Woman Civil Rights Movements at the First Wave of the 1920s - Research Paper Example

Woman Civil Rights Movements at the first wave of the 1920s Introduction Women’s civil rights movements officially came to a start following the Seneca Falls’ women convention in 1848 where the main objectives being addressed were advocating for women’s rights to legal adult standing, access to any profession and the right to vote. The main actors of the convention were Frederick Douglas and Elizabeth Stanton, a black abolitionist and feminist foremother respectively, who asserted that women needed to vote in order to realize their other rights. This ideal emphasized the right of the individual, a liberal view, which was then drawn on by the women’s suffrage movement. Similarly, this ideal was the basis for the Equal Rights Amendment Act campaign in 1970. The first wave of the 1920s had thus begun and its end came when women got the right to vote in 1920 (Wood & Fixmer-Oraiz 61-62). Following 2 days of debate and discussion, the initial women’s rights movement in Seneca Falls in New York, ended with the signing of the Declaration of Sentiments by 68 women and 32 men that saw the grievances of women being pointed out and the agenda for women’s rights movement being set. The declaration contained 12 points that were centered on voting rights of women and equality between women and men in the law. Two years later, the first National Women’s Rights Convention took place in Massachusetts where over 1000 participants were present and this saw the beginning of the annual national conventions till 1860 with the exception of 1857. May of 1869 saw Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony form the National Women Suffrage Association whose primary objective was to institute a Congressional amendment to the Constitution that would make it possible for women to realize voting rights. In November of the same year, the American Women Suffrage Association is formed by Henry Blackwell, Lucy Stone and others and this organization solely sought to make amendments to individual states’ laws in order to realize the attainment of voting rights of women. Lucy Stone was recognized as becoming the foremost woman documented to maintain her own name subsequent to marriage. Wyoming became the first state to pass the women’s suffrage law in 10th December 1869 and in the following year women start to participate in juries in their state (DuBois 74-77). Mainstream of Organized Labor In 1890, the National Woman Suffrage Association together with the American Women Suffrage Association merged to come up with the National American Women Suffrage Association. This became the movement’s mainstream organization and as such set out on campaigns in every state to attain voting rights for women. This period also marked the first wave of feminism as the objectives of this organization was to open up opportunities to women following the emergence of urban industrialism and liberal and socialist politics taking place at the time. In 1899, the National Consumers League was formed with Florence Kelley as its president and this organization’s objectives entailed calling for protective laws and better working conditions for women workers. The Uprising of the 20,000 then happened in 1909 where women garment workers in New York went on strike demanding for better working conditions and wages. The result of this was more than 300 shops signing union contracts (DuBois 74-77). Coming of age of the Suffrage Movement In 1867, the woman suffrage movement set out to exert its efforts in Kansas where two popular referenda had been legislated- black suffrage and women suffrage in the November elections. This saw the Equal Rights Association put all its resources in campaigning for both of these suffrages in all of Kansas and the women suffrage efforts were championed by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Blackwell. This exertion was important as it would signify the first test of women suffrage on public opinion where it had been suggested that the public was against enfranchisement of women. However, the Kansas campaign did not reinforce the suffrages rather it broke it and the abolitionist feminism it represented. This was as because of the antifeminist counter campaigns held by the Republicans’ state party. There came about a chaos within the Equal Rights Association as the abolitionist feminists came under attack from the Republicans and they reacted by turning to the Democrats, being outwardly racists, for support. This led to the defeat of both the black and women suffrage as they became opposed to each other. This in turn resulted in the permanent split between the abolitionists and feminists, after thirty years of collaboration, and as such the feminists sought to create an autonomous movement (DuBois 79-81). Through the late nineteenth century, the approach of the women suffrage movement shifted from being about men and women being equal to being about women being different from men and as such could turn their domestic nature to a political virtue where a more maternal commonwealth could be created. This line of thinking benefitted a number of political agendas where temperance advocates saw women’s right to vote as being a huge source of votes for their agenda. Middle class white men also felt that giving white women the right to vote would cement white supremacy. By 1910, three states in the West –Colorado, Utah and Idaho had given women the right to vote. Then the ‘Winning Plan’ as formulated by Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, in 1916 which saw the rolling out of a blitz campaign that brought together the local and state suffrage organizations in the country while paying close attention to the reluctant regions- in the Southern and Eastern states. At the same time, the National Women’s Party- a splinter group undertook more dramatic efforts such as hunger strikes and White House pickets which were aimed at creating publicity for their cause. Even though the suffrage movement efforts were slowed down by World War 1, efforts by women in the war proved their patriotism and being worthy of citizenship just like men (Dudden 14-16). Federal Amendment The first major sign of victory to the women suffrage movement came in June 1919 when the Senate passed the 19th amendment by a vote of 56 to 25. Earlier on, in 1918, President Wilson had endorsed the amendment and sought to await its ratification by 32 of 48 states which was two-thirds of the states. The vote had been previously accepted by the House with a vote of 304 to 89 and as such was moved to the Senate for approval. The amendment featured two main parts Article- Section 1 which cited that citizens of United Stated would not be denied the right to vote based on their sex and Section 2 which cited that the Congress shall have power to enforce this article following appropriate legislation. Following the passing of the amendment in June 1919, in August 26th 1920 the State Secretary formally made the Nineteenth Amendment of the Constitution law after it was approved. This constitutional amendment, initially documented by Susan B. Anthony, was first proposed in 1878 and was introduced in all sessions of Congress for the subsequent 41 years (Thomsen 54-55). Opposition to Women Suffrage In 1911, the National Association Opposition to Women Suffrage was founded in New York under the leadership of Josephine Dodge. This organization was against women suffrage as it felt that women would turn away from community work and their ability to effect societal reforms would minimize. The organization was active on both state and federal levels and even had a newsletter dubbed Woman’s Protest, which was later on in 1918 called Women’s Patriot. In the same year, the organization moved its headquarters to Washington and went on till 1920 when the 19th amendment was approved. Francis Parkman, an outspoken anti-suffragist, suggested that women would have no time and energy to participate in thwarting of oppression and injustice as they were too occupied with their domestic duties. This was the general feeling of anti-suffragists who were of the opinion that women were wholly bound to family and home issues and should be proud and satisfied with this (Hertz 74-76). Grace Saxon Mills, in her documented work before 1914, was also strongly opposed to women suffrage citing a number of reasons among them being that women already had the municipal vote and were eligible to the municipal vote, women were not capable of contributing to matters of government as this involved force as such physical, moral and social reasons prevented women from contributing, a majority of women lacked the desire to vote and precedent legislation evidences the fact that the interest of women were completely safe in the hands of men. James Callaway, editor of the Macon Telegraph, published a majority of the material circulated by the anti suffragists in the South where some of these materials stated that women suffragists were ungrateful to men who fought in the war and voted for them (Wheeler 207-208). Other significant women’s civil rights efforts In 1908, the Oregon Law was passed and this saw the number of hours worked by women to ten per day. This marked a milestone in the pursuit of protective laws for women. This law was passed following an extensive research that showed the adverse effects that long working hours had on women, particularly pregnant women. These efforts of protective legislation had begun in the 1880s with collaboration between feminists and progressives. This was following a rise in infant mortality rates resultant of working demands on poor working mothers. These protective legislation movements stepped away from Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton’s view of women as having inalienable rights and being equal to men. This phase adorned motherhood as the primary role of women and as equal in dignity to a man’s primary role as a breadwinner. Other than the reduction of number of hours worked by women, the protective laws also included a requirement that women be paid overtime, have lunch breaks and rest times and no night shifts and heavy lifting (Stetson & McBride 234-235). As anticipated, the right to vote brought on an opportunity to advocate for other rights of women where in 1921 Margaret Sanger formed the American Birth Control League that later grew into Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942. This movement sought to emancipate the middle class and grant women personal liberty with regards to birth control as this was an important aspect in promoting free speech. Sanger held that children be conceived out of love, be born with the mother being fully aware and willing and being born in conditions that ensure they will have a heritage of health (Wood & Fixmer-Oraiz 61). Conclusion Women’s suffrage movement provided a gateway to other civil rights movements while at the same time reinforcing the preexisting ones. This is because once the right to vote had been secured other liberties would follow such as being able to take up various jobs that were previously deemed only for men. This would later go on to empower women to participate in making of decisions that affect them such as fertility as well as breaking down the barriers founded on racism. This is highlighted during the development of the women’s suffrage movements, where a movement such as the National Association of Colored Women was formed. The passing of the 19th Amendment is for these reasons seen as a significant event in the early nineteenth century as it anchored other liberties coming to pass. The women’s suffrage movements also depicted the importance of unison in strategy when campaigning where Carrie Catt was able to convince President Wilson to endorse the amendment through her blitz campaign. Works Cited Wood, Julia. Gendered Lives. Stamford: Cengage Learnin. 2014. Print. DuBois, Ellen. Feminism and Suffrage. New York: Cornell University Press. 1980. Print. Dudden, Faye. The Fighting Chance: The Struggle Over Women Suffrage and Women Suffrage in Reconstruction America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Inc. 2011. Print. Thomsen, Natasha. Women’s Rights. New York: Infobase Publishing 2007. Print. Hertz, Nicole. Opposition to Female Suffrage in the United States. The Concord Review. 1992. Web. 31 March 2013< http://www.tcr.org/tcr/essays/CB_Female_Suffrage.pdf> Wheeler, Marjorie. New Women of the New South: The Leaders of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the Southern States. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1993. Print. Stetson, Dorothy and Mc-Bride, Dorothy. Women’s Rights in the USA: Policy Debates and Gender Roles. New York: Routledge Publishers. 2004. Print. Read More