Chapter 16 Section 2 The Progressives Riddlebarger Women and Public Life Chapter 16 Section 2 The Progressives Riddlebarger

Opportunities for Women

Opportunities for women By the late 1800’s, women find more opportunity in education & employment Leads to greater desire for opportunity in community Some work for social reform Seek to make life better for them and others Become stronger political force

Higher Education Limited opportunities for women throughout early 1800’s Oberlin College in 1833 starts admitting women and men Late in 1800’s, more colleges begin admitting both genders By 1870, 20% of college students are women By 1900, over ⅓ are women Most are upper or middle class background Most professional jobs still deny women American Medical Association didn’t start admitting women until 1915 Therefore, many women put talents to use in various reform efforts

Employment and Opportunities Job opportunities for educated middle class women expand in late 1800’s “Caring professions”: teachers and nurses Bookkeepers, typists, secretaries and shop clerk Artists and journalists Working class women find jobs in industry Garment industry; paid less than men Assumption is that they are single and are supported by fathers Also assume males are supporting a family These are reasons given for less pay to women

In 2014, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published a report with statistical information pertaining to income across a wide field of variables. Compared to her male counterpart, an American female worker makes $0.82 for every $1 an American male worker makes.

Gaining Political Experience

Reform Movements Women become the backbone of many reform movements during the Progressive Era. Learn: Organization skills Persuasion skills Publicity skills Realize the power they have to improve their lives & others

Children’s Health and Welfare Many campaign for the rights of kids Efforts to end child labor Children’s health Promote education Lillian Wald campaigns for more government oversight of children’s lives Leads to creation of Federal Children’s Bureau (1912)

Prohibition Many women participate in the Prohibition movement Ban on making, selling, distributing alcohol Many felt it was the cause of crime, poverty and violence against women & children 2 major organizations lead crusade for Prohibition: Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) Becomes powerful force for temperance and women Anti-Saloon League Message spread in protestant churches

Carrie Nation Evangelist takes hatchet in one hand and bible in another and smashes up saloons in Kansas Urges others to do the same Her fiery speech & actions make her a national figure 18th Amendment (1920): prohibits sale, manufacture and distribution of alcohol

Civil Rights African-American women fight for many of the same issues: end of poverty, child welfare, better wages & working conditions, alcohol abuse Additionally, they wage their battles in an atmosphere of discrimination African-American women are unwelcome in many reform organizations So, they form their own National Association of Colored Women (NACW) had over 100,000 members by 1916 Fights poverty, segregation, Jim Crow laws, women’s suffrage, temperance, and lynchings

Rise of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

the right to vote in political elections. Suffrage the right to vote in political elections.

15th Amendment After Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, few imagined it would take another 72 years of work to win the right to vote After the Civil War, suffragists who supported abolition called for giving women the right to vote along with African-American men. Many were not satisfied with ratification of the 15th Amendment It prohibited denying the right to vote “on account of race, color; or previous condition of servitude.”

Women Organize New suffragists emerge in late 1800’s Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony form National Women Suffrage Association in 1869 Campaign for constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) was founded in 1869 and focused on winning the right to vote on a state-by-state basis Aligned with Republican Party In 1869, Wyoming Territory is the first to grant women the right to vote. Before women nationwide get the right, 12 states grant women voting rights.

Susan B. Anthony tests the law Anthony was a tireless campaigner She wrote pamphlets, gave speeches and testified before Congress from 1869-1906 1872: She stages a dramatic protest: She (and 3 others) register to vote They go vote on Election Day Arrested 2 weeks later She was not allowed to testify at her trial, found guilty & fined $100 She refused to pay; hoped to appeal through courts 1875: Supreme Court says it’s up to each state

Anti-Suffrage Arguments Why people were against giving the women suffrage: Some feared it would interfere with women’s duties at home Fear it would destroy families altogether Women lack the education or competence to vote Some believe the notion that most women don’t want to vote Unfair for suffragists to force the vote upon women Many major businesses also opposed suffrage for women Liquor feared women support for Prohibition; in general, more regulation Some churches & clergy are against it saying marriage is a sacred bond & entire family is represented by the man

Two organizations merge In 1890, the NWSA and AWSA merge: National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Formed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Susan B. Anthony is president from 1892-1900 Her last public statement (she dies in 1906): “Failure is impossible.” Most earlier suffragists will die before 1920 (only one signer of Seneca Falls Declaration was still alive).