Essay On Women In The Progressive Era

Women in the Progressive Era The Progressive Era was a time of change across America, a time when the country chose to reform into an industrialized urban country. Prosperity was widespread across America, so people turned to social issues to try to expand. Minorities in particular became a focus of this time period, and everyone tried to find a way to integrate them into society. The Progressive Era marked a turning point for women in America because it was when women took their values that they taught in the home and applied them to social, political, and labor issues. One of the main focuses of women at the time was on social issues. Women felt that during the Gilded Age, the idea of the Cult of Domesticity was still prominent and that they were treated as second class citizens. As mothers, they practiced teaching their children morals

Before the Progressive Era, women were at home most of the day, and their main purpose was to have children. However, during the Progressive Era, women wanted to be in control of their destiny when it came to childbirth, and therefore created a movement to increase the use of birth control. This movement was led by Margaret Sanger, who believed that women should be able to control their lives instead of men. She led many protests and also distributed large amounts of birth control to spread her ideas. Before these movements, men created laws that prevented women from controlling their destiny, and through the ABCL (which she founded) she was able to regain control of one aspect of women’s personal lives. The birth rate in America steadily declined after this movement, because now women have the freedom of choosing when they want to have children. These social movements continued through the 20th century, and both ideas of being careful with alcohol and domestic abuse, and also the acceptance of birth control are still aspects of women's lives