office Act of 1872 that made it illegal to send contraception, or information about it, through the mail-and the American Medical Association adopted birth control as a normal medical option. In 1960 the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, approved the pill, allowing women and couples to effectively plan when they would have children. By the early 1970s the second wave of the women's movement was driving reproductive health policy. The Comstock laws excluded contraception for married couples and individuals based on Supreme Court rulings in 1965 and 1975, respectively, the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 legalized abortion, and virtually every state has passed laws allowing women 17 and 18 years of age to access birth control. The FDA approved the pill in 1960, and governmental policies such as Title X made it affordable for more women. In fact, in 1972 Congress required each state's Medicaid program to include family-planning services and supplies.

The increasing availability of family-planning services and supplies resulted in more women delaying marriage, graduating from higher education at higher rates, and entering into more professional occupations. According to the Guttmacher Institute, in the 1960s and 1970s, contraception was a pivotal factor in women investing in their education. The report also details how the pill helped increase the proportion of women in skilled careers from 1970 to 1990 by more than 30 percent. Indeed, as time progressed women flooded the workplace. With the increased ability to work outside the home for longer periods, there were more opportunities for promotion and upward mobility, as well as increased earning potential for women. In today's economy women make up about half of the workforce and are increasingly the primary or co-breadwinner of a family -all thanks to women's political participation and the reproductive policies that keep them healthy and autonomous.

Economic security and reproductive health are two sides of the same coin

The 19th Amendment allowed women to help elect progressive policymakers, who in turn enacted policies to benefit women. Policies between 1920 and 1965 not only improved reproductive and economic circumstances for women, but they also enabled women to take advantage of the laws. Birth control, for example, was made available and affordable so that women could easily access it. Additionally, as women increasingly entered higher education and the workforce, salaries increased for women, and the wage gap narrowed. Research continues to show that delayed childbearing is directly linked to increased rates of education, higher earning potential and longer periods in the workforce for women, all of which which ensure increased retirement benefits.

Because these issues are two sides of the same coin, however, they can easily become a double-edged sword. Realizing reproductive rights requires the benefits of economic stability, such as health insurance, the ability to pay out of pocket for co-pays, and access to preventive health services.

African American women and voting rights

African American women in particular have historically been very invested in the suffrage movement. For African American women, suffrage was a way to empower themselves and lift up the African American community. Especially for African American women in the South, gaining the right to vote was pivotal, as they watched African American men be enfranchised through federal legislation but still denied access through state loopholes. Since the first wave of the suffrage movement, African American women continually advocated not just for African American women's voting rights but for civil rights for the entire African American community. African American men, in particular, benefited from this because anti-lynching campaigns were a critical piece of the civil rights platform after the 15th Amendment-which enfranchised African American men only-was passed.

The concerns of African American women differed from those of white women because only African American women had to worry about discrimination based on both gender and race. African American women also prioritized ensuring that African American men could vote and equality for the entire African American community. Additionally, African American women did not enjoy the reproductive access and economic mobility that white women did after 1920. According to Loretta J. Ross, former national coordinator and a co-founder of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, "Black women in the 1920s and 1930s wanted individual control over their fertility, while at the same time they resisted government and privately funded anti-natalist population control campaigns."

Leaders in the African American community-such as civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, Professor Charles S. Johnson of Fisk University, and Dr. Walter G. Alexander, general secretary of the National Medical Association-believed birth control could aid the African American community in the fight for racial and economic equality and reduce the horrific maternal and infant mortality rates. But in data reports from as early as 1935, African American women's position in the workforce had not improved. Still situated at the bottom of the economic scale, they contended with service jobs akin to indentured servitude, with little respect, low wages, and terrible working conditions still the norm.

Unfortunately, all African American women in the United States were not fully guaranteed the right to vote until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But the fight for African American women is no less important today. A historic number of African Americans voted in the 2012 elections, and African American women had the highest turnout rate-69 percent-of any group in the 2008 elections. And they did so despite voter-restriction legislation such as voter ID bills.

Conclusion

Today's anniversary of the 19th Amendment is particularly important because it coincides with celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington-at the very same moment we are witnessing the gutting of voting rights at the federal level and attempts to further suppress voting rights at the state level. The 2012 elections saw women redefine the power of the vote by standing up against extreme reproductive politics. Nonetheless, 2013 saw the highest amount of anti-abortion legislation in the states since the Roe v. Wade decision, reflecting that conservatives have learned few lessons since the 2012 elections.

As women make an impact at the ballot box like never before, there are other communities being silenced by conservatives. As restrictions on reproductive rights are increasing at the state and local level, so too are voting restrictions and racial-profiling laws that criminalize communities of color. Celebrating Women's Equality Day at the same time as the March on Washington has a particular meaning that we must seize. Ensuring that all women maintain the power of the vote ensures healthier families and a stronger nation.
Heidi Williamson is a Senior Policy Analyst for the Women's Health and Rights program at the Center for American Progress.

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Women's Equality Day: Celebrating the 19th Amendment's Impact on Reproductive Health and Rights

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Today is Women's Equality Day, a day commemorating the certification of the 19th Amendment, which granted U.S. women the right to vote. On August 26, 1920, more than 26 million women had their citizenship affirmed and gained a mechanism to empower themselves, their families, and their communities.

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https://www.rbcwealthmanagement.com/en-us/insights/100-years-later-economic-gains-and-unfinished-business-of-the-19th-amendment#:~:text=A%20century%20after%20solidifying%20the,the%20vote%2C%22%20Wolbrecht%20says.

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The heroic women who fought for the right to vote had their eyes on more than just political participation when the 19 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1920. They wanted more economic opportunity and freedom.

In the more than 100 years since that historic event, there are indeed many economic gains worth celebrating. Women today have obtained more education, elevated careers, higher wages and greater personal wealth than their mothers and grandmothers.

Women also contribute $7.6 trillion to the U.S. GDP annually and lead the way as entrepreneurs, owning more than 9.9 million businesses in the U.S. with 8.4 million employees.

The advancement of women in the workforce-and in their own homes-directly translates into influence and prosperity, fueling the nation's economy.

"Women have made tremendous economic contributions since suffrage, which I think gets overlooked," says Angie O'Leary, head of Wealth Planning at RBC Wealth Management-U.S. "You can argue that women joining the workforce is the single biggest growth driver of the U.S. economy in the last hundred years."

Still, many of the positive outcomes envisioned by female suffragists have yet to reach fruition.

Women are still generally paid less than men and remain underrepresented in executive and leadership ranks. Women of color, who didn't truly gain the right to vote until 1965, are even more severely underrepresented in leadership positions and are paid less than their white female counterparts.

In fact, to use the words of Alice Paul, a leader of the 20th century women's suffrage movement: "It is incredible to me that any woman should consider the fight for full equality won. It has just begun."

It started at the Women's Rights Convention in 1848

The right to vote was fairly controversial, even among some women's rights activists, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton first presented it at the July 1848 Women's Rights Convention. "People thought it was too radical and they'd be made fun of, which they were," says University of Notre Dame professor of political science Christina Wolbrecht, co-author of the new book A Century of Votes for Women: American Elections Since Suffrage, and director of the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy.

The 19 th Amendment recognized women as independent members of society, instead of dependent on their fathers or husbands, she says. And that represented a major shift in mindset.

"The women's suffrage movement came out of a broader reform movement. It included abolition, but it also included people who wanted to reform laws about women and women's rights during this period," Wolbrecht says. She points to statutes that kept married women from inheriting or owning property as one example. Women were also entering the workforce in record numbers and wanted more employment opportunities outside the home and the ability to control the money they made.

But the push for suffrage did not always live up to its ideals. Even though Black women fought alongside white women for the right to vote, they didn't benefit in the same way, Wolbrecht says. Despite the passage of the 19 th Amendment, practices such as poll taxes and literacy tests that prevented Black men from voting also blocked the vast majority of Black women from voting until the middle of the 20 th century. "African American women were dramatically underrepresented in the electorate until 1965," she says.

Today, more than 50 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Black women turn out to vote at rates that are higher than Black men, according to Wolbrecht's research.

The economic force of women today

A century after solidifying the right to vote, women contribute $7.6 trillion in economic activity annually. But the drive for economic empowerment was only part of the push for suffrage. Those who fought for the 19 th Amendment believed "everything else comes from the vote," Wolbrecht says. "If you have political power, then economic power, equal rights-all those things become more possible."

Indeed, women's growing economic power translates into more companies taking their needs into account and female entrepreneurs stepping up when designing products and services, says Ann Senne, U.S. Chief Administrative and Integration Officer at RBC.

"That was rarely the case before," she says. "We just always made whatever was available work. Because more women are at the table, they're in more roles that influence how things are created and designed, and the types of products and services we need. That makes it better for everyone."

Another way women wield economic power is through their spending and investing decisions, says Senne. "You look for companies you believe in and you don't buy from them if they engage in bad labor practices. There are so many other options out there."

More work, more potential for women in the next 100 years

Women continue to face a lack of parity in wages, a gap that's even larger for women of color. But O'Leary says she sees the potential for women to experience the same growth in economic power as they have in the political process. To get there, she suggests women seize opportunities to talk more openly about money with the next generation.

In that vein, Senne sees the effects of women's growing influence on younger generations reflected in the goals and dreams of her daughter. "I just look at the attitude she has, and I think back to the attitude I had (at that age). I was head down, just trying to get a college degree and get a job," Senne says. "She's saying, 'I think I can do whatever I want.' She doesn't have that same lens of being held back. And I hope that's the case for more young women, because they see so many other women have been able to pave that path."
<Return to Women and wealth

RBC Wealth Management, a division of RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Member NYSE/FINRA/SIPC.

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Women's economic gains and unfinished business of the 19th Amendment

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The heroic women who fought for the right to vote had their eyes on more than just political participation when the 19 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1920. They wanted more economic opportunity and freedom. In the more than 100 years since that historic event, there are indeed many economic gains worth celebrating.

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 Who are the leaders for women’s suffrage and how did they fight for progress? (Raina)

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 Who are the leaders for women’s suffrage and how did they fight for progress? (Raina)

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The leaders for women's suffrage were Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Their goal was to mainly help gain the rights for women to be able to vote. This article, it states, "Split among the suffragist movement. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association. The primary goal of the organization is to achieve voting rights for women by means of a Congressional amendment to the Constitution" (The Women Suffrage Movement 2022, para. 8).  Susan and Elizabeth played a major role in fighting dor the women's suffrage movement. These leaders fought for progress by protesting, doing street speaches, parade, and other things. According to a Women Suffrage article it states, "Together, they launched a national woman’s suffrage movement, published the newspaper The Revolution, and lectured, lobbied, and protested for equal rights" (June-Friesen, 2014, para. 5). Susan and Elizabeth both had many events that benefited and supported the women suffrage movement. Both of the leaders organized many rallies and protest to bring attention to their cause. They wrote articles, gaves speeches, and worked to changed the public opinion to support their cause.