Women's Struggle in Fighting Gender Inequality in The Us

Jane Addams, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These are the women who lived at the turn of the century, and fought fiercely for a cause they all believed in. They knew that they were being discriminated against because of their gender, and they refused to take it any longer. These true believers of feminism paved the road for further reform, and changed the very fabric of the society known today.

Even though these women were fighting for this worthy cause, many disagree with their radical views because of the double standard that existed back then. Many conflicts arouse when the conservative thinkers, mostly men, couldn’t understand why a woman should deserve the right to vote or even let alone want to. There were also many women who were concerned, and were unsympathetic in regards to suffrage.

The Seneca Falls Convections, also known as the Woman’s Right Convection, was held in Seneca Falls, New York and this convection ended up lasting two days, the 19th and the 20th of July in 1848. This is where the “Declaration of Sentiments”, signed by 68 women and 32 men, written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton who based it on a form of the United States Declaration of Independence. When the document was helped pass the resolution and but forward, it was the grand movement for attaining the civil, social, political, and religious rights of women. It’s stated within the document, “that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights government are instituted, deriving their just powers from the constant of the government”, (Stanton). However, women were being denied the right to vote, and it can be said that the government denying the vote to women is a human right offense because the right to vote is a natural right that comes with citizenship. To deny a certain group based solely on race, age, or even gender is denying them of their basic rights and therefore begins the fight for women’s suffrage and striving for the right to be treated equal as men (Imbornoni).

It wasn’t until the Civil War in 1868 that the fourteenth Amendment was passed, and all citizens were granted the right to vote, however this wasn’t the case for women. The fight for women's right to vote was a quest for them to be treated as equal contributors to the society. By women not being able to vote, they were not represented at the national level and so many decisions were made without keeping women's needs in mind. By being able to vote, women would be able to change their social and domestic conditions and better their lives, (Imbornoni).

In 1869, two organizations for the promotion of women’s suffrage were founded with different opinions on how to reach the same goal. In May of 1869 Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton decided to form the NYSA, known as the National Woman Suffrage Association. This group had one goal in mind and it was to achieve voting rights for women because they wanted a Congressional amendment to the Constitution. All of these women were ready to fight for what they believed in knowing that it was going to be a tough battle. While in December of 1866, Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell formed the AWSA, known as the American Women’s Suffrage Association. This group mainly focused on entirely gaining voting rights for women through amendments to individual state constitutions. It wasn’t until the 1890’s when The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association merge to form the NAWSA, known as the National American Woman Suffrage Association. As the movement's mainstream organization, NAWSA wages state by state campaigns to obtain voting rights for women (Imbornoni).

The struggle that all these women had to face can be shown in the movie Iron Jawed Angles, because it’s about young activists who are willing to risk their lives to fight for what they believed in and who want to see justice. In the quote, “We're legitimate citizens. We're taxed without representation. We're not allowed to serve on juries so we're not tried by our peers. It's unconscionable, not to mention unconstitutional. We don't make the laws but we have to obey them like children” (Iron Jawed Angles). This quote was very powerful, and completely true because women were citizens, but they are not represented as so. They were exactly treated like children because they were not allow to vote, have a job, or do whatever they wanted. They were limited to that society believed they were created to do.

It wasn’t until the 1916 that the federal woman suffrage amendment was introduced to Congress in 1878, then passed by the House of Representatives, and then was sent off to the Senate to be seen. Then after it was finished with the senate it was then sent to each state to be looked over and eventually ratified, (Imbornoni). This process took about forty one years for the Congress, House of Representatives, Senate, and each state to look over this and it was finally in the stage of ratification. Finally after many decades of fighting and protesting the year of 1920 came around and the nineteenth amendment was finally added to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, (Imbornoni). The nineteenth amendment was adopted after thirty six states ratify it, (Imbornoni).

Typically, just like in the United States, men were granted the right to vote before women though out all the different countries. This can be shown in the book “The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World”, written by Joni Seager. In the 1950’s, fifty-three countries were granting women the right to vote, this is thirty years after the United States. However, there are 188 countries listed on the chart and there was at least thirty three countries who gave women the right to vote before the United States did. In the quote, “In reality, the right to vote does not ensure the exercise of that right,” this can be shown when the fourteenth Amendment was passed, because it gave citizens the right to vote, however women were not included, (Segar 94).

The struggle that many women faced was vastly important to the future of America. It shows that with peaceful protest, dedication, hard work change can be made. Now, it wasn’t an easy struggle, many women who started this were not able to live to see the day what the ninetieth amendment was introduced. Many would say, it was nothing but a wasted time because why would women want to actually vote? The government is a tricky subject and politics are just so pale, but perhaps it was only because they accomplished an important feat. Women wanted to be recognized and actually feel appreciated for once in their lives.