Many young people today don’t realize that women had to fight long and hard to have the right to vote. It took decades – some would say a 100 years – before women were given the right to vote through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States (August 18, 1920). The 19th amendment prohibits the government from denying women the right to vote.
In the United States, women of the past were expected to be pious, submissive and only concern themselves with being good wives and mothers. However, by the mid 19th century, women were beginning to reject the concept that they should be restricted to home and family. Women felt that they had opinions and deserved the right to express their political views as independent individuals. In 1848, a group of activists, men and women (but predominantly women), met in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss the problem of women not being allowed to vote. This was the very first Women’s Rights Convention.
The Women’s Suffrage movement gained steam and support but was hampered by the Civil War, and then later by World War I. Over the years, different factions emerged, each with their own strategy on how they would win the right to vote. Some groups fought for a universal suffrage amendment to the US Constitution while other groups tried to win the right to vote on a state-by-state basis. Some women argued that men and women were “created equal,” thus both should be allowed to vote. Others argued that women were different and it is because of this difference that they should be allowed to vote.
Looking back, one could summarize that the Women’s suffrage movement went from 1848 (first women’s rights convention) to 1920 (19th amendment to the constitution) but in between the years, there were sit-ins, hunger strikes, arrests, and lawsuits. It was a long, hard-fought struggle! In addition to giving women the right to vote, the Women’s Suffrage Movement allowed women to be civically engaged and exercise their political power.
Want to learn more?
Contact Johanna Neuman, Women’s Suffrage Speaker.
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