Before the Progressive Era there were no rights for women. We were thought to be there to clean, cook, and have kids basically and I'm very happy that things have changed. There were a lot of women that wanted change before the big movement happened, and I'm going to talk about one women that I found very interesting. Her name is Mary Wollstonecraft, she was an English writer and put out her opinions in her books. One of her most important books was called A Vindication of the Rights of Women. In this book Mary spoke about how she thinks women deserve a fair education like men get. She wrote several other books that were important to women rights movements. I think it's amazing how Mary was able to put out her opinions about 100 years before the Progressive Era really began. I think that her idea of men and women having equal education was important because I'm pround that I get a good education now.
One of the biggest issues for women to accomplish during the Progressive Era was the right to vote. The reactions to the 14th and 15th admendments weren't good and reading them I could see why women would get mad. The 14th Admendment says, in a nutshell, that anybody born in the U.S. is a citizen. Then the 15th Admendment says that any U.S. citizen has the right to vote, yet they still weren't letting women vote. Women had a three part strategy that they did in order to get what they felt they deserved. The first step was to push state governments to let women vote. Next they brought up the 14th Admendment in court cases asking, "Aren't women citizens too?" The Supreme Court said that women are citizens but that doesn't mean that they have the right to vote. Lastly women went for a national admendment allowing women the right to vote. It was allowed in California for a while but was taken away. I think that it's ridiculous how women couldn't vote, we're equal to men. I think that if I was put in that time period I would be fighting for these rights like all the other women were.
Some of the major women in this movement were Carrie Chapman Catt, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabent Cady Stanton. I think that the most inspiring thing about Carrie Catt was that her husband supported her throughout her work in the NAWSA. She became presiden of NAWSA but resigned after five years to take care of her dying husband then later rejoined and became president again. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked closely in a partnership for womens rights to vote, they we also in the NAWSA. Susan was mad that blacks were getting rights to vote and women weren't so she turned her attention to womens rights. The NAWSA stands for National American Woman Suffrage Association, the program grew into millions of members and they worked for womens rights focusing on voting rights.
Today women can vote, work, go to school, and so much more because of what the women in the past did. I am so greatful that they put in as much work as they did to make the future brighter. Women have come a long way and so have men. Men now can see a women as competition for a job. We are no longer looked at as a women to have in the house to cook, clean, and have kids. Today women get to have a good education and they can do what they want with it and I personally am so happy for that.
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