Women's Suffrage, Working Conditions, and Gender Equality

Introduction

A variety of arguments were used against women when it came to gaining the right to vote. Women's second-class citizenship had been justified by appealing to the sense of meaning and identity found in the traditional family and its status as the key unit in the political order. Many felt that husbands were the ideal persons to express the opinions of the entire family unit and that, as such, women need not have an independent voice. While that did not sit well with women, there was little they could do about the issue until a shift in society made the suffrage movement possible. During that time, many women wanted to secure their education and status outside of the family — both to have something that was their own and to protect themselves and their children if something unfortunate should happen to their husbands.

Additionally, the traditional roles of women as responsible for household duties and family affairs were being challenged by more women entering the workforce. Some women wanted to work, and others had no choice, but they were moving into the workforce in record numbers. That was changing how workplaces operated, because companies were realizing that they could not avoid hiring women and that they had to treat them differently from the men they were hiring. Some companies were far more receptive to women becoming part of their workforces than others, as there were businesses that actively avoided hiring women and did not believe they had a place in the working world. The analysis conducted here examines the implications that the changing demographics of the workforce had on the women's suffrage movement.