Primary Source Analysis: Why Women Should Vote, 1915

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Primary Source Analysis: Why Women Should Vote, 1915 This document was originally published as a pamphlet authored by Jane Addams in the year 1915 as the title suggests. Jane Addams was a female reformer during the Progressive Era who heavily supported the women’s suffrage movement. She also challenged the traditional roles of women before and during this time period. At the young age of seventeen, Addams left home and attended the Rockford Female Seminary and later went on to found the Hull House in Chicago, Illinois (“The Progressive Era,”American Yawp). The Hull House was an establishment which housed a nursery, kindergarten classes, classes for adults, as well as a community center which organized events. Her goal was to provide an education for immigrants and working class women. She authored this piece as a tool to help writers, speakers, debaters, and libraries to explain the history, arguments, and results of women’s suffrage. The piece explains the traditional role of women before the time period and how they fought for …show more content…

Before women were thought to only be useful in the home, cooking, cleaning, and caring for their children and husbands. They were beginning to take a stand because they believed that they were of much more use than the stereotypes placed upon them. While Addams was successful in providing education for immigrant women at the Hull House, she was also educated about the roles of women in other countries. Jane Addams was a large part of women’s reform but there were also many other women in history that marched and fought for women’s voting rights. Based on the American Yawp, in 1915 there were 20,000 women who participated in a New York pre-election parade during the Progressive Era. These women challenged social “norms” and marched for the rights to be able to cast a ballot, a right they had been denied for so long. (“The Progressive Era”, American Yawp) Jane Addams accurately explains that many women were afraid to be involved

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