America Comes of Age

Lesson 2 Women Gain Rights

Key Terms

Florence Kelley- Played a major role at Hull House in calling attention to the working
conditions of women and children. In 1899, she headed the newly founded National
Consumer League. In 1909 Kelley helped found the NAACP.

National Consumers League- Group organized in 1899 to investigate the conditions

under which goods were made and sold and to promote safe working conditions and a
minimum wage.

temperance movement- Movement aimed at stopping alcohol abuse and the problems
created by it.

Frances Willard- A professor who grew interested in the temperance movement in

1874. She joined the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), where she
clashed with other members by insisting on linking its goals with women’s suffrage. By
1879, she had gained enough support to be elected president of the WCTI, a position
she held for the rest of her life.

Suffrage- The right to vote

Margaret Sanger- First coined the term “birth control” in a pamphlet she published in
1914. A medical organization she founded, the Birth Control Research Bereau, evolved
into Planned Parenthood in 1942

Ida B. Wells- Was born a slave, but attended college after emancipation and became a
prominent women’s and minority rights activist. She helped found the NAACP in 1909,
gained fame for her anti-lynching campaign, and worked tirelessly for women’s suffrage.

Carrie Chapman Catt- Was an educator before becoming involved in the women’s
suffrage movement in 1887. In 1890, she joined the National American Woman Suffrage
Association (NAWSA). She became its president in 1900, and helped the organization
almost without interruption until her death.

National American Woman Suffrage Association- Group founded in 1890 that worked
on both the state and national levels to gain women the right to vote.

Alice Paul- Joined the leadership of the National American Woman Suffrage
Association in 1912 but soon left to found a more militant organization, which became
the National Woman’s Party in 1917. After the passage of the 19 amendment, Paul th

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expanded her work for women’s rights. In 1923 she introduced the first equal rights
amendment into Congress.

Nineteenth Amendment- 1920 constitutional amendment that gave women the right to
vote

Academic Vocabulary

recruit: to form a group by persuading people to join

squander: to spend in a foolish or wasteful way

strategy: a plan or an action based on a plan

Lesson Objectives

1. Analyze actions taken by women to address social issues affecting workers

and families.

2. Explain actions taken during the Progressive era to expand opportunities for
women, including the right to vote.

3. Evaluate the tactics reform leaders used to win passage of the Nineteenth
Amendment.

Expanding Opportunities for Women: Text

1. Identify Cause and Effect What trends led to the rise of the suffrage movement
in the 1890s?

Women became more educated and started trying to tackle problems they saw in
society, women wanted to keep wages, have better working conditions, fair employers

2. Analyze Interactions Florence Kelley and the National Consumers League put
special labels on good that were produced under “fair, safe, and healthy working
conditions.” Give an example of how this is still important to consumers today.

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 Because this lead to Founded NCL to put labels on food made in good working
conditions.

3. Draw Inferences How was the women’s suffrage movement connected to the
temperance movement?

They were connected because of the practice of not drinking alcohol, and women
voting against the sales of alcohol.

4. Cite Evidence Why did Margaret Sanger view birth control as a women’s rights
issue? Look for evidence throughout the text to explain.

She viewed it as a women's rights issue because it’s a woman's choice, but she
thought that woman’s life would be easier with less children.

5. Identify Supporting Details What unique challenges did Ida B. Wells face in
fighting for rights for African American women?

She was born into slavery and not a lot of African Americans supported her.

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Women Seek Equal Political Rights: Text

6. Analyze Style and Rhetoric In the Ladies Home Journal excerpt, how did
Jane Addams use language to persuade women of the importance of women’s
suffrage?

Suffragists emphasized the benefits of women voting, equating women’s

domestic skills with civic housekeeping, a term Jane Addams and others used.
Cities suffered from problems that a good housekeeper could help solve. Women
would be more interested in “domestic” matters such as sanitation, safety, and
clean streets, Addams argued, since men were as indifferent to civic
housekeeping as they were to “ the details of the household” in their home lives.
By using domestic imagery to push for women’s involvement in the wider world,
supporters saw opposition to woman suffrage decline.

7. Analyze Interactions of People and Events How did the women’s suffrage
movement benefit from linking itself with Progressivism?

It gave it more attention that before progressives leading an important wave of

reform.

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 8. Summarize Describe Alice Paul’s impact on the women’s suffrage
movement.

She was vocal leader of the twentieth century women’s suffrage movement,
Alice Paul advocated for and helped secure passage of the 19th amendment to
the US constitution, granting women the right to vote. Paul next authored the
Equal Rights Amendment in 1923, which has yet to be adopted.

9. Compare and Contrast Compare the approaches of Carrie Chapman Catt

and NAWSA and Alice Paul and the NWP toward women’s suffrage. Both
claimed credit for the Nineteenth Amendment. Who do you think deserved more
credit, and why?

I would say Alice Paul because she advocated which gave women the right to
vote, their voices to ultimately be heard, which is the biggest to me.

10. Analyze Sequence How did the Russian Revolution affect the women’s
suffrage movement in the United States?

The successful campaign in Russia for women’s suffrage is rooted in the nature of
Russia’s opposition movements. From the mid-nineteenth century, Russian radicals and
dissidents, unlike their counterparts in most other countries, made the “woman question”
a major concern in their writings. Russia was not isolated from the west; Russian women
participated fully in international women’s suffrage conferences and Russian female
students enrolled in western European universities, often outnumbering local women
students. Women were prominent in the revolutionary movement and their agency was

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critical in extending the vote and the right to run for office to women. Provisional
Government and Soviet leaders did not simply grant suffrage to women. They
responded to demonstrators’ demands.

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