Women's Suffrage

Women’s Suffrage – An Unfinished Battle



The women's suffrage movement lasted over 70 years, from the first formal women's convention in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, to the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Changing social conditions and the idea of equality for women led to the birth of the women’s suffrage movement during the early 1800's. Women started to receive more education and to take part in reform movements, which involved them in politics. Women began to ask why they were not also allowed to vote. In the 150 years since the first landmark Women's Rights Convention, women have made clear progress in the areas addressed by the women’s rights pioneer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in her revolutionary “Declaration of Sentiments”. Since then, women have won the right to vote and are being elected to public office at all levels of government. By 1971, however, three generations later, women were still less than three percent of our co...