Women and Public Life Women during the Progressive Era actively campaigned for reforms in education, children’s welfare, and suffrage.

I. Opportunities for Women Higher Education Limited opportunities at higher education 1833, Oberlin College began admitting women By 1870, about 20% of all college students were women By 1900, more than 1/3 were women Middle or upper class Many still denied professional opportunities American Medical Association did not admit women Put talent and skills to work in reform movements

Employment opportunities Jobs for educated women expanded in the late 1800s Teachers, nurses, bookkeepers, secretaries, typists, and shop clerks Expanding roles in business, newspapers, and magazines Working class women without a high school education Found jobs in industry They took jobs that paid less than the men’s job Employers assumed women were single or being supported by their fathers Employers used these reasons to pay them lower wages By late 1800s, opportunities in public life began to change the way many middle-class women viewed their world. Women began to see they had a role in their communities and in society beyond the home.

Questions What new opportunities did women find outside the home in the late 1800s? In terms of wages, what did employers assume about working women? What opportunities did women have for education in the late 1800s?

II. Gaining Political Experience Children’s Health and Welfare Gained experience campaigning for children’s rights Worked to end child labor, improve children’s health, and promote education Lillian Wald Founder of the Henry Street Settlement Believed government had a responsibility to tend to the well being of children Campaigned to achieve that goal Federal’s Children’s Bureau opened in 1912

18th Amendment Prohibition Called for a ban on making, selling, and distributing alcoholic beverages Progressive women gained experience in the prohibition movement Reformers believed alcohol was often responsible for crime, poverty, and violence towards women Two national organizations Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) Anti-Saloon League WCTU headed by Frances Willard Became a force in the temperance movement Billy Sunday Former baseball player turned evangelist Preached saloons were “the parents of crimes and the mother of sins.” Carry Nation Took a hatchet to saloons Urged women across the U.S. to do the same 18th Amendment Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages

Questions How did women gain political experience through participation in reforms movements? What areas did women address in their reform movements?

III. Rise of the Women’s Suffrage Movement 15th Amendment Suffragist called for the right to vote for women and freed slave after the Civil War Suffragist were not satisfied with the passage of the 15th Amendment It gave the right to vote to African Americans, but not to women It prohibited denying the right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude.”

Women Organize Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Formed the National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA) Campaigned for a constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote. Supported Victoria Woodhull, the first woman presidential candidate, 1872 In 1869, Wyoming Territory granted women the right to vote Utah Territory followed a year later 12 states granted women the right to vote before women won the right nationwide.

Susan B. Anthony test the law 1872, staged a dramatic protest She registered to vote On election day, she voted in Rochester, NY 2 weeks later she was arrested for “knowingly, wrongfully and unlawfully” voting in a congressional election Tried for this crime Judge refused to allow her to testify on her own behalf Fined $100 She refused to pay 1875, Supreme Court ruled that even though women were citizens, citizenship did not give them the right to vote. The court decided it was up to the states to grant or withhold that right

Two Organizations merge 1890, NWSA and American Women Suffrage Association merged National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Women finally win the right to vote in 1920

Questions Why was Susan B. Anthony arrested? Why do you think the Supreme Court ruled that the right to vote should be left to individual states? Why was it beneficial to form the NAWSA? What effect did the passage of the 15th Amendment have on suffragists? Why did many women choose to join the temperance movement?