Women's Role In The Progressive Era

From the progressive trailblazers who fought for suffrage in the late 19th century and early 20th century, to the fearless nurses who aided our soldiers in the first World War, women had worked tirelessly in the Progressive Era to redefine their cultural expectations and social image. Starting with the 15th amendment to the Constitution, an era of nonstop effort was made in civil rights to reform both legislation and social expectations concerning the equality of all people. Women played an integral role in this era and their efforts have helped to shape society to the way it is today.

The 15th amendment, adopted between 1869 and 1870, gave African American men the right to vote. Although this was a huge step forward in civil rights, progressive women at the time were upset that Congress took to barring racial discrimination but not gender discrimination. This fueled the early feminist movement, which was spearheaded by such women as Susan B. Anthony, who was arrested after attempting to vote in 1872. Such radical actions showed women at large across the United States, especially those progressive women who belonged to social clubs, that such action was necessary and necessary
immediately. Such women included Victoria Woodhull.

Victoria Woodhull, a self-made woman who went from rags to riches as a magnetic healer, was privy to the inherent disenfranchisement of women in American society.
After being married twice, she understood the social stigma that divorced women had to bear, not being bound to a man. This would lead her to being a vocal proponent for women’s rights, and eventually the United States’ first female presidential candidate. Running for the Equal Rights Party in 1872, she spoke publicly against the government being an all-male institution and supported the concept of free love for women, who experienced double standards when it came to their romantic lives that men did not have to face. She would eventually not win the election, but did leave a standard for many progressive women to aspire
for.

Women’s rights would encounter due evolution through the rest of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, but the greatest change came with the advent and passing of the first World War. The war economy left thousands of jobs open to women who gladly took them, and even 30,000 positions in the war as nurses (Sarti, 2014). Although this created a rift among progressive women, as many were pacifists, this still gave new momentum to the suffrage fight. With the support of President Wilson who regarded suffrage a “vitally necessary war measure”, women earned the right to vote in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th amendment, which had been sitting in Congress since 1878 (Kennedy, Cohen, 2014).

Women had fought tirelessly for over half a century for their basic right to choose their nation’s leader and for equal social treatment, and their efforts through the Progressive Era served to be the catalyst for many more social evolutions that would occur in the 20th century, and the future yet to come. These efforts served invaluable, and although such women as Victoria Woodhull never received the prestige of becoming President of the United States, her efforts along with every other progressive woman are the reason we may have a female president not too long from now.