Women's Suffrage In The Workplace

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Additionally, prior to the 1920s, there were a lot of struggles and protest going on for the rights of women (from right to vote to, equal job opportunity). Fifteenth Amendment: The split in the women's suffrage campaign occurred when politicians drafted and proposed the 15th Amendment which gave black men the right to vote but didn't include black and white women in the proposed legislation. Some women's suffragists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth opposed the 15th Amendment because they believed they deserved citizenship and the right to vote as much as black men. They advocated universal suffrage. Others, such as Lucy Stone and Frederick Douglass, wanted women to obtain the right to vote but believed …show more content…

Some examples of the issues they faced in the workplace were things like wage discrimination and exclusion from specific jobs and titles. This era’s goal for women reform is best said by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, they want a, “spirit of personal independence.” (Foner 691) This pursuit of women equality in the workplace led to changes to child labor reform later in the early 20th century. Again Gilman said, “A truer spirit is the increasing desire of young girls to be independent , to have a career of their own.” (Foner 698) Essentially if you want a generation of economically independent women, you have to liberate the next generation from the bonds of labor that will hinder their choice in careers later in their life. Also a movement to control one's body was at the forefront of the Progressive movement, particularly birth control. It even touches on more of an enlightened view on homosexuality, Emma Goldman said, “I demand freedom for both sexes, freedom of action, freedom in love and freedom in motherhood.” (Foner 704) Obviously this reform didn’t have an enormous amount of sway during this time, but certainly it has impacted later generations with the LGBT movement and organizations like Planned Parenthood. The most prominent reform of this era was women's suffrage. Not only was it effective, clearly shown by the Amendment in 1919, but feminist groups effectively utilized, “techniques of advertising, publicity, and mass entertainment”. (Foner 712) This may have not led to further reform specifically, but it did affect how reform was attained in later

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