During the Progressive Era, women began to step up and started to become a voice in the United States. Why now and why not then is my question? During that era, women started to fight for what was right, and that began with the right to vote. Women in my opinion stepped up to the plate, some were good others maybe not, but who am I to judge? Women played important roles to other women who were not so fortunate, here are some important role models for women during the Progressive Era, Margaret Sanger, Mary 'mother' Jones, Emma Goldman, Jane Addams, and many more. Women went through a lot of suffrage, and in my opinion, I felt bad. Women wanted the right to vote, some even wanted to own property and own a business, but their biggest view was to promote better schooling for children, regulate child labor, a union for working women, better wages, a safe working environment, and ban liquor. Some women
Women started to establish social clubs across the country to express their knowledge and let their voices be heard. Joining these clubs there was no discrimination. Women welcomed all to their society no matter what race, culture, wealth, poor, mothers, and working women. Most important women had to protect themselves from society. Looking at the photos, we have a woman standing outside with a sign, ' Help us to win the vote' (guides.Loc.gov) this was about women's right to vote. They wanted to be equal to men have the right to vote and make a difference in the nation. The women in the images, of the Progressive era, were sending a message saying listen we had enough and now it's time for us to take our stand. Women Power.
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In the textbook we see women working in unsafe Factories. On page 552, ' Women at work in a shoe factory 1908'(pg 552). Women were changing the environment for example, 'Women in urban public places - at work, as shoppers and in place of entrainment like cinemas and dance halls- indicated that traditional gender roles were changing dramatically in Progressive America' (552). Another example was the Triangle fire in New York, women wanted to work but for better wages and a safe workplace.
Then we have Mary 'mother' Jones 'who at the age of eighty-three had been jailed after addressing striking Colorado miners (pg 560). She was arrested for giving free speech, telling people ' had only the Constitution; the other side had bayonets'(pg 560). I thought this was ludicrous. Now we have a new era, Feminism in 1914, they had this huge meeting in New York, 'The Cooper Union debated the question What is feminism? One speaker said it meant women's emancipation both as a human being and sex-being.'( pg 560-561). I can't believe there were rules for women to act on sexual behavior. Emma Goldman introduced America to birth control and gave speeches ' that gave political expressions to changing sexual behavior. Then Margaret Sanger, 'placed the birth control movement at the heart of the new feminism'. (pg 561). Margaret educates people about sex and 'What every girl should know'(pg 561).
The next important piece was the women's suffrage campaign. These women formed groups, clubs, unions, and settlement homes. Their membership grew from thirteen thousand to 2 million in 1917, which was a huge uprise of membership. 'For the first time, it became a mass movement' (pg 567). this was a huge step in the right direction for women.
Finally, the best thing that happened during the Progressive Era for women was the Nineteenth Amendment. It gave women the right to vote no matter what sex. Women now became leaders of their society and had political power. What surprised me was what women went through, and that was something that I did not know beforehand. The worst was women, working in a factory in unsafe conditions and being locked in like the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. The owner of the company locked the doors in the stairway and no bathroom break. Today that would never happen or be tolerated and many places now have unions.
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