Women's Suffrage Movement Essay Sample

The fight for gender equality and Women’s rights has been going on far too long for there to still be a problem with no solution. Many protests, marches, and strikes have taken place demanding the end of a fight that has been long overdue. The women’s suffrage movement helped inspire women today to fight for social reform when it comes to their reproductive rights, workplace discrimination, and gender inequality.

The Women’s Suffrage movement had been placed on the back burner with many other problems that needed addressing, which meant they would be acknowledged as a problem, but nothing would be done to fix it. This movement was established in an effort to obtain women the right to vote through public disturbance and irritation. 

The first time Women’s Suffrage was pointed out as a singular problem was in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York. At this convention, “both women and men drafted a Declaration of Sentiments and twelve resolutions demanding women's equal rights to determine their own lives, particularly in areas such as the law, marriage, employment, and religion.” This was the start of something bigger than anyone could comprehend at the time. It helped create a worldwide movement and gave hope to women for something they longed to have. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton singlehandedly organized and held this convention to bring awareness to many issues regarding, “education rights, property reforms, and women's roles within the family.” From then on, Women’s Suffrage took the world by storm. New groups and organizations formed dedicated to fighting gender inequality and bettering the lives of women in the United States. The most recent one formed after the Seneca Falls Convention was the ERA, also known as the Equal Rights Association. Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Brownell Anthony, long time friends, were the ones to form this group specifically, “committed to expanding the women's rights platform to one of human rights.” Even though there were still many people and ideologies out there fighting against the Women’s Suffrage movement, these women fought hard and long for something they believed in. This association eventually disbanded, but many years later the same women joined forces again still fighting for the same problem. 

A few years passed, and two more groups were formed today known as the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). Although two different groups formed fighting for the same goal, they had different approaches. The AWSA focused on showing public support of the fifteenth amendment, which allowed everyone’s right to vote not to be denied by race. They believed to eventually achieve women’s suffrage, they had to support other organizations also trying to get a specific group of people the right to vote. While on the other hand, the NWSA was just focused on spreading women’s suffrage around the country state by state, and gaining as many followers as it could. 

Next came NAWSA in 1890, also known as​​ The National American Woman Suffrage Association. This group was a nationwide organization made up of local and state groups designed to spread suffrage through every inch of the country. The key leaders of NAWSA were once again, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Carrie Chapman Catt. Catt, as president of the corporation, pledged to do all she could for the greater good, but with the help from all because, “the responsibility much over balances the honor, and I hope you will all help me bear the burden.” She knew to gain women their right to vote, everyone had to work together as one, or else it would end up doing more harm than good. 

About twenty or so years later, the dynamic duo of Lucy Burns and Alice Paul formed and they, “organized the first major suffrage parade on the eve of Woodrow Wilson's presidential inauguration.” They very well knew this would lead to ridicule and backlash, but even by informing the ones who oppose what you are fighting for, it is still spreading the message. 

Following that, they formed the National Women’s Party (NWP), which is still active today. Unlike most of the previous suffrage groups, they were, “much more willing to use more public tactics such as picketing and hunger strikes to campaign for suffrage.” During these times, any sort of disturbance, like the protests they would hold, would be met with force from government officials. Alice Paul, along with many others were arrested and sent to the Occoquan Workhouse. The “conditions at the women's facility were horrible, and what little food the inmates received was infested with mealworms.” Because of these horrible conditions, Paul’s health declined and she was sent to the hospital wing which marked the start of her hunger strike. In response, workers at the facility were force-feeding the women by shoving tubes down their throats and pouring liquified food down. Somehow some way word got out to the public about the conditions these women were facing, and they did not approve. Newspapers, articles, and many press releases were made regarding the treatment this facility was offering. This helped get Woodrow Wilson’s support of Women’s Suffrage. He believed, “women's suffrage was important to the war effort because women needed to expand their roles outside of the home, and democracy would be better served if it was extended to everyone in the country.” By getting the president on their side, the suffrage movement gained a whole new perspective from many. Many supporters of Wilson probably saw what he was doing, and decided to join in, gaining more and more followers. 

Finally, in August of 1920, the 19th amendment passed, granting women the right to vote. Although it was difficult, physically and mentally draining, and required massive amounts of patience, the goal was finally accomplished. The journey to this shows how brave and strong every single one of those women was who faced the consequences of just wanting something so simple. And yes gaining the right to vote was a step in the right direction towards gender equality, but there is still much to be done and many more problems to face. 

Women today are still fighting for their rights and a chance to gain complete equality once and for all, not just slowly inching their way there. Many of society's “norms” go unnoticed because it is all anyone has ever known, so they don’t know better when in reality it is stereotyping women to be less than men. Take abortion laws for example. New laws are being passed, “which bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.” By the time the sixth week of a pregnancy rolls around, most women don’t even know they are pregnant or didn’t find out that long ago. This doesn’t give them the time they need to process what about their life just changed, or what they are going to do about it. So by the time they have made their decision, it is too late, and by seeking an abortion, they are risking the lives of, “doctors, staff members at clinics, counselors, and people who help pay for the procedure,” who could all be held accountable for helping. In the grand scheme of things, putting laws on women deciding what they can and can’t do with their bodies doesn’t achieve anything else than just the want to have control over all females. Another form of gender inequality is the gender pay gap. This is commonly seen throughout the country and globe, and it is trying to discredit women for their work, just to benefit the owner or company. Even if men and women do the same exact work, have the same education, and are equally qualified, the women always get the short end of the stick. 

In response to the continuous effort to keep women inferior to men, they have learned to fight for what they believe in. To fight the pay gap, the “Equal Pay Act was passed, requiring employers to provide equal wages for equal work for men and women,” along with many new groups that have formed more recently dedicated to ending the gap. Women saw a problem, fought for justice and what they wanted to get one step closer to equality. Sexual assault has always been a thing, but not always seen as a bad thing until more recently. A movement started on social media was created that exploded into something huge, called the #MeToo movement. This was designed to inspire women to fight, “against sexual harassment and assault, encouraging women to speak out over something long kept quiet.” Women have finally found their voice and now aren’t afraid to use it all thanks to the fight for the right to vote. 

So you may be asking, how does this relate to the Women’s Suffrage movement? When this fight was taking place, it was during a more harsh and strict time for women when speaking out against something you don’t like was deeply frowned upon. So it took that much more bravery to step up and really fight like these women did. Seeing how and what suffragists had to do to get to their goal, inspires women today to do the same. It taught everyone, not just limited to women, not to be scared to fight for something you believe in. So yes, the Women’s Suffrage movement helped inspire women today to fight for social reform when it comes to their reproductive rights, workplace discrimination, and gender inequality.