How The Struggle For Women's Suffrage In The 19th Century

In simple terms, women’s suffrage refers to the right of women to vote in elections. In 1920, the United States passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, officially giving women that right after years of protesting and lobbying in the masses. The fight for women’s suffrage lies in the context of the larger women’s rights movement, starting in the 19th century. A desire for suffrage started in 1848 with the Seneca Falls Convention and the subsequent Declaration of Sentiments. Penned by activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the document asserts many of the same ideas in the Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft. (Davison, “The US Suffrage Movement in the 19th Century”) For example, it suggested that like men, women were also
Many women’s rights activists weren’t ready to latch onto the idea of suffrage quite yet, and the men simply thought it was ridiculous. The consensus at that point in history was that women were inherently inferior to men, emotional, and not suitable to make decisions such as voting. The women’s rights movement overall was borne out of support for the abolition movement. For a while, the two causes worked in tandem, often fighting for the same fundamental rights. However, as the Civil War ended and the Reconstruction Amendments — the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments — passed, they grew apart. The women’s movement grew increasingly racist, upset that black men had the right to vote before white women. Differences in ideology and philosophy have fractured the women’s movement for a period of time. The leaders of the movement refused to accept the 15th Amendment because it referred to citizenship as male. Stanton and Anthony created a three-part strategy for suffrage, which included identifying supporters, drafting an amendment that would enfranchise women, and to mobilize women who believed in the
In the time after this, the movement underwent conflict and unity alike, welcoming new leaders and a larger community of suffragettes. In the 1910s, the movement underwent an infusion of passion and motivation after being dormant and divided for a time prior. With new leadership and a new plan for suffrage, the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, officially giving women the right to vote in the United States. In Europe, the fight for suffrage was not as contentious in many areas of the continent. Many European countries like Norway, Finland, Denmark, and others, had all given women the right to vote by the early 1900s. (Davison, “Suffrage in Europe and Beyond”) However, the women’s movement was still extremely large and popular with the creation of the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903. The WSPU often used tactics like hunger strikes to get its point across, especially in the face of inaction by the British government. By 1921, women over the age of 21 were granted universal suffrage in Britain. (Davison, “Suffrage in Europe and Beyond”) After World War I, other countries like Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary also granted women the right to