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As women entered the workforce during World War I their position on suffrage became even more pronounced. Factory owners exploited women and children and many feared that the right to vote or equality under the law would undermine protective legislation women enjoy. Conservative anti-suffragists believed in the sanctity of motherhood and the home. They felt that full citizenship for women would potentially invalidate this notion of femininity and the cult of domesticity. Suffragettes, on the other hand, felt that a woman's right to vote was the only way to guarantee protection and ultimately achieve equality. The movement took on a force of its own when leaders were arrested and jailed. Picketing and protesting in front of the White House was an effective measure that only attracted more publicity and attention. The suffragettes refused to give up their fight despite war abroad. President Wilson could no longer ignore the determination of these courageous women and finally supported a federal woman's suffrage amendment in 1918. Bitter resentment continued and many states remained unconvinced that universal suffrage was necessary. Despite unwavering reluctance, states slowly began to ratify the amendment that finally passed through the Senate in 1919 by a margin of only two votes. The final state to give the 19th Amendment its two-thirds majority it needed to become part of the Constitution was Tennessee. On August 26, 1920 the 19th Amendment was signed into law, sealing the end of a long and arduous campaign for civil rights.
Women's suffrage was one of the most remarkable victories in the history of the struggle for civil rights. The lasting and determined efforts of the suffragettes are legacies for students today who strive for the betterment of human life. The peaceful measures that women took finally broke down an entrenched patriarchal tradition that had fervently resisted the true meaning of universal suffrage. Women were an underclass with virtually no representation and managed to overcome one of the most ingrained social institutions of the modern age. The fight tens of thousands of women endured sparked an entirely new conception of equality that the Declaration of Independence has attempted to define. "That all men are created equal…" was a phrase that had never included women or had the slightest suggestion of actual universal suffrage. |
Copyright Molly Egan, Jason Wood; Lehigh University 1999