WOMENs SUFFRAGE: A SHORT STORY OF GREAT MOVEMENT

In todays world in recent decades elections allowing women to vote has happened for
the first time in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and South Africa. It
was in May 2005 national elections that women were given their right to vote in Kuwait. The
reasons and tactics were differed in various parts of the world but still the women suffrage
movement cut across many national boundaries. The Women Suffrage movement gained
importance and strength during the 19th and 20th century due to the cooperation among
women of various nations who could share the resources required to overcome the
marginalization in the politics of their respective nations thanks to the development in
communication and transport.
The womens suffrage movement was the struggle for the right of women to vote and
run for office and is part of the overall womens rights movement. Before suffrage, women
were considered weaker sex compared to men and they were looked down upon socially,
economically, and politically. Socially women were viewed as less superior to white males
therefore they were denied of many rights. Written in 1787 and adopted the following year,
the U.S. Constitution granted each state the power to decide the voting qualifications of its
residents in all elections. Many states restricted voting rights to those who owned land or
substantial taxable property. Given the property laws and economic status of citizens at that
time, these restrictions meant that most women and persons of color could not vote, and only
about "half of the adult white men in the United States were eligible to vote in 1787".
Nevertheless, a few state constitutions-such as New Jersey's (1797)-were written in such a
way that allowed free women to vote. In limited numbers, these women took advantage of
verbal loopholes in state constitutions and cast their ballots. However, in general "woman
suffrage was almost unheard of up to the middle of the nineteenth century". Most women
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were prohibited from voting or exercising the same civil rights as men during this time based
on the idea that "a married woman's legal existence was incorporated into that of her
husband". This viewpoint reflected a widespread ideology of "separate spheres" for men and
women; the many people who adopted this perspective argued that the place for women was
at home and not in the affairs of the government. With so few rights, many women drew
parallels between their social and political state and that of slaves. People believed that their
sole purpose in life was to cook, clean, and take care of the family. There were very little
educational opportunities for women. Economically, women were discriminated against and
given very few options for jobs and their salary were very low. Politically, women were
denied of many rights such as the right to vote. Late 19th century many families couldn't
afford to do this anymore so it became a necessity that women also worked in factories as low
level jobs. Public education for women had a slow development but as it came along, private
institutions taught women. After the private institutions, women started to teach themselves
how to read and write. By teaching themselves they accomplished much more. They started
establishing clubs or groups to teach themselves and were able to learn sewing and
accomplished other domestic tasks, as well as studying and learning useful books. Still the
women were not allowed to do higher studies and pursue politics. There was no right to vote
for women.
The campaign for womens suffrage began in earnest in the decades before the Civil
War. In the mid-19th century, women in several countriesmost notably, the U.S. and Britain
formed organizations to fight for suffrage. 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

clubs,

religious

movements

and

moral-reform

societies,

anti-slavery

organizationsand in many of these, women played a prominent role. Meanwhile, many

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American women were beginning to annoy against what historians have called the Cult of
True Womanhood: that is, the idea that the only true woman was a sincere, 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 in the
United States. Dedicated abolitionists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott returned to
the United States in June of 1840 highly indignant that they had been denied the right to
participate in the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London because they were women.
They determined to overcome the social, civil, and religious disabilities that crippled women
of their time. In 1848, they organized a convention by inviting a group of abolitionist
activistsmostly women (apprx.300) and few men in Seneca Falls, New York to discuss the
problem of womens rights. They began to come up with ideas for a Declaration of
Sentiments that was based of the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be
self-evident: that all men and women are created equal. The document listed all of women's
grievances and how they were treated inferentially to men. It also listed all of the rights that
women should be getting in order to achieve equality amongst all people. The document
consisted political, social and economic rights. Economic: Women should be able to hold the
property, Social: The women were allowed to speak their minds, seek higher education and
be treated equally. Political: Right to vote. Later Stanton got introduced to Susan B Anthony
who was active in temperance movement during that time to focus on obtaining suffrage. In
brief their concerns include women's parental and custody rights, property rights,
employment and income rights, divorce, the economic health of the family, and birth control.
They formed the Womans National Loyal League in 1863 to support the Thirteenth
Amendment to abolish slavery and to campaign for full citizenship for blacks and women.
Despite the growing support for women's right to vote, there were many who were opposed
to the idea. Many anti-suffragists were men who argued that a woman's place was in the

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home and that voting rights would compromise those characteristics that made women
distinctly feminine. According to Kraditor, "This 'separate but equal' doctrine of the
respective spheres of man and woman was a central part of the sociological argument against
woman suffrage, which declared that social peace and the welfare of the human race
depended upon woman's staying home, having children, and keeping out of politics". Some
opponents of woman's suffrage also argued that women lacked the political experience and
competency necessary to vote. In countries with high percentage of female illiteracy even
well educated women claimed that it would be dangerous to allow women to vote where
women were still illiterate and ignorant. Here the anti suffrage movement were mainly led
by women. An independent woman and a member of the politically-active Roosevelt Family
Kate Shippen Roosevelt opposed women gaining the right to vote and described womens
right to vote as, simply unnecessary,. She along with, for the most part middle to uppermiddle class, conservative Protestants like herself subscribed to the notion that women were
biologically destined to be child bearers and homemakers. Miss Minnie Bronson, secretary of
the Association Opposed to Womans Suffrage, called suffrage a dangerous experiment and
blamed the relatively new Progressive Party for promoting it. The Womans National AntiSuffrage League was established in London on July 21, 1908 with a mission to oppose
women being granted the vote in the United Kingdoms Parliamentary elections, although it
did support their having votes in local government elections. The movement crossed the
Atlantic and landed in New York in 1897 under the auspices of the New York State
Association Opposed to Womans Suffrage. By 1908 it had more than 90 members active in
publishing pamphlets, giving speeches and organizing rallies.

Mrs. William Winslow

Crannell published the Anti-Suffragist quarterly from 1908 to 1912. Emma Goldman, one of
the most well-known liberals at the time, worked to rally the anti-suffrage contingent. . A
feminist ahead of her time, one would think she would champion the cause of suffrage for

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women. An advocate of free-love, she campaigned against women voting on the grounds that
women were more inclined toward legal enforcement of morality (as in the Womens
Christian Temperance Union); that women were the equals of men; and that suffrage would
not make a difference. She also argued, Activists ought to advocate revolution rather than
seek greater privileges within an inherently unjust system. Later called the Womans Protest,
it was published by the organization at large. Lucy Price, the youngest, and one of the most
effective crusaders for anti-suffrage often challenged Max Eastman to debate at New Yorks
Cooper Union. As a newspaper reporter in Cleveland, Price was tenacious. When Ohio was
adopting a new constitution in 1913, giving voters the opportunity to include a clause that
would give women the vote, she handled the fight. She presented her side so well that
suffrage was defeated in a conclusive manner.

Like military leaders going from one

battlefront to another, Lucy Price and others traveled the country voicing their opinions. By
1917, the country had entered the war and the Suffragettes were still fighting their own battle.
Mrs. Roosevelts diary overflows with clippings and comments about the war, but she still
has some room for her views on the Suffrage Movement. Mrs. Roosevelts diary ends in
1919.
Susan B. Anthony, a Quaker and rising leader in the woman's suffrage
movement, who was introduced by Amelia Bloomer to Elizabeth Cady Stanton who in 1851
was the greatest leaders of the womens right movement, made nationwide suffrage a goal
and recruited many supporters. The first convention attended by Susan was at the Womens
Rights Convention in Syracuse in 1852. American Equal Rights Association was founded by
Anthony and Stanton in 1866 who started publishing the newspaper The Revolution in
Rochester in 1868, with the masthead "Men their rights, and nothing more; women, their
rights, and nothing less," and the aim of establishing "justice for all." Without the voting
power women would neither gain the rights listed in the Declaration of Sentiments nor would
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be able to effectively implement the social reforms opined Susan. However, despite the close
cooperation between abolitionists and advocates of woman's rights following the Seneca Falls
Convention, arguments over the Fifteenth Amendment led to a split in the movement in 1869.
The Fifteenth Amendment provided black males the right to vote, building upon language in
the previous amendment in which "any male inhabitants" were granted voting privileges. But
many viewed the Amendment as an insult to women because the language did not even
bother to exclude them. Some persons sought to postpone woman's suffrage in order to focus
efforts on securing enfranchisement for blacks freed following the Civil War, a move that
Stanton and Anthony felt "compromised a betrayal of the ideal of universal suffrage". From
this split, two associations emerged: The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA),
and the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). The AWSA was dedicated to stateby-state campaign reform, while the NWSA focused on a federal amendment campaign in
addition to state action. In the 1870s Anthony campaigned vigorously for women's suffrage
on speaking tours in the West. Anthony, three of her sisters, and other women were arrested in
Rochester in 1872 for voting. Anthony refused to pay her streetcar fare to the police station
because she was "traveling under protest at the government's expense." She was arraigned
with other women and election inspectors in Rochester Common Council chambers. She
refused to pay bail and applied for habeas corpus, but her lawyer paid the bail, keeping the
case from the Supreme Court. She was indicted in Albany, and the Rochester District
Attorney asked for a change of venue because a jury might be prejudiced in her favor. At her
trial in Canandaigua in 1873 the judge instructed the jury to find her guilty without
discussion. He fined her $100 and made her pay courtroom fees, but did not imprison her
when she refused to pay, therefore denying her the chance to appeal. In 1877 she gathered
petitions from 26 states with 10,000 signatures, but Congress laughed at them. She appeared
before every congress from 1869 to 1906 to ask for passage of a suffrage amendment.

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Between 1881 and 1885 Anthony, Stanton and Matilda Joslin Gage collaborated on and
published the History of Woman Suffrage. Over the course of the next three decades, efforts
on the part of both associations resulted in gain for woman's suffrage in several states,
including Wyoming, the territory of Utah, and Washington. These two associations remained
separate entities until 1890, when they merged to form the National American Woman
Suffrage Association. Headed by Stanton, the consolidated organization marked a new era in
the history of woman's suffrage. At the time of Susans death, women had achieved suffrage
in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Idaho, and several larger states followed soon after. Legal
rights for married women had been established in most states, and most professions had at
least a few women members. Many women were attending colleges and universities. Several
key figures in the woman's suffrage movement are central to its success. They include
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), and Susan B. Anthony
(1820-1906). Yet, other individuals have played equally important roles in the advocacy of
women's enfranchisement. Among these are Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947): A
prominent suffragette that was a of Susan B. Anthony. Catt was a talented speaker and active
figure in the international suffrage movement. She became president of the National
American Woman Suffrage Association in 1900. Alice Paul (1885-1977): A Quaker
suffragist, Paul is considered one of the leading figures responsible for the ratification of the
Nineteenth Amendment. Once a member of NAWSA, she broke away to form the
Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, which Alice Paul later evolved into the National
Woman's Party. Following the passage of woman's suffrage, Paul became involved in the
struggle to introduce and pass an Equal Rights Amendment, also known as the Lucretia Mott
Amendment. Lucy Stone (1818-1893): A prominent abolitionist and one of the most
important figures in the first generation of suffragists. Known for her liberal marriage to
Henry B. Blackwell , Lucy headed the American Woman Suffrage Association and was the

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mother of Alice Stone Blackwell (1857-1950), who would later be called "the foremost
suffragist propagandist". Also the woman suffrage movement was aided by the efforts of
three important black figures they are Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), Frederick Douglass
(1818-1895), and Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931). All three fought for woman's suffrage,
although Wells-Barnett fought primarily for the right of black women to vote.
With all the efforts of the greatest leaders for womens suffrage, American women
won the right to vote in 1920. Finally all the hard work of the womens movement paid off in
the summer of 1920 with the ratification of the 19th amendment. This was not an easily won
victory however. Congress first took up the issue in 1915 but the bill lost in the voting and
was shelved for almost three years. On the eve of the vote President Wilson made a widely
publicized appeal for the passage of the bill and this time the bill barely passed with the need
two-thirds majority. However, the bill failed to gain the necessary votes to pass the Senate
even with another of President Wilsons appeals for the passage of the bill. The bill would be
voted down twice over the following year before finally gaining enough votes to pass due to
Congress interest in having the issue solved prior to the presidential elections slated for 1920
and on June 4, 1919 the Senate voted to pass the bill to add the amendment to the constitution
securing womens rights. In 1923, the National Women's Party proposed an amendment to the
Constitution that prohibited all discrimination on the basis of sex. Since then In United
Kingdom the national movement was started in 1872 and the movement shifted sentiments in
favor of women suffrage by 1906. During the same period there was militant campaign began
with the formation of the Woman Social and Political Union. The rich women over 30 who
qualified minimum property ceiling was given right to vote during 1918 after the coalition
government passing representation of the people Act. Later Conservative Government
amended the act to Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act during 1928 giving
the right to vote for all women over the age of 21. Since then women were elected in the
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School Boards and Health authorities. The first country to grant national-level voting rights to
women was the self-governing British colony of New Zealand, which passed the Electoral
Bill in September 1893. The British colony of South Australia granted full suffrage in 1894,
giving women the right to vote and to stand for parliament. Australia federated in 1901 and
country-wide womens suffrage followed quickly in 1902; however, women of Australias
indigenous people were specifically excluded until 1949, when the right to vote in federal
elections was granted to all indigenous people. Remaining restrictions were abolished in
1962. Other countries followed soon after New Zealand, with limited rights granted to
women in Sweden, Britain, Finland, and some U.S. states by the early 20th century. Britains
Parliament passed the Eligibility of Women Act in November 1918, which allowed women to
be elected to Parliament. Ten years later, the Representation of the People Act granted women
the right to vote. Following a path similar to Britains, many countriesDenmark, Iceland,
the USSR, the Netherlands, Canada, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Sweden, Germany,
Luxembourg, the United Stateshad granted the vote to women by 1920. Other European
countries did not grant women the right to vote until much laterSpain in 1931, France in
1944, and Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Yugoslavia in 1946. Later still were Switzerland
(1971) and Liechtenstein (1984). In Latin America, national suffrage was granted to women
between 1929 (Ecuador) and 1946 (Argentina). In Africa, the right to vote was generally
conferred on both men and women as colonial rule ended and nations became independent
the same is true for India, which granted universal suffrage with its constitution in 1949.
Middle Eastern countries granted women the right to vote after World War II, although some
countries, such as Saudi Arabia, do not have suffrage at all or have limited suffrage and
exclude women completely (Kuwait). Women's suffrage was a long and very difficult battle
for women. There were several challenging factors for women and society as a whole. When
their rights were finally given, many more opportunities opened and changed. Knowing that

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men controlled the ability of women to vote and that a way of life would be drastically
changed makes the gains of women to vote even more amazing. I cant say that knowing
treating women the same as men is what is right would necessarily entice me change
everything and give up power to them. I can stand back now and admire the bravery of the
women who fought for what was and is rightfully theirs and for the bravery of the men to do
the right thing by allowing women equal rights. The effects of the 19th amendment on the
United States can be seen everywhere. More women now hold public office and the United
States even has a woman running for the Democratic nomination for president. The womens
voting block is one politician cannot forget about and still have hopes of being successful.
The ability of women to vote, even though sparsely used until the 1980s, changed how
companies did business and what legislation was passed for respect of the potential voting
power of women. More women friendly policies exist, both in the workplace and in general
life, which can be attributed to the hard work of the pioneers in the womens movement.

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