Women's Suffrage: 1st Wave Feminism in the United States

Source: wikipedia

Feminism, in simple terms means equality among the genders, which is nothing but the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.

Be it the ancient, medieval or modern society, women experience subordination, discrimination, oppression from the patriarchal society. This is mainly because society believes in that age-old view, women are by nature weak and irrational, thus they are always in need of protection and guidance from their fathers or husbands or sons, basically from men. Aristotle, the great philosopher once stated, "as regards the sexes, the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject". Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers and 3rd President of the United States believed Women's position is at home, not in politics and public office. These are only a few examples of the toxic masculine mentality of our society. If the so-called nobility of our society pursues these kinds of thoughts about women, then what will rest of the society think. And, most surprisingly, these thoughts were not questioned till 18th (or 19th) century.

To understand how the ideology, philosophy and the overall agenda of feminism changed over time, we prefer to go through the history of feminism, where it is divided into three (or four) waves of feminism. According to Kunjakkan (2002), feminists themselves do not have any idea when and where one wave begins and ends. But the idea that “women are unequal to men because men created the meanings of equality” remained throughout every wave of feminism.

During the early period of America, women were not allowed to enjoy some basic rights which were fully enjoyed by the male citizens. Not only no female had the right to vote, but married women couldn’t own any property and had no legal claim to any money they might earn. In short, married women had no legal identity. They did not exist in the eyes of law. It is such a matter of shame that women were expected to focus on household work and motherhood, not politics. During the early period of America, women were not allowed to enjoy some basic rights which were fully enjoyed by the male citizens. Not only no female had the right to vote, but married women couldn’t own any property and had no legal claim to any money they might earn. In short, married women had no legal identity. They did not exist in the eyes of law. It is such a matter of shame that women were expected to focus on household work and motherhood, not politics.

The first wave of American feminism, which took place between the 19th century and the early 20th century is widely known as “suffrage wave”. ‘Suffrage’, which basically means equal rights to vote for men and women. When speaking about the equal right to vote now-a-days, every person would say that every citizen has the right to vote, choose and give their opinions freely irrespective of gender. However, this wasn't the case centuries before, women had to earn their voting right after facing a long hard time. Women protested those man-made discriminatory laws which oppressed them, they wanted legal rights for them and their rights for education.

Taking into account of the significance and impact of the first wave of feminism, we can say this was the most important wave in American feminist movement because during this period women were recognized as a strong political force equal to men and most importantly the right to vote for women was constitutionally approved during this period. This wave could be compared with a ‘revolution’ that changed perception of the world and the role of women in the society abolishing patriarchal traditions and values. Then, for the first time the patriarchal society started to understand that women aren’t things, they’re people.

Source: unsplash

The first women’s rights convention was held in July 1848 at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, N.Y. Organized by five prominent women abolitionists(1st wave of feminism in US emerged from abolition movement) Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary M’Clintock, Martha Coffin Wright, Jane Hunt the gathering pushed for women to have equal rights as men -- including allowing better working conditions for women, marriage and property laws, the right to education for women and reproductive rights. But the most controversial was the right to vote. With Seneca Falls Convention, 1st wave feminism formally started in USA.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, 1st wave feminism was what roiled the American political scene. After Seneca Convention, in 1849, women were allowed to practice medicine in the United States, and Elizabeth Blackwell became the 1st woman to receive a medical degree. Later, in 1851, Sojourner Truth delivered her famous speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, where she, along with Lucretia Mott and Lucy Stone, spoke for both abolitionists and women’s rights movements. These two movements worked together until the conclusion of the Civil War. Truth’s speech demanded equal human rights for all women as well as for all blacks.

After the Civil War, in 1968, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, began to focus on creating a platform for women to rally around. They founded the National Women’s Suffrage Association in 1869.

The conflict between the abolitionists and suffragists started after the Civil War, when three amendments (13th,14th,15th) passed. By the 13th amendment (passed in 1865), slavery became illegal. Black women who were enslaved before the war became free and gained new rights to control their labor, bodies and time. The 14th amendment (passed in 1868) ensured new rights for free women and men of the US, the law stated that everyone born in the United States, including former slaves, was an American citizen. And no state could pass a law that would take away their rights to “life, liberty, or property.” The 14th amendment also first mentioned of gender in the constitution. It declared that only all male citizens over 21 years should be able to vote. At last, the passage of the 15th amendment granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that 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 race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (A.R.Waud).

The insertion of gender into the Constitution and the enfranchisement of African American men presented new challenges for the suffragists. The Constitution asserted that Men—not Women—had the right to vote. Previously, only state laws restricted voting rights to men. Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote, “If that word ‘male’ be inserted, it will take us a century at least to get it out.”

Activists bitterly fought about whether to support or oppose the Fifteenth Amendment. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony objected to the new law. Then activists like Sojourner Truth broke her path when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony stated that they would not support the black vote if women were not also granted the right. Sojourner Truth, though always supported women’s suffrage throughout her life, she always kept a distance from the increasing racist mentality among the suffragists. Then, as felt betrayed by the abolitionists, some suffragists, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony split off to form their own suffrage movement, focused solely on women’s (on white women’s) right to vote. Their basic argument was that they didn’t want “inferior” Black men to “rule over” white women. Susan B. Anthony famously and crudely said “I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the ballot for the Negro and not the woman” (Anthony’s biographer, Ida Husted Harper reported it). So, the debate the 15th Amendment which outlined who could vote in the United States eventually led the abolitionists and suffragists to diverge.

In the early 19th century, the second generation of 1st wave feminists, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, began the political campaigns first-wave feminism is most remembered for. At the same time, a radical branch of suffragists, led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, determined to settle for nothing less than a federal amendment to the Constitution. They picketed the White House, facing repeated beatings, arrests, and deplorable workhouse conditions. Their very public suffering helped turn the nation’s attention and compassion to the vulnerability of women’s positions in society. Their works bore the fruit as 19th amendment in 1920.

Source: unsplash

The 1st wave of feminism culminated after the 19th amendment (National Suffrage Amendment) finally passed (August 26,1920), which gave women the right to vote, and reads: “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. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” It was a great victory for the white women. Just as the abolitionists had decided not to back the feminist cause in 1870, white feminists in 1920 decided not to press the cause of black women — most of whom lived in Southern states, which would continue to marginalize them and make it nearly impossible for them to vote for the next 40 to 60 years (Mississippi was the last to implement the law, on March 22, 1984). The fact that the movement was for solely white women, accounts for their racist rhetoric and unwillingness to include women of color in the vote.

Thus, some historians refer late 18th to early 19th century as Women’s Era because within that time women started to have not only greater political opportunities, but their economic growth also was increased. Women were also aided by legal changes, like claim to their own property, control their wages and make contracts and wills. So, of course, the right to vote women gained when the 19th amendment was passed and ratified. But women made a lot of other gains in that era. More women joined the workforce, they acquired lots of other legal rights related to property, and they also became the key consumers in the industrial economy. Women also continued to play a vital role in reform movements. The field of social work emerged as women like Jane Addams created settlement houses to assist immigrants in their integration into the United States. Women also began to work to make birth control widely available.

Source: unsplash

Through the 1st wave feminism, the most important issue was discrimination among the society. 1st wave feminists demanded emancipation, i.e. freedom from discrimination. Women wanted to see themselves equal to men in all respects. They only demanded for equality; thus 1st wave feminists are also called egalitarian feminists.

“We want rights. The flour-merchant, the house-builder, and the postman charge us no less on account of our sex; but when we endeavor to earn money to pay all these, then, indeed, we find the difference.”

Lucy Stone