WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
BY: SAMRAH WASEEM
WHAT WAS IT?
• Women’s movement refers to a series of campaigns for
reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic
violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage,
sexual harassment, and sexual violence, all of which fall
under the label of feminism.
How women’s were treated BEFORE:
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Women were not allowed to vote
Women had to submit to laws when they had no voice in their formation
Married women had no property rights
Husbands had legal power over and responsibility for their wives to the
extent that they could imprison or beat them with impunity
Women had to pay property taxes although they had no representation in
the levying of these taxes
Most occupations were closed to women and when women did work they
were paid only a fraction of what men earned
Women were not allowed to enter professions such as medicine or law
Women had no means to gain an education since no college or university
would accept women students
With only a few exceptions, women were not allowed to participate in the
affairs of the church
Women were robbed of their self-confidence and self-respect, and were
made totally dependent on men
THE THREE WAVES
• Feminism began in the western world in the late
19th century and has gone through three waves.
• First-wave: Feminism was oriented around the
station of middle- or upper-class white women and
involved suffrage and political equality.
• Second-wave : Feminism attempted to further
combat social and cultural inequalities.
• Third-wave: Feminism is continuing to address
the financial, social and cultural inequalities and
includes renewed campaigning for greater
influence of women in politics and media.
WHO?
• Lucy Burns (1879 – 1966) was an American suffragist and women's rights
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advocate
Susan B. Anthony :(1820-1906) - prominent civil rights leader, played a pivotal
role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage
into the United States
Alice Stone Blackwell :(1857–1950) - feminist and journalist, editor of the
Woman's Journal, a major women's rights publication
Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1825–1921) - founded American Woman Suffrage
Association with Lucy Stone in 1869
Henry Browne Blackwell (1825-1909) - businessman, abolitionist, journalist,
suffrage leader and campaigner
Amelia Bloomer (1818–1894) - suffragist, publisher and editor of The Lily,
advocated for many women's issues
Helen Gurley Brown (1922–2012) - Author of Sex and the Single Girl, longtime
editor of Cosmopolitan; advocated for women's self-fulfillment through personal
achievement
Lucy Burns (1879–1966) - suffragist and women's rights activist
Jacqueline Ceballos - feminist and founder of Veteran Feminists of America
Betty Friedan (1921 – 2006) was an American writer, activist, and feminist.
WHEN ?
• The woman suffrage movement
actually began in 1848, when the first
women’s rights convention was held
in Seneca Falls, New York. For the
next 50 years, woman suffrage
supporters worked to educate the
public about the validity of woman
suffrage. Under the leadership of
Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, and other women’s rights
pioneers, suffragists circulated
petitions and lobbied Congress to
pass a Constitutional Amendment to
enfranchise women. (19th
amendment).
WHY ?
• External forces and internal needs shaped women’s
participation in the workforce during the 1950s. During the first
half of the decade shortages in professions traditionally
populated by women (like nursing, teaching, social work,
stenography, and typing) drove employment agencies to recruit
single and married women to help fill vacant posts. Additionally,
as married couples moved to the suburbs and filled their homes
with the latest appliances women often pursued work to allow
their family to live in the manner they felt they deserved.
MAJOR MOVEMENTS
• In the 20th century leadership of the
suffrage movement passed to two
organizations. The first, the National
American Woman Suffrage Association
(NAWSA), under the leadership of Carrie
Chapman Catt, was a moderate
organization. The NAWSA undertook
campaigns to enfranchise women in
individual states, and simultaneously
lobbied President Wilson and Congress
to pass a woman suffrage Constitutional
Amendment. In the 1910s, NAWSA’s
membership numbered in the millions.
• The second group, the National Woman’s
Party (NWP), under the leadership of
Alice Paul, was a more militant
organization. The NWP undertook radical
actions, including picketing the White
House, in order to convince Wilson and
Congress to pass a woman suffrage
amendment.
CONTINUED:
• The National Organization for Women (NOW) is
an American feminist organization founded in
1966. The statement described the purpose of
NOW as "To take action to bring women into full
participation in the mainstream of American
society now, exercising all privileges and
responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership
with men”. NOW sought to apply pressure to
employers, local governments, and the federal
government to uphold anti-discrimination
policies. Through litigation, political pressure,
and physical marches, NOW members held an
authoritative stance leading to recognition in
court cases.
CONTINUED:
• The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed
amendment to the United States Constitution designed to
guarantee equal rights for women. The ERA was originally
written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. In 1923, it was
introduced in the Congress for the first time. In 1972, it passed
both houses of Congress and went to the state legislatures for
ratification. Through 1977, the amendment received 35 of the
necessary 38 state ratifications.
TACTICS AND TECHNIQUES
• The women’s movement effectively commanded the
attention of politicians and the public through its
aggressive agitation, relentless lobbying, clever publicity
stunts, and creative examples of civil disobedience and
nonviolent confrontation. Its tactics were versatile and
imaginative. Traditional lobbying and petitioning were a
mainstay of women’s movement members, but these
activities were supplemented by other more public
actions–including parades, pageants, street speaking,
and demonstrations. The party eventually realized that it
needed to escalate its pressure and adopt even more
aggressive tactics. Most important among these was
picketing the White House over many months, leading to
the arrest and imprisonment of many suffragists.
SIGNIFICANCE
• The feminist movement has effected
change in American society, including
women's suffrage; greater access to
education; more equitable pay with
men; the right to initiate divorce
proceedings; the right of women to
make individual decisions regarding
pregnancy (including access to
contraceptives and abortion); and the
right to own property. Feminism
reduced domestic violence, especially
against men as their likelihood of being
killed by a female intimate partner has
decreased six-fold. They began to
enter male dominated professions like
law, medicine, clergy and corporate.
Also women initiated a bunch of new
institutions which shows a great impact
of women’s movement in American
society.
• http://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/the-fight-
for-womens-suffrage