Women’s civil rights
Civil rights for women mean equality with men for things like jobs, pay, the right to vote and
hold positions of political power, property rights, reproductive rights.
Feminism: movement to bring social, economic and political justice and equality for women.
In our period, there were 3 period of feminism – 1st wave (1865-1920) about getting the
vote. 2nd wave (1950s & 60s) about socioeconomic things as well as birth control and 3 rd
wave (1990s) much broader and more niche groups, often includes more on sexuality.
The idea of the public (men) and private (women) sphere says that the primary function of
women was to keep the house and cook & clean etc. she was powerful there. Men did not
have a role to play in this domestic world. The man operated and dominated in the world of
work, politics, the army etc. To have a happy stable society, you needed both spheres
working together in harmony. Neither sphere in this theory was superior to the other, they
were both vital. Education of younger children was also considered to be a female thing.
Women could still be beaten by their husband or father. Women could own property, but if
you got married, your property went to your husband.
At Seneca Falls (NY) in 1848 a group of people, primarily women, met to discuss women’s
rights. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They are mainly talking about white
women, but they have links with the abolitionist movement of slavery. They made a list of
grievances and actions they wanted to end them called the Declaration of Sentiments. They
rewrote the declaration of independence with equal terms. The people agreed on almost
everything and the solution, except who to let vote. There were many arguments against
letting them vote: they didn’t know what they were doing, they were pure, and they didn’t
want politics to corrupt them, they were emotional and hysterical, they would be easily
influenced. It would be legal for a woman’s husband/father to declare them out of control
and crazy.
It was only when Frederick Douglas, an abolitionist, declared that he was in favour of giving
women the vote, the congress swung, and it happened. There were some men who
campaigned for the vote and some women who didn’t want it. Many women were involved
in the abolitionist movement and a lot of the women learned how to campaign through
their work in the abolitionist movement, then they used it in the women’s civil rights
movement.
Women were angry that black men were given the right to vote before they were. The first
time “male” appeared in the US constitution was in the 14th amendment, and this was a
clear distinction for men vs women.
In 1866 an abolitionist organization, the American anti-slavery society met in Boston. This is
the year after slavery officially end in America, so they decide to turn themselves into the
American Equal rights Association (AERA), implying that black & white people, men &
women should come together to campaign for the vote. Some people in the AERA were
satisfied with the 15th amendment as it gave AA men the vote, others want the vote for
everybody, so the organisation falls apart.
,NWSA and AWSA were the National and American Women Suffrage Association.
The founding members of the Women’s suffrage groups were:
NWSA: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony
AWSA: Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe
From 1869-1890 the women’s movement, especially the right to vote was split, then in 1890
they merged. As time goes on, the NWSA becomes more radical by actively protesting the
right. What caused the split was the 15th amendment. The NWSA was completely opposed
to it because it only gave the vote to men. The AWSA was in favour of the 15 th amendment,
and they adopted the position that it was right for AA men to have the right to vote, and
they saw it as a step in equal rights and that women would follow.
Prohibition was a big civil rights issue, as they were often losers of the drinking culture. They
couldn’t go to many bars/taverns, there was lots of domestic violence from drinking, many
men would spend all the money on alcohol. Moreover, much of the political process
happened in these bars where speakers would come but women were excluded. A lot of the
movement to gain a vote was for more than just equality in having a say in elections, but
what came with it. Women were not very effective at getting men to recognize their opinion
and demands. In 1890, they realise there is no point in having 2 organizations, so they
decide to merge AWSA and NWSA. They don’t make any real progress in making any
constitutional amendments until WW1. They do have some success in letting states give the
right to vote, but not in the states where the organizations are most active. The east coast
traditional states were more conservative and did not grant them the right to vote, it was
the newer states in the west that were more prepared to let them like Wyoming and
Colorado.
Wyoming was a territory and it allowed women in 1869, and some other states followed.
Women were also allowed to serve on juries in 1870 in Wyoming because there were so few
people.
Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and Utah (all western states) had given the vote to women by
1900. The campaign had come close to stalling. In some other states, women were allowed
to vote for more local elections, but still not general election or state elections.
Some women engaged in civil disobedience like in 1872 Susan B. Anthony in NY tried to
vote. She was issued a $100 fine for this but refused to pay. Sojourner Truth in Michigan was
an AA woman who had been a slave and a well-known abolitionist attempted to vote.
In 1875, there was a Supreme court case Minor v Happersett which decided that women
were not included in the 14th amendment and any attempts to vote were classed as
unconstitutional.
The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was an organization which was a
conservative women’s rights organization. They believed in the idea of the spheres but that
we should work to protect the spheres by banning drinking because of the effect it had on
, men. It was a predominantly middle-class, protestant, white organization so it came under
some fire.
In 1890 the 2 women’s suffrage association decided to merge and called themselves NAWSA
still under Susan B. Anthony and they adopt the state-by-state approach by going
individually to get voting rights for every state. They wanted to have enough states enabling
women to vote, then those states would put pressure on the government.
Ida Wells was born a slave then became a teacher then a writer/journalist. She came to
fame by raising awareness about lynchings. She often hassled white women who were
campaigning for women’s rights because they didn’t think stopping lynching was as
important.
Gilded Age 1875-1895
Progressivism 1895-1914
Jeanette Rankin was the first woman to be elected into the house of representatives in
1916, she was from Montana.
10,000 women marched on Washington on the day before Woodrow Wilson was
inaugurated, March 19, 1913. This was called the Woman suffrage procession. Wilson was a
white southerner, so not typically associated with civil rights. He is still lukewarm on the
idea of women voting; this is because 1 they don’t want to surrender male power and 2 no
one was sure how women would vote if they gave it to them. The protest was peaceful until
it was broken up by a mob. No one was killed but many women were injured.
There were 2 sides: either it was a sign that the American people didn’t want women to
vote, OR that women needed the vote because of this injustice and the violence showed
people were worried about the traction the movement was getting. The women start to be
arrested for disrupting traffic. They are fined and then some refuse to pay it, so are taken to
jail, where they go on hunger strike. Like the suffragettes, the prison wards didn’t want to
have deaths on their watch, so they start to force-feed them.
The progressive party, set up by Teddy Roosevelt, had votes for women as one of its
promises. He had already been president and was running with this party after the
Republican party split.
In 1917, America joined WW1. This split the women’s movement between those who did or
didn’t want America to join the war and thus, let women fight. Wilson said giving women
the chance of a vote would be good in getting women to work in factory jobs and other jobs
vacated by men. In 1919 the house passed the federal suffrage amendment after getting
exactly a 2/3 majority then got through the Senate with a majority of just 2.
19th amendment about the right of citizens in the US: shall not be denied or abridged by the
US or state on account of sex. The 19th amendment is the culmination of 1st wave feminism.
By 1890, most states had passed laws that allowed married women to own property and
control their own money.
