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Women's Rights: The Western Feminist Movement

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Women have made significant achievements in fighting for and attaining their rights throughout the Civil Rights and Feminist Movements. Women were very successful at achieving several Acts and Amendments for women’s rights. These enactments were led by strong, educated women. Feminist campaigns are generally considered to be one of the main forces behind major historical, societal changes for women 's rights, particularly in the West. These societal changes are credited with having achieved women 's suffrage, gender neutrality, reproductive rights for women, and the right to enter into contracts and own property. Feminists around the world have had different causes and goals. The western feminist movement included women 's suffrage …show more content…

Following the Nineteenth Amendment, women entered state level offices. There was not significant growth in the number of women in office until after the contemporary women’s movement during the late 1960s and early 1970s (Wall, 2011). Since the mid-1970s, women have greatly increased numbers; being elected and appointed officials in state government. Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming was selected to succeed her decreased husband in 1925 in a special election (Wall, 2011). A mere fifteen days later, Miriam Ferguson, was inaugurated as governor of Texas. Ferguson was elected as a surrogate for her husband, a former governor who was barred from running again after being impeached. The third woman elected was Lurleen Wallace of Alabama was also elected to replace her husband who was not allowed to seek additional time in office. However, the first woman elected in her own right into governorship was Ella Grasso of Connecticut serving from 1975 to 1980. Soledad C. Chacon, New Mexico, was the first woman to ever hold a major statewide office. Chacon held the position of secretary of state in New Mexico from 1923 to 1926. From 1920 to 1971, the percentage of women serving in state legislatures across the county grew to 4.5 percent (Wall, …show more content…

The Women’s Educational Equity Act of 1974 was a landmark law passed by Congress outlining federal protections against the gender discrimination of women in education (‘Women’s educational equity act’, 2016). This Act was originally intended to combat sex-role stereotyping in elementary and secondary schools (‘Women’s educational equity act’, 2016) drafted by Arlene Horowitz. Women’s Educational Equity Act (WEEA) has been the only federal education program specifically focused on gender equity since 1974 (‘Women’s educational equity act (WEEA)’, 2001). It is established within the Office of Education, a council on Women’s Educational Programs, helping to provide educational equity for women in the United States. The funds are to be available to make contracts and engage in activities: (1) to encourage the development of new and improved curriculums; (2) to demonstrate the use of such curriculums in model educational programs and to evaluate the effectiveness thereof: (3) to provide support for the initiation and maintenance of programs concerning women at all levels of education (preschool through adult education); (4) to disseminate instructional materials and other information for use in educational programs throughout the Nation; (5) to provide for the planning of women 's resource centers; (6) to provide improved career, vocational, and physical education programs, and to provide for community education programs; (7) to provide programs on the status, roles, and

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Ann Richards Governorship Ann Richards was a fiery, quick-witted woman. She was the forty-fifth governor of Texas and the second female governor of Texas, Richards is often regarded as the first female governor in her own right, as her predecessor, “Ma” Ferguson, had been elected as a surrogate in place of her husband (Ann Richards, 2014). Despite having only served one term, Richards became a nationally recognized figure for her outspoken feminism and plans to reform Texas. Born as Dorothy Ann Willis in Lacy-Lakeview, Texas on September 1, 1933, Richards grew up in Waco, Texas to a family of modest means.

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This was an extremely brave decision by Anthony. Anthony argued that the 14th amendment gave her the right to vote. However, the law disagreed. Anthony, the women that registered with her, and the men who registered those women, were all

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Lady Ferguson Politics in Texas have come a long way since the very first Governor in 1874. Even within the years between 1874 and 1933, there was a big step taken for our state. That big step was the first woman elected as governor in 1933, Miriam “Ma” Ferguson. She accomplished what no woman in the 20’s thought was possible. She made history, though she faced adversity and obstacles during her governorship, she would return for a second term in 1932.

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Another dramatic change was elected African American majors in the cities. That showed that political party was opening to give individuals fair changes to be in politics. Also, the First woman to hold office was Shirley Franklin in 2002. Ms. Franklin serves as the fifth eight Mayor of Atlanta Georgia.

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The history.com’s staff explains the stages that the women of the past went through to gain them the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920. Simplified the 19th Amendment is the right for the citizens of the United States to be able to vote and not be denied by the United States or by any State on account of their sex. It talks about when the 14th amendment was ratified in 1868, it granted all citizen the right to be able to vote. But they defined “citizen as male”, giving the right to vote to the black men. Because of this many women, including Susan B. Anthony rallied and protested the 15th amendment, believing that it could push lawmakers into making it so that women could vote along with the men.

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She demonstrated that there are no limits facing the women and they can serve as Senators, Governors and cabinet officers equally with the men. Who is actually Sarah Palin? She is born in February 11, 1964 in Idaho In family with four children. Palin’s ancestry is of English, Irish, and German. When she was little her

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Women’s Rights Movement The Women’s Rights Movement in the 19th century was an effort by women protesting to gain equality with men. Women at the time were denied many rights. The rights movement first started in 1848 when a group of women met to discuss protesting, the first gathering of its time. During the movement women gained many rights that they were fighting for but It wasn’t until 1920 that all states ratified the right for women to vote, therefore wrapping up the 19th century Women’s Rights Movement. This Women’s Rights Movement was important for various reasons, but the most important reason was that if it wasn’t for this movement, today women may not have all the rights that they do.

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After the Civil War, women were willing to gain the same rights and opportunities as men. The war gave women the chance to be independent, to live for themselves. Women’s anger, passion, and voice to protest about what they were feeling was the reason of making the ratification of the 19th amendment, which consisted of giving women the right to vote. One of the largest advancement of that era was the women’s movement for the suffrage, which gave them the reason to start earning

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There was very little success and movement towards women having the right to vote except for places like Wyoming that needed to attract immigrant women to extremely lowly female populated lands. In 1869, Wyoming extended the right to vote to women and became the second state in the 18th century to allow women to vote behind New Jersey when it entered the Union in 1890 (588). Some women opposed the 15th Amendment and argued that native-born American women should have the right to vote over African-Americans and immigrants, while other feminists supported the era’s amendments because they believed they were steps in a positive direction towards ubiquitous suffrage. The consequence of the two side’s ideas were two separate women’s suffrage organizations: The American Woman Suffrage Association, with Lucy Stone as president, and National Woman Suffrage Association, run by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

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The life of Women in the late 1800s. Life for women in the 1800s began to change as they pushed for more rights and equality. Still, men were seen as better than women, this way of thinking pushed women to break out from the limitations imposed on their sex. In the early 1800s women had virtually no rights and ultimately were not seen as people but they rather seen as items of possession, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that women started to gain more rights. The Civil War actually opened opportunities for women to gain more rights, because with many of the men gone to war women were left with the responsibilities that men usually fulfilled during that time period.

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In 1869, the Wyoming territory was first to grant women suffrage, hoping to attract women to the territory. Not all Western states promoted gender equality—in fact, in 1870 Wyoming denied women the right to serve on juries. Even so, it was the Western state of Montana that elected the first female member of the House of Representatives, Jeannette Rankin, in 1916, and the first female governors also hailed from the West (Hensley). In the West, women were allowed to own property in their own name through homesteading.

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The Fifteenth amendment was ratified in March 1870 (encouraged women, particularly Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott/ Women’s Rights Movement/ The Declaration of Sentiments – campaigning for equal rights – not only are women allowed to vote today, some are being elected to public office at all levels of government (example: Hilary Clinton, running as Democratic candidate for nomination in the U.S. presidential election of

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The state of New Jersey granted granted women who payed taxes the right to vote in 1776, but this right did not last long. The argument that women did not vote for the right person led to the right being revoked. After a few years when the movement started gaining ground, the Territory of Wyoming allowed women to vote, followed by the Territory of Utah. While Utah was still a territory the right was taken away, but as soon as it became a state Utah passed the amendment again allowing women to vote (United States Commission on Civil Rights, A Report of the Inter- American Commission of Women 1). Utah and Wyoming started a chain reaction and soon other states, like Colorado and Idaho, allowed women to vote in the 1890’s.

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Americans in Western states have had womans rights for almost 20 years longer than those in the east. The United States was very progressive with Women's Rights, some parts more than others. Wyoming was the first state to pass the Women's Suffrage Act, this was in 1869 ( Imbornoni ) It was not until 1917 that any state in the east passed the bill, and the first was New York. Between those two times, 11 other states in the West had already passed the bill.

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Adding on to other limitations, women almost had no freedom in their marriage. Before the women’s rights movement, when a woman is married the “husband and wife are one person” but “that person is the husband” (Doc 7). Once a woman is married, her rights and property were governed by the husband. Married women could not make wills or dispose of any property without their husband’s consent to do so.

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