Women’s Rights

• Women have been fighting for equal rights for centuries in the areas of education, politics, and in jobs.

• The women’s rights movement can be seen in 4 distinct movements in American history:– Abolitionist Movement– Temperance Movement– Prohibition Movement– Progressive Movement

Women and Abolition• Abolitionist Movement began in the

1830’s• Through working in this movement,

women realized their own lack of rights

Women and Abolition• They learned how to publicize and

organize political protests.• Advocates included Sarah and Angelina

Grimke, Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

• Woman still faced many problems as the male abolitionists forced the women to be silent or excluded them from their “all-male” rallies.

• World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840•Elizabeth C. Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

met and formed their partnership after being the first women to attend.

• Women’s Loyal League– 1863– Formed by Stanton and Anthony– Collected almost 400,000 signatures on a

petition calling for an amendment banning slavery.

Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

• First women's rights convention• Location: Seneca Falls, NY

• Men also attended this meeting to show their support

• Men who supported the women’s movement during this time included:

• Wendell Phillips• William Lloyd Garrison • Theodore Weld

The Temperance Movement

• Ran parallel to the abolitionist movement

• The goal was to greatly reduce (but not abolish) alcohol consumption in America for 2 reasons:– 1. To reduce domestic violence– 2. Because spending money on large

amounts of alcohol was wasteful

• The first temperance society was formed in 1793

• The movement died down for a while shortly afterward

• American Temperance Society (1826)

• Had over 1.5 million members and over 15 journals advocating their beliefs by 1839

Women and the Temperance Movement

• Women’s Christian Temperance Union– Founded in Fredonia, NY in 1873– Excluded blacks, Catholics, and Jews in

hopes of improving their chances of success and respect from the men.

– Oldest non-secretarian women’s society in the world

– Largest Temperance union and the largest women’s organization prior to 1900

• Leading WCTU figure: Mary Hunt• Also a big advocate of education for women • The WCTU and other unions achieved their

goal with the passage of the 18th amendment and Volstead Act in 1919

• This began the Prohibition Era

Education for Women• Women’s Colleges:

– Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Smith, Radcliffe, Bryn Mawr, Barnard College. •All established between 1837 and 1889 in the Northeast

•Amongst the Top Colleges in the country

•Deemed the “Seven Sisters” in 1927

• In the early 19th and 20th centuries women could only attend public schools, they did have the option of private education. – In 1870, only .7% of women

attended college– By 1920, 7.6% of women were

attending

Critics of Women’s Education

• Women were still regarded as inferior and less intelligent than men

• Professor Edward Clark published Sex in Education: or a Fair Chance for the Girls (1873)

• This book stated that higher education would actually cause women to become infertile

• Critics such as this spurred women onward to make a difference and improve their lives with equal rights

Prohibition Movement• Originated in the 1840’s but was mostly

dominated by church denominations– Primarily the Methodists

• WCTU and the Anti-Saloon League were very influential in local legislatures, as many passed “dry” laws.

Key Women in Prohibition• Frances Willard--- “the forgotten feminist”

– President of WCTU, strove for many social reforms– Credited for organizing the prohibition movement

• Abigail Duniway– First woman to speak in front of a state legislature– Founded Oregon State’s Women’s Suffrage

Association– Published The New Northwest a weekly

progressive news publication

• Prohibition Party (1869) wanted to “protect the dignity of the individual and the welfare of the family”

• Results:– January 16, 1919 18th Amendment

• Banned the sale, manufacture, and transport of alcohol in U.S.

– 1920 Volstead Act• Reinforced the 18th Amendment

Progressive Movement• 1900-1920

• Social and Scientific Developments, especially for women

• Urbanization and Industrialization – More entertainment (including Department Stores)– Many new jobs available outside of the home

• Women began to speak and act more independently and find freedom

Working Women• “Educated Motherhood” was prominent

– Women were having fewer children, so they had time to raise and care for them properly

• In 1900, 18.8% of women held jobs outside the home

• By 1920, this had risen to 24%– Men felt threatened by this rise in

employment of women

Working Women’s

Organizations

• Consumer’s League- (1890) helped to enact protective legislation for women

•Ex: Mercantile Inspection Act of 1896, limiting work hours and child labor.

•They also helped women’s rights advocates to unionize by helping to change public opinions.

Women’s Suffrage

• Thanks to the efforts of many generations of women and the support of President Woodrow Wilson, ratification of the 19th Amendment (women’s suffrage) came in 1920.

ERA• Equal Rights Amendment- proposed in

1923 in attempts to guarantee equal rights for women in all areas– Despite protests especially in the

1970’s, the ERA has still not been passed

– ERA has been reintroduced in every Congress since 1982, though greatly reduced...it still has not passed