Argumentative Essay: Feminism In The Wild West

Feminism in the Wild West

Women’s rights in America have been a long-standing fight that has been swept under the rug for decades. In Britain, the same battle was taking place, protesting women being jailed and sometimes borderline tortured. New Zealand was the first country to legalize equal voting in 1893, 27 years before the United States. Before the nineteenth amendment, most of the western states and territories allowed women 's votes of a sort. Women in the West won the right to vote before the East because of separate gender’s jobs, daring role models, and the relaxed government of territories. After the migration of wayward families in the homestead era, the strength of all the members in the family was tested. Bob Boze Bell wrote,

The Wyoming territory was the first area in the United States to grant women the right to vote and hold office. Wyoming Grants Women the Vote suggests the motive for this may be men wanting to attract more women to the west, where the population of adult men was more than six thousand, and there was around one thousand women. Some parts of the government were persuaded by their wives, as Lucy Stone, a suffragist of the time, offered, “when he says good morning, tell him you want to vote; when he asks what you are going to have for dinner, tell him you want to vote”. This persistence won some battles, but did not help in more modern cities, where free speech was more taboo. Edward E. Lee, a Wyoming politician, argued that it was “unfair for his mother to be denied a privilege granted to African-American males”. The first state to get full suffrage was Colorado in 1893. In the territories, the decision was through legislative action, unlike the states, where it had to undergo voting. Original speculation was that women were given the right to vote because of the so-called “myth of the frontier” explained Jennifer Frost. “Woman suffrage did not just ‘happen,’ men did not simply ‘give’ women the right to vote… [women 's] suffrage was won only after decades of political work” She explained; Women activists worked for some time, starting out with small

The frontier ladies worked daily to survive and keep their families alive, earning well-deserved respect from husbands and sons. Bandits and rodeo stars served as heroines suggesting that women were not meant to be behind the scenes. Despite the women’s pushing and shoving, government of the territories allowed women to vote mainly to attract more people to the areas. A rights activist of the time, Alice Paul, stated “when you put your hand to the plow, you can 't put it down until you get to the end of the row.” Through tough times and rough circumstances, the noble women of the west refused to give in and give