The Emergence Of Modern Woman
The new urban environment fostered the growth of feminism. As millions of women began to work outside the home, they saw themselves in a new light, and began to demand certain rights. Many women asserted their independence by participating in social reform movements. Along with their male counterparts, they crusaded for pressing reforms, such abolition and prohibition.
Susan B. Anthony: For more than half a century Susan B. Anthony fought for women's suffrage. She traveled from county to county in New York and other states making speeches and organizing clubs for women's rights. She pleaded her cause with every president from Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton: A pioneer in the modern quest for women's rights, Stanton helped to organize a political movement that demanded voting rights for women. She was a prominent leader in the campaign for what became the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution which guaranteed female suffrage.
Carrie Chapman Catt: When Susan B. Anthony retired in 1900 from the NAWSA, she chose Carrie Chapman Catt to take her place. Though Catt was forced to resign in 1904 due to her husbands illness, she remained active in NAWSA and in 1915 became its president. After this, Catt continued to play a large role in the fight for Women's rights.
Alice Paul: Alice Paul was a U.S. woman suffragist who was born in Moorestown, N.J. She was imprisoned three times in England and three times in the U.S. for activities in woman suffrage movement. She led the Congressional Union for Women's Suffrage, later called the National Woman's party, in lobbying for the right to vote during World War I.
Women’s Christian Temperance Union: The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in 1874. Partly through their efforts, six states adopted Prohibition by 1890. It became the nation’s first mass organization of women. Its activities included welfare work, prison reform, labor arbitration and public health.
Francis Willard: In 1874 a temperance crusade swept the United States. A young lecturer and educator, Frances Willard, joined the movement, became famous for building the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She soon became the president of the newly formed union. Willard stressed religion and morality in her work.
Carry A. Nation: A vehement foe of alcoholic beverages, Carry A. Nation would appear at a saloon, berate the customers, and proceed to damage as much of the place as she could with her hatchet. She was the scourge of tavern owners and drinkers alike in Kansas, as well as in many other states.
Clara Barton: Single-handedly, she organized supply depots to serve Civil War soldiers. For four years after the war, she headed the search for missing soldiers. In 1872 she campaigned to organize a branch of the Red Cross in the United States. She succeeded in 1881. For 23 years she directed Red Cross work in every great disaster.
Colleges admitting women: By the end of the 19th century the number of women students had increased greatly. Higher education was broadened by the rise of women's colleges and the admission of women to regular colleges and universities. In 1870 an estimated one fifth of resident college students were women. By 1900 this had increased to more than one third.
Bicycling emerges as a hobby for women: Constraints on women were loosened toward the end of the nineteenth century when bicycling swept the U.S. Fearful of waning vitality, middle and upper-class women turned to bicycle riding as a source of exercise, recreation, and a way to escape the restrictive Victorian attitudes towards female physical activity.
Divorce rate: By the turn of the twentieth century divorce rate in the United States had started to steadily grow. This was due to more opportunities for women which made them less economically dependent on their husbands. An increased number of people living in the cities also contributed to the fact that cities had higher divorce rates than rural areas.
