Suffrage Mmovement Divided - 1024 Words

â€Å"Without doubt, the last century has witnessed an unprecedented expansion of women’s rights, in one of the most profound social revolutions the world has ever seen. One hundred years ago, only two countries allowed women to vote. Today, that right is virtually universal. Millions of men and women around the world today advocate to end violence against women, and a record two-thirds of countries have passed laws against it.† – Michelle Bachelet, UN Women Executive Director The battle for women’s suffrage in America lasted for 100 years or more and at times was devisee. Women were not only demanding political rights they were fundamentally challenging historic religious and cultural norms. Whether they recognized it at the time or not†¦show more content†¦President Woodrow Wilson was appalled by the women protestors but was eventually won over by the efforts of the women workforce and the suffrage leader, Carrie Chapman Catt. Woodrow Wilson addressed the senate in favor of the Nineteenth Amendment. However the Senate rejected women’s suffrage by two votes. The Nineteenth Amendment would not be passed until 1920, after the war was over. Once the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified and women had won the right to vote, little actually changed in terms of gender equality. Women worked outside the home, but were kept in â€Å"female occupations† such as education, secretarial and social work. Women salaries were not comparable to men’s and their role is politics was limited. Women had won the vote but in doing so lost the momentum for gender equality. Could it be that women did not comprehend ‘true equality’ or were they content with the progress that had been made. Juliet Mitchell in her essay â€Å"Women: The Longest Revolution â€Å"(1966) argued that women perceive themselves as deficient, their identity linked to patriarchal social view. The 1920’s ushered in a â€Å"new morality† and brought with it the† new women†, but it was not a sexual revolution. The legalization of birth control now sexualized women in a new way. The flapper