Celebrating the 96th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment

Living in this day and age, people of every age, race, creed, and sex can enjoy equal rights. We as people tend to take for granted these privileges by abusing them at times and in certain situations. This great nation today wasn’t as liberal as it was many moons ago and people had to fight extremely hard for the very same privileges people have at the present moment, including women’s right to vote. This is why the 19th Amendment should be celebrated.

On August 18th of 1920, a right known as woman suffrage was ratified as the 19th Amendment of the United States. This act gave women the right to vote for the very first time. While being a free nation; the U.S. still held many restrictions and prejudices against it citizens. Female citizens didn’t share many of the rights that male citizens were given especially when it came to voting. The idea had already come into fruition early on, but women could only do so much to get noticed and to be heard. 1848 was the year that this movement launched nationwide, which gave it some much needed publicity. Abolitionists Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton stood at the forefront at a convention in Seneca Falls, New York; pushing and demanding for a women’s rights movement. This attention captured other activists such as Susan B. Anthony and the newly formed organization lobbied the U.S. Government for equal rights while raising public awareness. As many as 70 years had passed and with many ups & downs, this organization of activists finally won their hard fought battle with the passage of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

” Did You Know”

• Married women weren’t allowed to own any property
• Women had no claim to any money they earned
• Nellie Tayloe Ross was Wyoming’s first female Governor
• Women were excluded from politics and had to focus on motherhood and housework

The hard fought victory didn’t happen overnight and went through three decades of frustration known as the “Doldrums.” Much of the movement’s opposition came from southern states, but the activists pushed through and on May 21, 1919 it passed the House of Representatives. On June 4, 1919 it went before the Senate and finally was passed 56 ayes and 25 nays.

 Presently in 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton pushes ever so closely to becoming the president of the United States and is a perfect example of what this movement is. Women being able to vote and are now campaigning for political jobs, which is a major transformation of how things were nearly one hundred years ago.Throughout the 20th Century, women’s roles dramatically changed. Women were now receiving higher education, entering the workforce, and competing for jobs commonly held by men. In the U.S. alone; over 57% of women make-up the current job force. This goes to show that anything worth fighting for is definitely worth having.