History 131
Professor Kang
April 13, 2015
Essay #2 Woman Suffrage has played an important role in our lives. Not just for Women but also for the men during those time periods. Along with the several conflicts that many of the women leading these movements encountered one of the main problems was the men who opposed it and the public knowledge. Women wanted to reform the policies but in order to obtain that they needed a vote. Women all over the place all had different reasons for wanting the ability to vote. After the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory many women demanded safer working environments. At the time children were also in the work field and were being mistreated as well. The following quote from a textbook describes the situation at the time, “British writer H.G. Wells was horrified by American child labor. Traveling in New York in the late 19th century, he observed children selling newspapers and blacking boots, then saw them collapsed on the subway from exhaustion.” (661). Again the main problem was the fact that not many people were aware of certain situations such as this one. This was a big motive for women in trying to vote. Alice Paul was one of the most important people when it came to the Woman Suffrage Movement. It wasn't until Paul left the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) that she started to push for a federal constitutional amendment in the National Woman’s Party. She seemed more determined than ever and her main objective was to raise more public awareness with rallies and parades. NAWSA wasn't an organization to draw much attention like Paul did because they wanted to keep out of trouble. But Paul knew that the public needed to be informed, and she wasn't afraid of the outcomes, which is why her motive and drive is what had made her so successful. She was also more interested in pressuring president Wilson face to face which was something that the National American Women Suffrage Association never tried. Woman’s suffrage was arguably a long process itself. Estimating at least 70 years and included many sacrifices made by the women. One of the main problems with pushing for women's right to vote had to have been creating public awareness. The National Women’s Party tried its hardest to get flyers and to keep people informed even if it meant standing outside of the white house protesting. But there were several people who simply didn't care about women's right to vote and felt like the men knew what they were doing. What was probably the most surprising was the fact that men treated the women horribly especially when it came to the parades and marches. Men actually attacked these women for protesting in what they believed in. It seemed as if the men during this period were almost offended at the information they lacked and sought no other way to deal with the problem but to become violent. Many of the things the woman suffragists went through were unconstitutional and unfair. It seemed now matter how bad the situations turned out the National Women’s Party remained strong for what they believed in. This eventually started to get recognition and brought attention to how unfair it was. When the women of the group had been charged with obstructing traffic many people in the crowd had cheered as if they were criminals finally getting caught. It was shocking how unfair the whole situation was but what was even more ridiculous was the fact that everyone, including the president, was okay with it. Little