17.2: Women Make Progress

Review: Women Make Progress

Women were not represented in the 14th & 15th Amendments (women were not citizens and were not able to vote).

It was not until the passing of the 19th amendment that women achieved suffrage.

Even though it wasn’t until the 1920 that women achieved suffrage, an achievement that women had was them making up a third of a college population by the early 1900s.

During this period, women would continue to struggle to expand their roles and rights for the future.

(L): Elizabeth C. Stanton & (R): Susan B. Anthony

Education: Still Faced With Inequality

Again, a third of college attendees were women but middle class women.

Poor women however, continued to work long hours, and often under dangerous or dirty conditions. This consisted of mostly immigrant women.

Gail Kane, an actress who played “Ona” in a film adaptation of “The Jungle:

Connection: The Jungle – Ona Lukoszaite

• Women who were not able to attend college faced working long hours, paid little, and were victims of harassment.

• Sinclair does an excellent job using Ona, Jurgis’s wife to illustrate how immigrant women were exploited in the early 1900s (recall from Socratic Circle Discussion of The Jungle).

Reform: Muller v. Oregon

Reformers saw limiting the length of a woman’s work day as an important goal.

Muller v. Oregon: supreme court ruled that states could legally limit a woman’s work day.

DISCUSSION: “A Hidden Agenda”

Why do you think it’s a huge achievement that there were restrictions placed for how long a woman should work?

Could there be a “hidden agenda” behind the Supreme Court’s ruling?

ANSWER:

Looking out for women’s health and physique Women taking care of their “motherly” responsibilities

Florence Kelley & The Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL)

Florence Kelley

In 1899, Florence Kelley founded The Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL) which worked for a federal minimum wage and a national eight-hour workday.

The WTUL created the first workers’ strike fund that supported families who refused to work in unsafe or unfair conditions.

Discussion: The Concept of the “Eight Hour Day”

• The concept of the Eight Hour Day can best be explained by: Eight hours of sleep, eight hours of recreation (fun), and eight hours of work. But an argument can be made that this idea is “gendered”.

• Do you think this concept of the “Eight Hour Work Day” apply to women? Explain why.

Frances Willard & The Temperance Movement

Frances Willard

Women Progressive also supported the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union’s goal in banning the sell and production of alcohol.

Refer to Chapter 16.1: “You scratch my back, I scratch yours” relationship between Anthony & Willard.

The Problems with Alcohol:

Alcohol often led to men spending their hard-worked-for earnings, neglecting their families and abusing their wives. (Not accidently…)

1919: The passage of the 18th Amendment which banned the sale and production of alcohol (Refer to Chapter 20.2)

Boardwalk Empire: Season 1 (Episode 1): The Problems with Alcohol

Watch the following clip from the 1st

episode of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. As you are watching the video, write down what sparks your interest in this video. Think about the following questions:

• What does this particular scene suggest about the temperance movement?

• How does Nucky (pronounced e-nook) Thompson’s (the speaker) speech inspire the women to take action in banning alcohol?

Ida B. Wells & The National Association of Colored Women (NACAW)

Ida B. Wells founded the National Association of Colored Women (NACAW) in 1896.

NACAW supported day care centers for the children of working parents (sounds familiar?)

Like other women, Wells fought for women’s suffrage and addressed the issue of the segregation of schools in Chicago (sounds familiar?)

• Ida B. Wells can be seen as a progressivist before the Progressive Era from her efforts to end lynching.

• Other than the fact that she was a woman, Ida B. Wells is important because she’s ___________________ & ______________________.

• Addressed the problems with lynching to the extent in which whites will eventually realize the problems of the act.

AFRICAN AMERICAN EDUCATED

Alice Paul & the radicalism of the National Woman’s Party

1917, social activists led by Alice Paul formed the National Woman’s Party. Their radical actions made the suffrage movement’s goals seem less dramatic by comparison.

Picketed the white house that led to suffragettes (supporters of the suffrage movement) to be arrested and jailed.

Discussion: “Radicalism”?

• The protests by the National Woman’s Party were viewed as “radical” even though there was not much in regards to how we understand as “radical actions”. There is one specific answer that I am looking for.

• Why do you think that the protests were viewed as radical?

Reform: The Passing of the 19th Amendment

June 1919, the 19th Amendment was passed by congress and women finally achieved suffrage.

The amendment explicitly states that the vote shall not be denied or abridged on the account of sex”.

In November 1920, women nationwide voted in a presidential election for the first time.

Discussion: Sufferin’ Today?

Women rights and representation has been a hot topic throughout our history? Are women today represented equal or are they still “Sufferin”?

19th