Women S Right To Vote

Women exercised their right to vote for the President their first time in November of 1920

The First Women’s Right Video is the one that stood out to me from the very beginning. It amazes me how what these women did for not just themselves, the women of that time, but for also the women of today. They were head strong and very determined, had they not be, would we as women have rights today? Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony were two of the women that fought for our rights as women. Had it not been for Elizabeth Stanton and the other ladies holding the Women’s Right Convention in Seneca Falls, New York on July 19-20, of 1848 I’m not really sure if we would even have rights today, we might but I don’t believe our mothers or grandmothers would have. That day on July 19, only women were allowed to be there, the next day the 20th, both men and women were allowed. Elizabeth Stanton, thought fearful of this privately, stood to the crowd and stated that men had deprived them of their rights, equal education and profession, divorce and custody of their children. That day, 68 women and 32 men signed on the paper. She then asked for the right to vote, which everyone in the building got quite because they couldn’t believe she would ask such a thing. She stated “The right to vote is ours. Have it we must. Use it we will”. It would be some 70 more years before the women would have gained full citizenship yet in saying that the fight for women’s right had begun. In 1851, Elizabeth met someone who would become her dear friend and also fellow women’s activist, Susan Anthony. Over the next several years they would work on speeches together, reforms and rights including the Temperance and divorce reform, co-education and married women’s property rights, the dress reform, and equal pay for equal work. Elizabeth showed that women could be mothers, wives, and still do things outside the regular norm that was placed upon women in that time. Even though, these are two women that fought so hard for women’s right they never saw the day that women would gain full citizenship in America. On November 2, of 1920, more than eight million women in American, for the first time ever, went to the poll and exercised their right to vote. The thing that interested me the most about this video is how these women fought for our rights. We as American women now take these rights for granted in my opinion. They were looked down upon in some cases and were attacked by the press but all in all, kept pushing forward. Elizabeth was a mother of five children yet, still push forward which gives me more backbone (in a sense) to know that I can do anything I set my mind to do. Another thing that really stuck out to me was that when they went to propose the equal pay for equal work it was defeated because mostly women voted against it. I just can’t wrap my head around that. Maybe because they felt they shouldn’t work? I’m not really sure. All in all, I really enjoyed this video and learning more about it.