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Progressive Era Women

1333 Words6 Pages

The early twentieth century brought many people who were looking for a change in the way America was handling their government and politics. Many people, such as women and industrial workers, noticed that their rights given to them by the government did not give them the freedom that they had hoped for. Significant figures and groups of people tried to induce change in the system and some of them found success, changing the way the government and politics would be handled forever. This era of change came to be known as the Progressive Era. Muckrakers exposed the ill conditions of industrial and urban life, unions bonded workers together to create industrial freedom, women created settlement houses and spread female activism, and Progressive …show more content…

Jane Addams earns the title of the most important female reformer during the Progressive Era due to her many contributions to female activism. Addams created the Hull House directly in Chicago to improve the lives of poor immigrants and women. This was important because other reformers simply provided aid from afar, while workers in the Hull House and other settlement houses relocated in the areas with those in need. She realized that, although her social work was successful, government action was necessary to solve the problems related to health, housing, and income (Foner, 720). To solve these problems, the Hull House set in motion many different reforms in Chicago that eventually spread to places elsewhere (Foner, 720). These settlement houses created by Jane Addams were so essential to women during the Progressive Era because they produced so many other prominent Progressive figures who went on to achieve great accomplishments towards the rights for women and helped spread female activism throughout the …show more content…

They were the first mass movement made up of all sorts of women from all backgrounds that led campaigns throughout the country with the purpose of gaining women’s suffrage (Foner, 721). These campaigns led to many successes, such as full woman suffrage in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah, and women being able to hold public offices in the West (Foner, 721). This is an important contribution towards women in the Progressive Era because many were beginning to realize their rights and freedoms they should be given by the government. This can be seen when NAWSA membership “grew from 13,000 in 1893 to more than 2 million by 1917” (Foner, 721). These contributions by Jane Addams and NAWSA forever shaped the way American government and politics would change to begin to allow women to participate in political events and give them rights so they could be treated as equals of

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