The Women’s Movement

1880- 1919

Emmeline PankhurstSuffragists in Arkansas

Women in the Work Force (17.2)• Farm Women: roles did

not change• Women in Industry:

Excluded from unions, but found good paying jobs in the city

• By the turn of the century, 1 of every 5 women held jobs, 25% of them in manufacturing

• 50% in garment working• 50% of the pay men

received for the same job

Women in the Workforce II• Women also found

jobs in offices, stores, schools

• By 1890 there were more women with high school diplomas than men

• Domestic Workers: 70% of women workers in 1870 were servants.

Women Lead Reform• Triangle Shirtwaist

Factory tragedy led to more women pushing for reform

• Women’s clubs grew into reform groups that pushed for these changes

• Women’s colleges were established during this time (Vassar, Smith, Wellesley).

• Marriage was not the only alternative for women anymore.

NACW• National Association of

Colored Women• Managed nurseries, reading

rooms, kindergartens• Focused on the education of

African American women

Mary Church Terrell– first President of the NACW

Josephine St. Pierre– first VP of the NACW

Susan B. Anthony

• Pushed for women’s suffrage

• Founded the NWSA (National Women Suffrage Association)– later the NAWSA

Suffrage Strategy

• 1. Convince state legislatures to grant women the right to vote (success in Wyoming in 1869 followed by Utah, Colorado, and Idaho in the 1890s).

• 2. Pursue court cases to test the 14th Amendment (all male citizens could vote)—Weren’t women citizens as well?

• 3. Push for a national constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote.

Women Win Suffrage! (17.5)• The suffrage movement gained

strength again in the early 1900s

• Now there were more college educated women who began to push for reform

• Suffrage groups went door to door to push for change

• Trolley tours– women spoke in public from trolleys to generate support

• Studied suffrage movement tactics in other countries and adapted them to the US movement

Women Win Suffrage! (17.5) 2• Carrie Chapman Catt—

organized the movement on a national scale

• Some women picketed the White House

• Others supported the soldiers during WWI by knitting socks or selling war bonds

• This showed women’s patriotism & desire to be involved.

• Congress passed the 19th Amendment (women’s suffrage) in 1919, 72 years after the Seneca Falls convention where women convened to first demand the right to vote.