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Women in the united states military gender equality
The 19th amendment women rifht to vote
Women in the united states military gender equality
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Women were not allowed to vote in the nineteenth century. This was mainly due to opposing views sweeping America at that time, which were pushed forward by two well known political arguments-a report from the Senate's Committee on Priviledges and Elections and an address by Isabella Beecher Hooker. In 1878, the Senate Committee wrote a response to a proposed constitutional amendment that would give women the right to vote, stating the main reasons why women shouldn't be given the ability. Some of these reasons announced that female voters had no experience in political affairs, while being quite generally dependent upon the other sex and incapable of performing military duty. Without the power to enforce the laws they could create, what good …show more content…
would come out of this change? In contrast, Isabella Hooker's 1888 address helped change many people's minds; this was done by mentioning the constitution as an example of why they should. It also brought to light America's fore-mothers as a perfect example of how women had shaped America's history through the ages. Both articles have valid points; the difference is that while one helped form today's society, the other was forgotten. When advocating for woman's rights, Hooker's address to the International Council of Women is easily one of the most influential.
Hooker states that women "pay taxes and bear equally ... all the burdens of society," just as men do; though they don't have the same rights. She uses the Constitution as a metaphorical link to point out that, "There is not a line in it, nor a word, forbidding women to vote." The constitution actually guarantees women the right to vote in the preamble; the statement, "We, The people of the United States," includes women who are, after all, people too. Women helped shape America during the revolution just as much as men did, but have been unnecessarily pushed to the back of people's minds for one reason: they fought with less bloodshed. This was as an unfortunate tendency because women want to establish justice and insure peace just as much, if not more than men do, but they were not given the …show more content…
chance. On the other hand, the Senate's Committee on Privileges and Elections had a much more different-and dogmatic-opinion.
As kindly as possible, they brought to attention that women are, "totally inexperienced in political affairs, quite generally dependent upon the other sex, and incapable of performing military duty." It's only a small minority of them who want to vote and they don't have, "the power to enforce the laws which their numerical numbers may enable them to make." It would be an injustice to impose these duties on a group of people who both couldn't care less and couldn't handle the burden. They also claimed that almost all the disabilities placed on women by the government have been taken away, with the exception of those that would be, "impairing or destroying the marriage relation." They claimed that women's conditions are always improving, not due to rebellion, but because to
time. When comparing the two excerpts, many notable facts stand out. It is clear to see the statement that women do not want to vote is completely false; in fact, quite the opposite is true. Most are willing to fight for their privileges and independence. In addition, Hooker's line about the Constitution is completely true. With all the advancements and paradigm shifts currently happening in America, it would be an insult to think of women as anything less than people. It is also important to point out that women are not as inexperienced at politics as said by the Senate's Committee; many are actually more adept than current politicians. The phrase, "Comparatively very few of whom wish to assume the irksome and responsible political duties which this measure thrusts upon them," could not have been more wrong. In response to the 1878 report, evidence worldwide has proven that females are not dependent in their male counterparts. They are just as qualified, if not more so, for many jobs. Raising families is a choice and decision, not a result of disability. The late 1880's was a very important time in relation to woman's voting rights. Hooker's address states quite a few reasons why it was a mockery of justice, and of the Constitution, to not let women vote. Before this, the Senate's Committee on Privileges and Elections held many reasons why it would be a travesty to let them gain control of legal systems. Those reasons were based on their inexperience, dependencies, and incapabilities. To truly understand, it's important to realize that all of the Senate's Committee on Privileges and Elections' claims were proved false, and they never really had any evidence to support their claims to begin with. Women have proved their abilities many more times than needed, and they should have been allowed to vote from the beginning.
Recently, only 60% of registered voters have actually voted in presidential elections. This brings up the question: should Americans be required to vote? This question receives very mixed answers. Many Americans believe that they should have the choice and the freedom to vote or not; many Americans also believe that mandatory, or required, voting is simply a civic duty. Currently, American citizens are not required to vote. Citizens seem to like this system, but because voting is not mandatory, the amount of citizens that vote in elections is rather low. Americans should not be required to vote because it forces people to vote that are uninterested, makes citizens unhappy, and damages other people’s votes.
(Nugent, p. 116) The amendment granted woman’s suffrage, and was the fruit of many years of labor of several women’s rights groups, such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and prominent women’s rights activists, such as Susan B. Anthony. The amendment expanded the bounds of popular democracy, bringing attention to women who felt increasingly ignored as participants in the political system (Piott, p. 166). Being the inalienable right of any citizen, the right to vote inevitably expanded the political freedom of American women, and also opened other doors of opportunity to them; they could advocate for more job opportunities, better economic security, and advantageous marital and family
Today, women and men have equal rights, however not long ago men believed women were lower than them. During the late eighteenth century, men expected women to stay at home and raise children. Women were given very few opportunities to expand their education past high school because colleges and universities would not accept females. This was a loss for women everywhere because it took away positions of power for them. It was even frowned upon if a woman showed interest in medicine or law because that was a man 's place not a woman’s, just like it was a man 's duty to vote and not a woman 's. The road to women 's right was long and hard, but many women helped push the right to vote, the one that was at the front of that group was Susan B. Anthony.
Women were trying to get the vote for many years before 1900, however this was not a serious concern and they were not doing much to achieve this. However in 1900 this all changed. The NUWSS (Suffragists) and the WSPU (Suffragettes) were set up in the early years of 1900; their goal was to allow women to get the vote. Their reason was that women were already allowed to work on city councils and become doctors, some notable ones too such as Florence Nightingale. The NUWSS believed that if women were house owners and had respectable jobs they should be allowed to vote. This is because men who were allowed to vote could be white slave owners and lunatics so why could these men vote and women could not? Notably however Queen Elizabeth herself proclaimed that women should not get muddled up with the world of politics.
It used to be that the only people who were able to vote in our democracy were white men who owned land. According to the article “The Nineteenth Amendment Grants Women Full Suffrage: August 18,1920” it states, “It was widely assumed that, among married couples, wives would share the views of their husbands and one vote by the husband in effect expressed both spouses’ views” (2). The argument against allowing women to vote was that your husband or father would tell you who to vote for any way so why vote and secondly, women had limited rights on their own. Women were known as second class citizens. A numerous amount of people who were religious opposed the idea of giving women the right to vote. They believed that according to the Bible, women have to listen to what their husbands say. The article also includes that many liquor industries were afraid that if women were granted suffrage they would make alcoholic beverages illegal due to the fact they were big supporters of the
Sixty- nine years after the Declaration of Independence, one group of women gathered together and formed the Seneca Falls Convention. Prior and subsequent to the convention, women were not allowed to vote because they were not considered equal to men. During the convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered the “Declaration of Sentiments.” It intentionally resembles the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal…” (Stanton, 466). She replaced the “men” with “men and women” to represent that women and men should be treated equally. Stanton and the other women in the convention tried to fight for voting rights. Dismally, when the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced to the Congress, the act failed to be passed. Even though women voiced their opinions out and urged for justice, they could not get 2/3 of the states to agree to pass the amendment. Women wanted to tackle on the voting inequalities, but was resulted with more inequalities because people failed to listen to them. One reason why women did not achieve their goals was because the image of the traditional roles of women was difficult to break through. During this time period, many people believed that women should remain as traditional housewives.
Before 1920 women did not have the right to vote. They were known as “second class citizens”. Women were to stay home to help and organize the family’s necessities. Having any other higher power was said to be way out of their limitations. Mainly because women weren’t fully exposed to the happenings outside of the home, which led to the male figure believing that it was impossible for women to vote if they didn’t know the facts. Men thought that if women were able to vote that they would reach a power, that they could not take away and they didn’t want that. Men wanted to be head of the household and everything else in between.
the Nineteenth Amendment were signed into the Constitution, there granting women the rights to vote.
Just as the Irish wanted good work and the farmers wanted a good banking system, women wanted equality. Women and women's organizations worked for various rights for different groups of people. They not only worked to gain the right to vote, they also worked for political equality and for social reforms.
Although they were fighting for a worthy cause, many did not agree with these women’s radical views. These conservative thinkers caused a great road-block on the way to enfranchisement. Most of them were men, who were set in their thoughts about women’s roles, who couldn’t understand why a woman would deserve to vote, let alone want to vote. But there were also many women who were not concerned with their fundamental right to vote. Because some women were indifferent in regards to suffrage, they set back those who were working towards the greater good of the nation. However, the suffragettes were able to overcome these obstacles by altering their tactics, while still maintaining their objective.
Prior to the 1790 Pennsylvania Constitution the only citizens of Pennsylvania that were aloud to vote were wealthy men. Wealthy men, not just wealthy white men, all men with a significant amount of money and land were permitted to vote. When poor citizens began to have the right to vote as well is when the shift from class based discrimination changed to racial discrimination. In the 1790 Pennsylvania Constitution Article three stated “In elections by the citizens, every freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the state two years next before the election, and within that time paid a state or county tax, which shall have been assessed at least six months before the election, shall enjoy the rights of an elector…” Depending
Why isn’t that women have a say in anything, why aren’t they able to voice their opinions and vote for what they want as well? Women can do everything a man can do and even though a male is physically stronger than a female, a women makes up for that with her intelligence and ideas. A woman’s perspective on politics can shed a whole new light on government and politics. She can think of something a man would have never thought of in a million years. Afterall, a woman knows best! It was proven that women actual brought on more positive changes, rather than negative ones. The four states that had granted women’s suffrage in the 1900s, was proven to be the best decision that was ever made. Although some may have not wanted the right to vote, it was better for the future of all women to unite on women’s suffrage because in the end females finally got the equality that they
The right to vote is widely considered inalienable. However women in the United States of America were not granted that right for 144 years of the country’s history.
Women had been fighting for suffrage for over a century. Women should be given the right to speak up and participate in political matters. They had written and signed appeals and argued that they also deserved the said right. The delegates of the Declaration of Sentiments proclaimed “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.” This obviously meant that they strongly believed women should have suffrage or the right to vote.
The journey of getting the right for women to vote was perilous and ridden with sorrow and joy. The social outcry of the women of that time was forceful and bold and the want to vote was powerful. This was one of the biggest movements to happen in the U.S. and it reflected on other countries through its wake. This brought for many brave women who wanted to see a change in the way things were happening. These were the women who stood against this stood together and refused the word” no” when it came to this. The fight for women to vote was an ongoing conflict within the U.S up until Congress passed the 19th constitutional amendment.