Many women took up the cause of temperance. Women like Jane Adams, worked to expose political corruption and economic exploitation and established philanthropic programs for the poor. By 1900 over one-third of the wage-earning women in this country were employed as domestics or waitresses." As business grew, the privileged class grew. Domestics were in demand and were expected to do every kind of household chore in addition to cooking, serving, laundry, sewing, and anything else required by her mistress.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in 1865 joined in their work to equalize the rights of men and women. They declared that women had a natural right to happiness, and the opportunities and advantages, and denied that women were made simply for men and that her best interests must be "sacrificed to his will" (Kerber, pg. 225).

In 1923, a feminist conference in Seneca Falls, New York developed a constitutional amendment called the "Declaration of Sentiments," that was considered a declaration of independence of American women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was instrumental in its development and introduced it into Congress in 1923. The National Women's Party, the League of women Voters and the Women's Trade Union League were all feminist-based political organizations that formed the basis of the feminist movement. Other women who contributed to the cause for women's rights were Margaret Sanger, who in 1916 opened a birth control clinic in New York, and offered education on contraception, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

In the 1920s...

The issue arose again in the 1960s.
A huge demonstration by women against nuclear arms and testing in 1961 gave momentum to a national women's peace group that made political waves and got the attention of President Kennedy, who entered into the Test Ban Treaty of 1963 as a result. Women began to demonstrate alongside men who marched in protest of the Viet Nam war, however, they were still not being treated as equals. In the early 60s, Betty Friedan wrote the Feminine Mystique, raising public awareness of the inequality of women. Although anti-feminists, such as Phyllis Schlafly spoke out strongly against feminism, the Equal Rights Amendment was once more brought before Congress. It passed in 1972, but failed to be fully ratified, even after the deadline for ratification was extended. The amendment was reintroduced in 1983, and again in every Congress since that time. Abortion and freedom of choice has always been a barrier to passing the amendment.

The right-wing conservative movement gained strength and has continued to dominate the country, for the most part, since the "Women's Liberation" movement.

Works Cited

Modern Feminism and American Society, 1965 to the Present, Publisher, city, date?

Kerber, Linda K. And Jane Sherron DeHart Women's America, Refocusing the Past, Oxford University Press, New York: 1995.