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The Changing Role of Women Throughout History
Lucille Casas
HIS206 United States History II
Darlene Smyth
May 11, 2015



Throughout history, women overcame many obstacles for equal rights. Some of these included women’s right to vote, which brought about the 19th Amendment; working in male specific jobs then serving in the military during World War II; women’s liberation which fought for equal rights at work and ending discrimination; and finally Title IX which protected people in education programs from discrimination based on sex. The fight for women’s suffrage included many strategies dating all the way back to the 1800’s.
At that time women were not considered citizens, subsequently neither were they allowed to own land or have voting privileges. Women worked side by side with men throughout the expansion to the west moved along. They were equally important to farm life as men. The role of women included tending to the chickens, growing vegetables, feeding and caring for the children, and doing the cooking and cleaning. But at that time married women were not allowed to own land or keep any money they earned.
Women began to organize and wanted to be more directly involved in politics. They felt if they could have more of a hand in politics, they could clean up politics and have more voice in how things should be run. In 1876, Anthony argued, “Woman needs the ballot as a protection to herself; it is a means and not an end. Until she gets it she will not be satisfied, nor will she be protected.” They wanted to earn the right to vote so they could revise the laws that “barred them from universities; revise marriage, child custody, and divorce laws; and cleanup the cities and the corrupt political system” (Library of Congress, n.d.). In 1900 Carrie Chapman Catt became the president of this Association and her plan was to gain the right to vote state by state. By 1914 her efforts lead to 10 western states allowing women the right...

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