Women's Rights In The 1800s

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Women in the United States have been the subject of inequality for centuries. Since the country’s inception, have faced unjust social and economic discrimination, a lack of voting rights, limited educational opportunities, forced traditional gender roles, and the inability to own property. In the 1800s, women in the North began to reject traditional gender roles and saw their quest for equality like that of enslaved people, who were shackled and controlled by white men. Many abolitionist women began to challenge the male-dominated society they lived in by taking direct action by advocating for women's rights, and this fight for equality would eventually lead to massive reform in women’s rights and change American history for the better. …show more content…

In 1848, both ladies helped organize the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls and created a list of demands known as the Declaration of Sentiments. It demanded broader educational and professional opportunities for women and called for the right for a woman to control their wages and property. One hundred attendees of sixty-eight women and thirty-two men signed the document (Census Bureau), who unfortunately were harassed and faced public embarrassment, as a gathering like this was ludicrous to most people at the time. However, the gathering made the issue of women’s voting rights a critical issue in the United States. (National Archives – Women’s Suffrage and the 19th Amendment). In 1869, two national suffrage organizations were created. Susan B. Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and Lucy Stone formed the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) These two organizations were a massive turning point in the fight for women’s rights. While both had different goals in mind, they eventually combined into the National American Suffrage Association. (NAWSA), and it became the biggest woman suffrage organization in the country. Finally, in 1920 after decades of struggling for the vote, Congress ratified the 19th Amendment and granted women the right to

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