Julian Phan

English 12 Honors
06 September 2013

Womens Suffrage Journal

Throughout history, women have pursued to demand equality in a male dominant

society. Although this passage toward equality progressed slowly and strenuously, womens
suffrage was finally granted in the 19th Amendment. However, were it not for the endless
perseverance of these women, this law would never have been established.
As early, maybe even earlier, as the 1800s women from all over the world fought for
womens suffrage. In Victorian England, where social hierarchy and gender stereotypes were
emphasized, around the late 1860s, working Victorian women began to play an important role
in the fight for women's suffrage and improved wages and working conditions (1). Not only
were women in England challenging their social status, but across the globe in the United
States, twere women battling the society they lived in.
Around the time of the civil war, a famous womens activist, Sojourner Truth, questioned
her role in society as a black woman and former slave. Throughout the war, she continued to
support abolitionists and womens rights while creating one of the greatest works in American
history. In 1851, her poem Aint I a Women revealed the equality of work executed by slaves
regardless of gender; yet the community discriminated the women slaves. In the speech, she
pointed out how the gender classifications did not even consider her as women when she said
That man over there say/ a woman needs to be helped into carriages/ and lifted over ditches/
and to have the best place everywhere./ Nobody ever helped me into carriages/ or over mud
puddles/ or gives me a best place. . .(2). Not only did Sojourner fight for womens suffrage, but
famous activists such as Susan B. Anthony also influenced the womens rights movement.
Although several activists in the nineteenth cetnury enlightened the journey to womens
suffrage, it would be several years later when women would finally be able to vote.
From 1913 to 1920, women activist would pursue in declaring the right to vote through
the law. Throughout the century, several women such as Alice Walker would spread the the
injustice of women inequality in America. By convincing several states, the National Womens
Party activist would hopefully be able to pass a law for womens suffrage. This party created a
flag and a star was placed on the flag for each state in which women were enfranchised (3).
After finally gaining legislative support and ratification from 36 states, on August 26, 1920, the
Nineteenth Amendment was adopted. Although the journey toward womens suffrage was
extensive, laborious, women finally declared the right to vote and transformed the course of
history for women.