The Fight for Suffrage: Examining Women's Voting Rights in History

This essay explores the history of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, focusing on the struggle for voting rights in the early 20th century. It highlights key events such as the first women's rights convention in 1848, the formation of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association, and the eventual passage of the 19th Amendment in 1919, which granted women the right to vote. The essay also discusses the challenges faced by suffragists, including opposition from the Anti-Suffrage League and instances of violence and imprisonment, such as the 'Night of Terror.' Key figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Burns and Alice Stone Blackwell are mentioned, along with the arguments both for and against women's suffrage, providing a comprehensive overview of this pivotal movement in American history. Desklib provides a platform to access more such essays and study resources for students.

Running head: HISTORY
History
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1HISTORY
Introduction
Women’s right around the world have never been considered as equivalent to those of the
men. Women tend to struggle for achieving recognition of equal legitimacy as that of the men.
One of the most powerful rights is the right to vote. This right enables women to elect
representatives that can address their issues in the legitimate and legal forums. The paper aims to
target the voting rights of the women in the early 18th century1. There are many reasons why the
suffrage movement of the women was a difficult right to achieve victory in the early years at the
United States. Many of the leaders of the time refused to acknowledge the right to vote for the
women. Although there are so much more, it was a difficult battle for the suffragist since they
were not only going against the men but also facing their own gender in their struggle.
Discussion/Body
The first ever convention on the rights of the women was organized by Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Lucretia Mott on July 1948. The movement for the voting rights of the women or the
suffrage movement portrays the picture of the true story of how women belonging from various
standards of the society in the U.S became radicalized for gaining the right to vote. The pressure
of the suffrage movement in the early era failed to enable the access and authority of the women
towards the 14th and 15th Amendments, that was introduced by the Republicans in the Congress
after the civil war. The revolution for the voting rights of the women began in the year 1868 by
the initiative of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Parker Pillsbury.
The target of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association was to fight for an amendment
to the constitution. The woman suffrage association of America targeted to achieve suffrage in
the elections of the state. All the fights came to an end with the passing of the women’s suffrage
amendment in 19182. The right to vote for the women was legalized at the 19th Amendment that
1AKTHER, F., et al. "Women’s Right to Vote." PowerPoint slides.
2Freeman, Eboni. "SYSTEMATIC VIOLENCE AGAINST FEMALE CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS IN UNTED
STATES PENITENTIARIES." (2015).

2HISTORY
was passed in the year 1919 which finally enabled the women in the U.S to cast their vote and
enjoy their civil rights in the presidential election of 1920.
The struggle for the voting rights of the women dates back to the early era that included
massive struggles and movements for achieving fundamental rights. The president of the U.S,
Wilson had an indifferent attitude regarding the protest movement initially and the Senate vote
went against the suffrage movement of the women. Furthermore, one of the notable events in the
history of the suffrage movement was the night of terror. The night of 14 November in the year
1917 at the Occoquan Workhouse in Lorton, Virginia is still recognized as a terror when 31
suffrage activists were targeted with massive attacks for breaking and smashing the spirits of the
activists of the movement.
Though the night of 14 November in the year 1917 was the night of terror and massive
abuse for many activists of the suffrage movement, this horrendous attack on the activists
became a turning point and nationwide publicity and it became easy for the activists to win votes
for the right for the women3. This conviction and the courage even after imprisonment and
violent attacks by the W.H. Whittaker failed to diminish the spirit among the activists and
eventually inspired the public to join the movement for supporting the suffrage movement.
A total number of 14 women from the state of New York were subjected to conviction
and were sentenced on 14th November for their active participation in the silent non violent
protest in front of the White House gates4. The group of women among the total number of 31
picketers was charged with blocking the sidewalk. The demonstrators furthermore demanded that
the president Woodrow Wilson take initiate in the issue of the voting rights o the women. Some
of the notable figures among the group of activists were Lucy Burns and Dora Lewis. They were
the active members of the National Women’s Party (NWP) and were arrested many times due to
their keen interest and participation in the suffrage movement. Lucy Burns organized campaigns
during the struggle and was the editor of the famous newspaper ‘the suffragist’. Furthermore,
3 AKTHER, F., et al. "Women’s Right to Vote." PowerPoint slides.
4 Dolan, Kathy. Voting for women: How the public evaluates women candidates. Routledge, 2018.

3HISTORY
both of these notable figures of the movement suffered immense abuse and went on a hunger
strike for demonstrating their commitments to the reason of the struggle. These political
prisoners were subjected to inhuman tortures and were forced to hang from the cell of the prison.
One of the most negative impacts towards the struggle of the suffrage movement was the
formation of the Anti-Suffrage League. Established in the year 1908, the women’s national anti
suffrage league constituted of a group of the female who used to believe that women should not
have the right to vote. With about eighty seven thousand followers, the league initially started in
Europe and found their group in 1911. The anti-suffrage people used political cartoons, articles
and speak outs of religious leaders to spread out their message against the movement before the
establishment of the National Association Opposed to Women Suffrage (NAOWS)5. Popular
among the north eastern cities, participants and the women of the NAOWS were mostly
educated, earnest and belong to the privileged group who believed that women will definitely
suffer if they achieved political equality with that of the men. Furthermore, the anti suffragist
posted a major conflict towards the suffrage movement with the wrong ideology that women
should not vote. The anti suffragists ad lot many ways to justify their beliefs. Starting from
spreading messages via magazines, newspaper advertisements and flyers they campaigned their
list by promoting it via the media. The anti suffragist listed out 12 reasons of their movements
and why the voting rights of the women should not be allowed since n women will leave her
domestic responsibilities to vote, since no women who will vote will attend to her domestic
duties. Furthermore it should not be enabled since it will male dissension among husband and
wife. Another important factor that the anti suffragist pointed out is that every woman will vote
as her husband tells her to, hence voting rights of the women are not necessary. Furthermore, it
has further been stated that bad women will tend to corrupt the politics and the bad politics will
tend to corrupt the women6. The anti suffragist pointed out that the right to vote for the women
5 Blee, Kathleen. "Women in White Supremacist Movements in the Century after Women’s Suffrage." 100 Years of
the Nineteenth Amendment: An Appraisal of Women’s Political Activism (2016).
6 Pankhurst, Sylvia. The Suffragette: The History of the Women's Militant Suffrage Movement. Courier Dover
Publications, 2015.

4HISTORY
should not be enabled since women do not have any power of the organization, women tend to
form a solid party and will outvote the men. The anti suffragist furthermore stated that since men
and women are so different, they must stick to different duties. Furthermore, since men and
women are so much alike, men with one vote can represent their selves and their own people.
Finally they pointed out that women cannot use force and the militants did use force, hence the
voting rights of the women should not be legalized.
Some of the significant events in the context of the struggle for the women are voting
rights included the launch of the appeal against the female suffrage movement at 1889 with the
support and signature 104 people. Upon the successful publication of the launch of the event led
by Mary Ward, 2,000 more signatures were gained. Besides this, the launch of the Women’s
National Anti-Suffrage League in 1908 established 100 more branches within the tenure of ten
years. The year 1910 portrayed one of the significant events of the merger with the men’s league
for opposing the suffrage movement of the women.
Some of the notable significant figures of the anti-suffrage movement who used different
ways to protest against the rights of the women like writing books, publishing articles and using
the media included Josephine Dodge, Kate Shippen Roosevelt, Minnie Bronson, Mrs. William
Force Scott, Mary Humphrey Ward and Gertrude Bell.
The founder of the NAOWS, Josephine Dodge led a movement to establish day care
centers to help working mothers.According to him; women should stay out of the corrupt world
of politics. Kate Shippen Roosevelt, the member of politically-active Roosevelt family on the
other hand expressed that women’s right to vote is simply unnecessary7.This is because women
are biologically destined to be child bearers and homemakers.She furthermore stated that women
already have domestic freedom in their homes, hence it will be against the laws of nature to
shake up the status quo. Apart from denoting the rights of the women as a dangerous experiment
and non existence of the inherent voting rights, gaining the right to vote for the women has been
7 Ross, Loretta, et al. Undivided rights: Women of color organizing for reproductive justice. Haymarket Books,
2016.

5HISTORY
denoted as a mere pointless exercise by all the anti suffrage leaders. The entire idea of staying in
a world that is ruled by the patriarchal power has become so basic and normal that the anti-
suffragists were okay with being under the terms of equality among men and women.
The several tactics by the anti suffragists could not diminish the spirits of the activists of
the suffrage movement. Just like the anti suffrage posts, the national women’s suffrage published
twelve major reasons why the voting rights of the women should be legalized. One of the
important figures in the women’s suffrage movement was Alice Stone Blackwell. The journalist
and the human right advocate stated that it is fair and right that those who must obey the laws
should have a voice in making them and those who must pay taxes should have a vote as to the
size of the tax.
Conclusion
Women have been subject to dominance for a very long time. Very few societies have
treated women with equivalent respect that to the men. The suffragist activists realized the
inequality and wanted to fight back with the movement for ensuring equal voting rights of the
women. This is because; denial of the women’s right to vote is snatching their true voices away
from the politics. Taking away their civil right to vote will only result in giving more dominance
to the male and finally result in further oppression of the females.

6HISTORY
Reference
AKTHER, F., et al. "Women’s Right to Vote." PowerPoint slides.
Blee, Kathleen. "Women in White Supremacist Movements in the Century after Women’s
Suffrage." 100 Years of the Nineteenth Amendment: An Appraisal of Women’s Political
Activism (2016).
Dolan, Kathy. Voting for women: How the public evaluates women candidates. Routledge, 2018.
Freeman, Eboni. "SYSTEMATIC VIOLENCE AGAINST FEMALE CIVIL RIGHTS
ACTIVISTS IN UNTED STATES PENITENTIARIES." (2015).
Günther, Jana. "A Vote for One’s Own? The Suffrage Claim as a Question of Class and Gender
Relations in the early Women’s Movement." (2017).
Muller, Samantha. "The Women Who Said “NO!” A Look at the Women, the Language, and the
Images Surrounding the United States Anti-Suffrage Movement." New Errands: The
Undergraduate Journal of American Studies 4.1 (2016).
Pankhurst, Sylvia. The Suffragette: The History of the Women's Militant Suffrage Movement.
Courier Dover Publications, 2015.
Ross, Loretta, et al. Undivided rights: Women of color organizing for reproductive justice.
Haymarket Books, 2016.