Women's Rights by Amanda Lively

The Women’s Rights movement has played a vital role in how women have a voice in today’s society.  If it had not been for these early activists, the equality of women may not have come.  Despite that the pursuit for equality among women was started in the mid 1800’s, the benefits of their hard work and dedication was not fully accepted until the enactment of the 19th amendment in 1920.  Women’s rights were not just about gaining women the right to vote in America.  It was also about attaining equality for women in regards to owning property, equal taxes, equal wages compensation and retention, the ability of going to college and church meetings, and most importantly; no longer having to be submissive and dependent on men.

Elizabeth Cody Stanton and Susan B Anthony played a major role in the Women’s Rights Movement in the early 1850's. Elizabeth Stanton met with the many women in July of 1848 at Seneca Falls to discuss Declaration of Sentiments.  The Declaration of Sentiments was a document that was read at the convention stating the oppression of women and the changes the women were seeking in their movement. In 1850 the first National Women’s Rights Convention was held. Over the next 70 years, Women’s Rights issues would be pushed and also put on hold due to various issues in politics at that time.  The suffragists eventually saw the victory they had been seeking in government, but to this day there is still a desire for more equality, independence, and rights for women.