This essay is about the women's rights movement starting in 1948 all the way up to 1920. It gives an overview of the groups and people involved, and some major milestones they accomplished.

Essay by mattanvsworldHigh School, 11th gradeA+, January 2004

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An Era of Reform

Who would have known that what first started off as a hand-full of people at the Seneca Falls convention of 1848 would snowball into an all-out rebellion against the cruel and unjust treatment of women? The woman's rights movement owes its success to the brilliant techniques used by Women's rights activists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, people who single-handedly brought the issue of Women's Rights from the kitchen into the public's awareness. The women involved in the woman's rights movement used strategies such as lobbying congress, holding demonstrations, and appealing to each state, some of which were more effective than others in achieving social and political reform.

One group of woman's rights activists, the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) chose the moderate approach of pushing their agenda by making local reforms state to state. They took their ideas of equality to each state governor individually.

By 1900 the NAWSA had persuaded Wyoming to let women vote for local elections, by 1912 nine other states had granted women the same rights. Although this was a commendable achievement, this was far from voting in presidential elections. To achieve this more radical goal other strategies had to be applied.

The NAWSA, however, took a more outspoken approach, by lobbying congress. Lobbying was an affective method of legislating a broad acceptance of woman's rights legally, as they were able to speak directly to the congressmen, the people who could approve of the proposed 19th amendment, one that would give women the right to vote in all 50 states. While the 14th amendment gave black men equality and the right to vote, it did not mention women. Although they did get their bill onto the floor of congress, it would take years before the idea of...