Progressive Women and Reform

What was life like for Women before reform? Role of women in society was limited to raising children, cooking meals, cleaning the home, and caring for family members Those who worked outside of the home had the bottom of the barrel jobs with extremely long hours and dangerous conditions They were expected to give their wages to their husbands, fathers, or brothers Lower-class women were most likely to fill the bad jobs and most likely were cheated or bullied by their employers

Women had no right to vote  little influence on the politicians who could expand their rights and look after their interests

What Reform were women fighting for? Women reformers wanted to limit the number of work hours in a day In 1908, SCOTUS ruled that states had the right to restrict women work hours Victory for women at the time, but would be used to justify paying women less than men Social and political reformer, Florence Kelley, believed that women were hurt by unfair prices of goods needed to run a home In 1899, she helped found the National Consumers League (NCL)  gave special labels to “goods produced under fair, safe, and healthy working conditions  urged women to buy these labeled goods

She also helped form the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL)  pushed for federal laws that set minimum wage and an eight hour work day Progressive women also wanted to improve family life The temperance movement pushed for the practice of never drinking alcohol  lead to the passage of the 18th Amendment of the Constitution (outlawed production and sale of alcohol) Margaret Sanger thought that women could live healthier lives if they had fewer children  first woman to push for birth control African American women also pushed for social change In 1896, Ida B. Wells, helped form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW)  help families strive for success and help the less fortunate

The Fight for the Right to Vote The biggest goal of Progressive women was suffrage (suffragists) They argued that this was the only way to make sure the government would protect children, foster education, and support family life Political issues reached inside of people’s homes This wasn’t the first time women pushed for suffrage Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton blazed the trail for Progressive women to achieve women suffrage In the 1890’s, Carrie Chapman Catt took the charge in the national suffrage effort

The Nineteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution With the support of the war effort by women’s groups, a growing number of legislatures began to support women’s suffrage June 1919, Congress approved the Nineteenth Amendment and it was ratified on August 18, 1920 by 1 vote 19th Amendment stated that the right to vote “shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.” November 2, 1920  American women voted for the first time in a U.S. presidential election (Warren Harding)