1. Women in Public Life
Chapter 6 Section 2

3. A. Opportunities for Women
1. Higher Education
Few education opportunities for women in 1800s
In 1833, Oberlin College in Ohio was the 1st college to admit men and women
1870, about 20% of college students were women
By 1900, more than 1/3 of college students were women
Most were middle or upper class
Many professions still did not admit women
Instead, women put their efforts into reform movements

4. 2. Employment Opportunities
In early 1800s, educated women worked as teachers an nurses
By 1900, women were working in businesses as bookkeepers, typists, secretaries, and shop clerks
Newspapers and magazines began to hire women as writers and artists
Uneducated women worked in factories

5. B. Gaining Political Experience
1. Children’s Health and Welfare
Many women were progressives
They campaigned for an end to child labor
Women thought that the gov’t had a responsibility to take care of children
Many wanted a federal agency to oversee the well-being of children
The Federal Children’s Bureau was created in 1912

6. 2. Prohibition Many women participated in the Prohibition movement
Many believed that alcohol was the cause of poverty, crime, and violence against women and children

7. The Women Christian’s Temperance Movement and the Anti-Saloon League were two organizations that pushed prohibition
Many reformers pushed for prohibition in Protestant churches
Billy Sunday was a famous prohibition preacher
Carrie Nation was an infamous prohibitionist
-she would go into saloons and smash liquor bottles with a hatchet
Prohibitionists convinced congress to pass the 18th Amendment in 1919, but it was repealed 14 years later

8. 3. Civil Rights
African American women fought for the same things as white women
They had the added burden of fighting racial discrimination
In 1896, black women founded the National Association of Colored Women
Many famous African American women joined the NACW, inlcuding Harriet Tubman
The NACW campaigned against poverty, segregation, and lynching
It also fought Jim Crow Laws

9. C. Rise of the Women’s Suffrage Movement
The Seneca Falls Convention
Seneca Falls Convention had been an early step towards suffrage
After the Civil War, some thought that women should be included in the 15th Amendment
By the 1870s, two women campaigned for a constitutional amendment:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

10. 2. Susan B. Anthony Tests the Law
Most well-known women’s suffragist
Wrote pamphlets and made speeches
She also went to Congress and fought for suffrage
In 1872, her and three other women registered and attempted to vote in NY
They were arrested
At her trial, Anthony was fined $100
She refused to pay, hoping that the court would throw her in jail and she could appeal to higher courts
The court voted not to put her in jail

11. Congress said that even though women were citizens, that still did not give them the right to vote
They said that each state could decide on their own
Wyoming was first territory to allow women suffrage
Therefore women began to campaign state by state in order to win women’s suffrage

12. 3. Anti-Suffrage Arguments
“Voting would interfere with women’s duties in the home”
“Women in politics would destroy the home”
“Women did not have the education to vote”
“Women do not really want to vote”
“It is unfair for suffragists to force women to vote”
Liquor companies did not want to give women the right to vote
Businesses did not want to give women the right to vote (get rid of child labor)
Churches thought that women should not vote because it could hurt the home