Woman The Right example essay topic

Social Inequality: Women suffrage in the United States 19th century America was not a friendly place for women of all ages and colors. Laws in the U. S did not recognize women as equals to men. It was widely believed that women weren't capable to do the same things that men could do. In that sense women were not allowed to vote on the most important things going on in their country.

Women were looked down upon just for their gender even though most were capable of the same things as men. Luckily women in the 19th century decide to fight back against their oppressors. After the American Revolution women with land were invited to vote and gender was ignored. Soon after that the rights were extended to all men to vote regardless of property ownership, where as before only men that owned property could vote under the law. Of course this extension left out women who were allowed to vote before under those land ownership conditions. Regardless of women's property ownership they were not allowed to vote.

This was the beginning of women unity to get their well-deserved rights. Women activists tried relentlessly to take their case to court. This method was rejected every time because of antifeminist judges and their biases. In 1840 at the anti slavery convention the court debated on whether women had the right to participate in proceedings. Eventually the 2 women in the middle of this debate Lucretia Coffin Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were denied the right to speak or to be seen. This was not the end of the long struggle but only a bump in the road.

In July of 1848 there was the 1st convention for women's rights in Seneca Falls, New York. Over 300 people including men in support of the movement were in attendance. It was there that the attendants adopted a declaration of Sentiments. People of course we upset about the convention and even more so of the conventions male supporters. It's sad but many were subjected to physical violence. After the civil war in 1868 there was an attempt to make voting equal but of course it was shot down.

As a result the Independent National Women Suffrage Association was created in 1869 to secure that enactment of a federal law. In that same year two other feminists formed the American Women Suffrage Association to work on equal rights state by state instead of all at one time. In that same year they received great success when Wyoming gave woman the right to vote. In 1890 the two women activist groups joined forces and were more determined to make a difference then ever.

In 1893 Colorado granted women the right to vote. In 1896 Utah and Idaho granted women the right to vote. In 1910 Washington followed in the others footsteps and allowed women to vote. In 1911 California granted women the right to vote after receiving a petition with 500,000 signatures. In 1912 Kansas, Oregon and Arizona granted women the right to vote. Nevada and Montana women got the right to vote in 1914.

Women in New York were finally allowed at the polls in 1917. Michigan, Oklahoma and South Dakota jumped on the bandwagon in 1918 and let their women vote. In 1919 after the end of World War 1 congress approved the 19th amendment. This amendment stated " The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex". This amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, putting it in affect from that point on. In my opinion women not being allowed to vote was subjugation.

Subjugation is the process by which a minority group (the women) is denied equal access to the benefits of a society. Women were denied the right to choose whom they wanted to run their country based on what they wanted or believed was right or the right to vote for things they supported or to even go against things they didn't like. They were denied to choose a way they wanted to live because they were not eligible to vote for the person or things that they thought would improve their way of life, thus denying them the benefits of society. Another sociological term that described why women suffrage happened is prejudice. Prejudice is negative attitudes towards a minority or majority (women) and its individual members. Most men thought that women didn't have the mental capacity to know what they wanted.

It was a norm to have women in the background cooking, cleaning and watching the children. It was looked down upon to have be a woman that knew what you wanted and who was firm in what you believed in. Racism was also a reason for woman suffrage. Racism is an extreme form of prejudice that assumes superiority of one group (men) over others (women).

Women were put in the shadows for so long that they were no longer looked at as human beings that had brains to most people. Women were also discriminated against during the times of suffrage. Discrimination is treating people differently based on gender, ethnicity, race, religion or culture. Women were treated as inferiors because of he simple fact that they weren't men. Men were allowed to vote and women were not therefore proving that they were treated differently. Women were also stereotyped.

A stereotype is a distorted, exaggerated, oversimplified image applied to a category of people (women). Women were looked at as unintelligent people. They were always portrayed as homemakers and not being good for anything else but that. This image was clearly an untrue stereotype. Women can be anything and everything a man can do. I think the lesson that can be learned from the time or woman suffrage is that people should not be looked down upon for what they are.

Women back then could not change being a woman so they were denied some of the basic rights of life. It proves the point that everyone should be treated equally. No gender, race, religion, country, person, culture or ethnicity should ever be considered more important than another. This shows how what is believed to be right at a point in time could be easily passed down and continued on for generations even though it is not fair. We as people have to allow others to be different and accept them and their differences. You don't have to agree with the same things they do but we should be tolerant.

Every person is not the same and we don't all stand for the same things and that should not be looked down upon. The great thing about America is that we have the right to be different from one another. Woman suffrage was a necessary part of history. We have a long way to go until we can all be tolerant but its things like that, that help us realize how things can get and how they shouldn't be.