Women's Suffrage Movement

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Social Change In 1917, the United States went to war with Germany and hoped to spread democracy to European countries while 20,000,000 American women were deprived of self-government (Suffragette Banner). It took seventy-two years for society to change from thinking women were “childlike and incapable of independent thought” to reaching suffrage (“Why Women Couldn’t Vote”). Various women’s rights groups achieved social change by using a worthwhile cause, publicity, and brave leadership. The women’s suffrage movement is an example of a worthwhile cause that has inspired many people. To begin, in 1848 at Seneca Falls, Elizabeth Cady Stanton pulled together a group of the most influential and progressive thinkers of the time. They discussed a variety of rights to empower women. In their discussion, they …show more content…
As the movement gained steam from Catt’s NAWSA to Paul’s NWP, enough pressure was put on the decision makers to finally ratify the Nineteenth Amendment which gave women the vote (van Garnier). These facts work together to build a case that having a worthwhile cause is essential because social change takes time and sacrifice. If the cause is flippant, it will not garner support or last long term. This significant shift in thinking was nudged along through the use of publicity. Publicity is an important component of the women’s rights movement. During the women’s rights movement, women protested in front of the White House and were arrested. When they went to jail, they refused to eat. So, the warden force-fed some of the women, including Alice Paul. The force-feedings were reported to the newspaper which created massive publicity, and angry Americans put pressure on the decision makers to support the Nineteenth Amendment (van Garnier). Long before this extreme incident of publicity, Elizabeth Cady Stanton began the movement in Seneca Falls,