Background
The fight for women’s suffrage was about more than the right to vote. By the end of the 1800s United States society had undergone a rapid shift from agrarian to industrial. This meant that most workers now worked outside their homes in factories or for companies rather than on family farms or for small family businesses. In spite of this shift, the majority of Americans still held the long-standing belief that women’s primary role was to care for their homes and families. But some women were pushing for new opportunities for their sex. They wanted women to be able to go to college, work as teachers and librarians, join clubs and organizations, and vote. This did not mean they thought women should give up caring for their homes and families. They just believed modern women could do both.
But this vision of modern womanhood was only available to women of the middle and upper classes. Most working-class and poor women had to work outside their homes in low-paying jobs just to support their families. They did not have the time or resources to pursue the college education necessary to get higher-paying, well-respected jobs.
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Rose O’Neill, Together for Home and Family, 1915. Courtesy David O’Neill.
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1977 - 2001End of the Twentieth Century
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1889 - 1920Modernizing America
63 ItemsDiscover how women experienced and shaped immigration, industrialization, progressivism, and suffrage at the turn of the 20th century.
1866 - 1904Industry and Empire
42 ItemsConsider women’s rights at the end of the 19th century as the nation redefined the boundaries and privileges of citizenship.
1948 - 1977Growth and Turmoil
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1820 - 1869Expansions and Inequalities
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1492 - 1734Early Encounters
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1920 - 1948Confidence and Crises
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1692 - 1783Colonies and Revolution
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1832 - 1877A Nation Divided
50 ItemsDelve into the ways women participated in all aspects of the Civil War, and on both sides, from the early debate over the expansion of slavery through Reconstruction.
1776 - 1831Building a New Nation
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