+

Women in the Progressive Era, 1900 -1920

Dr. Lucia McMahonTAH PresentationMarch 2010

+Origins: Seneca Falls Convention

July 1848

First women’s rights convention in the US

Sparked organized Women’s Rights Movement

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created

equal...”—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration

of Sentiments

+The “True Womanhood” Ideal

19th-century middle-class ideals stressed: Domesticity Piety Passivity Nurturing Mothering

“Home as Haven”

Women’s legal status – NO rights to: Property Wages Education Political Rights (Voting, Office Holding,

Jurors, etc.)

+19th-Century Women and

Reform 19th-century women

became active in a variety of reform movements, including: Missionary/Bible

Societies Moral Reform Societies Temperance Movement Education/School Abolition Women’s Rights

Women used prescriptive ideas about “true womanhood” to justify their reform work

+“New” Woman Emerges

Late 19th-century:

“true womanhood” ideal “new” woman

A “new” woman was:EducatedIndependentEmployedDeterminedModern

+The “New Woman” in the Progressive Era

Women coming of age in late 19th-century had improved options:More Employment OpportunitiesAccess to More Leisure ActivitiesAccess to Higher EducationSupportive NetworksRevitalized Suffrage Movement

+Women in the Labor Force

By 1920, women made up 21.4% of labor force: Teachers Librarians Telephone Operators Clerical Work Sales Clerks Nurses Factory Workers Maids Cooks

Women’s wages only 1/2 of men’s

+Women, Work & Leisure

More Autonomy and Independence

Leisure Activities

Consumer Culture

+Women and Higher Education

Expanded access to higher education: Vassar, Smith, and other elite “sister

schools” founded Many new land-grant colleges were co-ed

By 1880, women represented 32% of college students

By 1900, 85,000 young women attended college

Many college-educated women delayed marriage or remained single

Anna Howard Shaw, President of NAWSA 1904-11915

+Settlement House Movement

Provided professional careers for educated women AND

Social services for working class & immigrant women

Hull House founded in 1889 by Jane Addams

Served Immigrant Women and Children Child Care Kindergarten Classes Adult Education Social Events and

Clubs

By 1910, there were 400 settlement houses in the U.S.

+“Public Housekeeping”

Reformers used image of “public housekeeping” to describe their activities

Progressive Era women active in variety of reforms: Child Labor Laws Public Housing Public Education Public Libraries Public Health Playgrounds Food Safety Sanitation

“If a woman would keep on with her old business of caring for her home and rearing her children she will have to have some conscience in regard to public affairs lying outside of her immediate household . . . [she] must take part in legislation which is alone sufficient to protect the home from the dangers incident to modern life.” – Jane Addams

+Women’s Christian Temperance Union Founded in 1873

Led by Frances Willard

160,000 members by 1890

245,000 members by 1911

Became single largest women’s organization

“Do Everything” Philosophy: Along with promoting

temperance laws, WCTU took on other “male vices”-- from prostitution to political corruption

+Organizing Women Workers

1903: Women’s Trade Union League Founded Coalition of union

activists and elite women

1909: International Ladies Garment Workers Union went on strike in NYC

1911: Continued activism after Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Factory

+Votes for Women

New generation of women revitalize suffrage movement

Employed more militant strategies Marches Speaking tours Picketing

+Suffrage in the Progressive Era Women’s suffrage seen as

logistical extension of women’s various Progressive Era reforms

Suffrage was “the most potent means of social and moral reform.” ~Frances Willard

+ 1890: National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA)

State-by-State campaigns

Membership grew to 75,000 by 1910

State Campaigns Victories: 1910: Washington 1911: California 1912: Oregon, Arizona,

and Kansas 1914: Nevada and

Montana

+ New Leadership: Alice Paul and Lucy Burns

Experienced English militant suffrage movement firsthand

Joined NAWSA’s Congressional Committee

Organized a march in DC to coincide with President Wilson’s inauguration

Shift in strategy to focus on Federal Amendment

+ 1913 March in DC

+Inez Milholland

Used her wealth, intellect, beauty and connections to promote suffrage

“Quintessential New Woman of the Era”

+ New Women’s Party Led by Paul & Burns,

the strategies of NWP reflected more radical, tactics that were popular in the English suffrage movement: Picketing Hunger strikes Strategic use of

media and public spaces 1916: Members of the NWP picketing in

Chicago where Wilson was delivering a speech

+Gaining Momentum

+World War I & Suffrage

1917: United States enters WWI

Suffragists split: Support War Effort

Organized Relief Effort Served in Red Cross War-time Work

Peace Demonstrations 1915: Delegates from WPP

attend International Peace Conference

Continue Suffrage Campaign

Jane Addams & Members of Women’s Peace Party (WPP)

+NAWSA/WWI NAWSA linked suffrage to women's work in war efforts

Carrie Catt argued that the country should “reward” women with vote for their patriotic support of the war.

+NWP/Wartime Protests

NWP picketed White House

Protestors were arrested and imprisoned

+

+“Iron Jawed Angels”

+President Wilson’s Support

1918: After much pressure from NAWSA and the NWP, President Wilson finally supported the suffrage movement

September 30, 1918: Wilson’s Address to the Senate:

“We have made partners of the women in this war; shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil, and not to a partnership of privilege and right?”

“This measure which I urge upon you is vital to the winning of the war and to the energies alike of preparation and of battle.”

President Wilson Favors Votes for Women

+The 19th Amendment

1919: House of Representatives and Senate approve 19th Amendment

¾ of states needed for ratification

August 20, 1920: Tennessee approved the amendment by one vote

+“The right of

citizens of the United States to vote shall

not be denied or abridged by

the United States or by an State on account of

sex.”

+Web Sources and Image Credits

Jane Addams/Hull House: http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/Exhibits/janeaddams/hullhouse.htm http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/urbanexp/

National Women’s History Museum: http://www.nwhm.org/

Library of Congress Exhibits on Suffrage: http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9803/suffrage.html http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/naw/nawshome.html http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/index.html

Alice Paul Institute: http://www.alicepaul.org/index.htm

Bryn Mawr Women and the Right to Vote: http://www.brynmawr.edu/library/exhibits/suffrage/