The Suffrage of women through the 1800s-1900s - Research Paper Example

The delicacy of women was overemphasized and their abilities to play a significant role in the development and progress of the society were underestimated. Since they were considered to be in need of help, support and care, they were not offered a chance to work and support their family. They had been mistreated in a number of ways for a long period of time. They were suppressed to the extent that they were not allowed to cast their vote to represent their opinion in the political elections. Circumstances continued to remain like this until the 20th century when the women’s rights to cast their vote were finally recognized in different parts of the world after a series of events of struggle made by the women of that period. (www.wic.org, 1995).

Not only that, the 20th century brought a large number of other opportunities for the women which they had been longing for so long over the past centuries, which included and were not limited to educational and work related opportunities. This paper aims at analyzing the history of efforts women have made to get their rights acknowledged world wide in the 19th and the 20th century with special reference to the American Suffrage Movement. “Women of the 19th and 20th century are pioneers in the international recognition of gender equality and women’s rights”.

In ancient periods, women were considered as the fundamental cause of various evils that existed in the ancient societies. Women were largely recognized as inferior to men, both physically and emotionally. And this concept was not confined to any particular country. Instead, women were looked down at nearly all over the world. This is evident from the Greek myth, according to which a woman named Pandora opened a box that brought sadness and diseases for the men. (Gupta, 2010). In India, women were burnt alive together with the dead-body of their husbands as per the Hindu customs.

If left alive, they were