The End

Over the span of many decades, many battles have been won. Many records have been set and many issues have been resolved. However, the battle is not completely over. People are still actively fighting for what they call Equality for Women. The Fight For Women's Rights still continues.

Not the End...

June 10, 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act which made it illegal for employers to pay a woman less than what a man would receive for the same job. Over the next years, no subject is left untouched. From divorce to equal property distribution to abortion, many campaigns were launched to heed light on these issues. 

 

In 1964, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, race, religion, and national origin.Simultaneously, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established to review complaints and impose penalties/punishments to those who did not comply with the law.

In 1966, The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded by a group of feminists including Betty Friedan. She was the author of the best-selling and influential book The Feminine Mystique.

 

The largest women's rights group in the U.S., NOW seeks to end sexual discrimination by means of legislative lobbying, litigation, and public demonstrations.

After The Vote Was Won

The vote may have been won but women were still not created equal in the eyes of our government. This became the fuel to enable various women to continue the fight for equality. Out of the suffrage movement arose the Birth Control Movement led by public health nurse, Margaret Sanger. She founded the American Birth Control League, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942. For years to come birth control advocates engaged in countless legal suits. In 1960, The Food and Drug Administration approved birth control pills.

19th Century Progress

The 19th century is when all the fights came to their peaking point. It was either victory or failure. Most memorably, in 1919, the federal woman suffrage amendment is passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. It was written by Susan B. Anthony and it took over 30 years for it to be put into effect, with it being first introduced in Congress in 1878.The next year the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor is formed with the sole purpose of collecting information about women in the workforce and safeguarding good working conditions for women. August 26 marked the historical day in which the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, was signed into law by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.

Esther Peterson became the director of the Women's Bureau of the Dept. of Labor in 1961. Because of her, President Kennedy assembled a Commission on the Status of Women and named Eleanor Roosevelt as its chairwoman. 

On The Brink of a New Century

In 1890, The National Women Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association combined to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). In 1893, Colorado became the first state to adopt an amendment granting women the right to vote. By 1918, Utah, Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, Kansas, Arizona, Alaska, Illinois, Montana, Nevada,  New York,  Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma had done the same.

In 1896, The National Association of Colored Women was created. Leaders in the black women's club movement include Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Mary Church Terrell, and Anna Julia Cooper.

1869

1869 was a big year for the women's rights movement. In May,Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association. Their goal was to acquire a Congressional amendment to the Constitution regarding women and their voting rights. In November,Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell formed the American Woman Suffrage Association (with the help of others). This group mainly focuses exclusively on gaining voting rights for women through amendments to individual state constitutions. Thankfully, their fight seems to have paid off because on December 10, The territory of Wyoming passed the first women's suffrage law. The following year, women begin serving on juries in the territory.

Marches for womens rights

Influenctial Flyer

A few Influential women

History of women's rights

William Lloyd Garrison

Born in 1805, William Lloyd Garrison has made many achievements in the anti slavery and women's rights acts. He made sure that he was heard nationally via newspapers,speeches, and works of literature he did. He published a newspapeer named "The Liberator",which he spoke eloquently about the anti slavery and womens rights movements.His inspiration came from his mother when he was young. This is because  his family was forced into hard times then the Embargo act was passed and his father abandoning the family once it hit.He believes that wonen should be allowed to participate in the Anti-slavery society, and should not be opressed to men.

Ralph Waldo Emmerson

 

Surrounded by strong women since childhood, Ralph Waldo Emmerson was inspired by his mother,sisters, and aunts. His father died when he was at a young age,which solidified his admiration for women. He gladly signed the Declaration of Principles with Lucy Stone. Although he could not attend the Ntional Womens rights convention, he made many speeches honoring the movement. He explained that if women could not vote, then thy didnt have to pay taxes. He also published books on how men and women should be treated equally.

Lucretia Mott

She was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on January 3rd,1793. When she was a child, she went to a boarding school until she became a teacher at her same school. Her interese in women's rights was when she realized that at the same school, the male workers were being paid double than the female workers. When marrying her husband,James Mott, She bacame a Quaker minister. The couple were very opposed to the slave trade and anti-semetic acts. In 1848, she traveled with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone to England to attend the anti-slavey convention. There, she weas not allowed to speak,simply because they were women. They went back to the United States,they organized the  American Equal Rights Association. This organization gave woices to the opressed citizens such as women and african- americans.

Abby Kelly Foster

She was born Jan. 15, 1810, and died Jan. 14, 1887 in Worcester, Massechusetts. She became active in the Female Anti-Slavery Society in the 1830s, and in 1838 she helped William Garrison organize the New England Non-Resistance Society. Her career as a political lecturer brought her national fame ,because she addressed mixed audiences,including: men,women, African americans, and whites. In 1845 she married Stephen S. Foster (1809 – 81), a prominent abolitionist who joined her lecture tour. In the 1850s she added temperance and women's rights to her lecture topics.

Lucy Stone

She was born near West Brookfield, Mass., on Aug. 13, 1818. She Disagreed with her father's belief that men should be dominant over women.With this, Lucy undertook to educate herself and was graduated from Oberlin College in 1847.She was the first woman in Massachusetts to earn a college degree. She toured the country, lecturing against slavery for the Anti-slavery society and also advocating equality for women. She was an organizer of the first national women's rights convention held in Worcester, Massechusetts, in 1850.She then focused on winning equality for women, generally through legislation, and often in vain. She helped organize the American woman's suffrage association in 1869. finally, she died on October 18, 1893 and she was the first person and woman in New England to be cremated.

Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony was born February 15, 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. She was brought up in a Quaker family with long activist traditions. Early in her life she developed a sense of justice and moral justice .After teaching for fifteen years, she became active in the anti-alcohol movement. Because she was a woman, she was not allowed to speak at antI-alcohol movement rallies. This experience, and her friendship with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, led her to join the women's rights movement in 1852. Soon after she dedicated her life to woman suffrage.
Ignoring opposition and abuse, Anthony traveled, lectured and canvassed across the nation for the vote. She also campaigned for the abolition of slavery, women's right to their own property and earnings, and women's labor organizations. In 1900, Anthony persuaded the University of Rochester to admit women into the university.

First National Women's Rights Convention

In the late spring of 1850, those who had taken up the cause decided to hold a national convention to test the proposition that a political movement for woman's rights could garner support from around the country. The question was: Would anyone come to such a gathering? Woman's rights pioneers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Abby Kelley, and Lucretia Mott were not satisfied with just having one convention. Since their discussions and requests had generated a lot of discussion and publicity, these ladies decided to host yet another convention. These women were not alone as male reformers as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, and William Lloyd Garrison were there to offer support. 

On October 23^rd, the convention took place at Brinley Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. The New York Tribune reported that "above 1,000 people were present, and if a larger place could have been had, many more thousands would have attended."The goal was to create a national organization and a plan of action. The need for equal rights for women was addressed repeatedly by numerous speakers. 

Although a few newspapers, such as the Massachusetts Spy, had positive things to say about the convention, most reviews were disapproving and hateful. However, even the negative attention that was directed to the woman's rights movement helped win converts to the cause. National conventions begun to occur more and more frequently, with one being held yearly, through 1860.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Women's rights activist, feminist, editor, and writer. Born on November 12, 1815,  in Johnstown, New York. She was the daughter of a lawyer strongly preferred her brother . She graduated from the Emma Willard's Troy Female Seminary in 1832 and then was attracted to the abolitionist, temperance, and women's rights movements. During the Civil War Elizabeth Cady Stanton concentrated her efforts on abolishing slavery, but afterwards she became even more outspoken in promoting women suffrage. In 1868, she worked with Susan B. Anthony on the Revolution, a militant weekly paper. The two then formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) in 1869. She was the NWSA’s first president for 21 years.At that time the organization merged with another suffrage group to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Stanton served as the president of the new organization for two more years until she retired her position.She called for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote. 

Declaration of Sentiments

During this convention, Stanton drafted what she called the "Declaration of Sentiments". This declaration took some of the same principles from the Declaration of Independence and geared them towards women's rights. It contained grievances and resolutions presented by the women.

The Declaration of Sentiments was signed by 100 people (68 women and 32 men). 

The Beginning.

                                      

The Women's Rights Movement officially started on July 13, 1848.On that day in upstate New York, a young woman by the name of  Elizabeth Cady Stanton was invited to tea with four women friends.The conversations spawned the idea of equality for women. They planned on hosting a convention discussing women's rights (or the lack therof).The convention took place at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls on July 19 and 20, 1848.This convention would later be called the First Women's Rights Convention.