Women were starting to question some of the laws that had been enforced on them up until then. Susan Anthony formed the international women’s suffrage alliance in the early 1900’s. It campaigned for voting to be allowed for women as well as men, and later amalgamated with the British suffragette movement which was led by Emmeline Pankhurst. Alice Paul and Lucy Burns formed the congressional union (which later became the National Women’s party) in 1912. This group wanted an amendment that would give the right to vote to all American women. BY 1919 women could vote in 29 states and the rest were converted in 1920 (The rest being the other 19 states, as this was before Alaska and Hawaii joined the union in 1959 as the 49th and 50 states, respectively). This was when the nineteenth amendment, Women’s suffrage, was enforced into the American constitution. The women of America had finally gained the right to vote.
The fight to be able to vote was only the first of many battles won by the American women. They had been given a new sense of freedom and many of the younger women started to break out of their mould. Many women used their freedom to benefit themselves and their family. a large amount of young women took advantage of their new found freedom. These people were called “flappers” and they would act “wildly”. They would smoke, go joyriding, drank “bootleg” liquor in speakeasies and have sex before marriage. Some would wear what at the time were considered to be revealing clothes. They were often fined up to $100 for this. The older generation of women and mother’s looked down upon these “flappers”. The “anti-flirt” league was formed to fight against the activities of this younger generation. They were fighting a losing battle as times and points of view were changing. All the activities performed by these “flappers” is now common practice among women of our generation. The older generation looked down on the younger generation but the younger generation thought that the older generation was jealous as they had more freedom than the older generation had had at the same age.
Thanks to the freedom given to women, the economy started to boom. Women would buy household goods such as silk stockings, jazz records or rouge compacts. They mainly bought clothes as they gave women individual identities. Women also started to work in the same workplace as men, and there was more competition for jobs.
Margaret Sanger campaigned for birth control facilities for women as she was sick of seeing women with lots of children and very little money. Over 200 planned parenthood clinics were opened throughout America during her lifetime.
Without the first world war women might not have been in the position they are now. The change in society was beneficial to everyone as women were just as good as men at working, sometimes better. There is no dispute over the fact that World War 1 was a terrible tragedy, but without it, the world would be a very different place.
