How Did Alice Paul Introduced The Equal Rights Movement

Women had won the right to vote and their fight for suffrage was over, but not for Alice Paul. She wanted to keep fighting and so she introduced the Equal Rights Amendment. She thought women needed to be validated as human individuals, not just wives and mothers (RP 504). However, Paul was on such a high from the suffrage movement ending, she ended up introducing the Equal Rights Amendment too early. Her first mistake was wording it in a too positive manner, so such had to switch up the language. Looking at the other amendments she took notes and changed it to a more negative language. Paul wanted a “blanket amendment” which would get rid of varying discriminatory laws with one amendment (Lecture Notes 2/16). Her argument was why wouldn’t
People did have concerns with what Alice Paul and the Equal Rights Amendment would do. They thought women would now be able to get drafted and that they would have unisex bathrooms. Another issue was Florence Kelly who brought up the issue of protective labor laws which Paul shot down because she thought if we start making exceptions then they would do that for everything. The women who supported these protective labor laws were white middle-class women who only wanted them for their class, not immigrants or difference races or classes. In the end the Equal Rights Amendment helped women to speak out against their defining characteristic of being mothers. There women wanted more than just be a biological factor in the world, but they wanted to help shape it into a better and more equal society. Even though it took years to pass it was because it took that long to make it perfect and get the right language and express what Alice Paul and many others would have
In the past, marriage for women was for financial stability, because they would not have the means to survive on their own with the little money which led to them not having a choice of whether they wanted to choose marriage. As for a man’s reason for marriage was to have children. In the 1920’s it started to change, husbands and wives were more than just that of the past. They started to become friends and learn about each other’s lives, they did more than just tolerate each other. Couples started to become friends and have fun with each other and enjoy life together. Along with sex becoming less taboo there came validity of a woman’s sexuality (The Decline of Women’s Political Culture Slide Eleven). Having sex was not just for procreation, but it was for pleasure. Having sex was now considered a healthy thing to do and if it is not acted upon then that could be damaging to a woman’s mental and physical health (WAE 388). However, with women’s sexuality being so prevalent it was their job to keep their man satisfied otherwise they would leave (PAGE 389). So, that became a drawback because if a husband left his wife there would be gossip of what is wrong with her or what did she do wrong? Companionate marriage helped women in many social ways. Women now became more than just their husbands;