Women from 1865 to Present

Abstract

Earlier than the Civil War, women struggled hard for equal rights, together with the voting right, which was not settled till1920 with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. All through the periods of Progressivism, women endeavor sustained for amendements in their sexual, social and family mores, and strived for partaking in the political arena and the work force. Thus, this research paper will discuss the development and expansion of women's rights and contributions in the America since the late 18th century till today.

Women from 1865 to Present

Introduction

The American Civil War began in 1861 when a Confederate general fired on the Union outpost at Fort Sumter, South Carolina (McPherson, 1988). The war ended in 1865 with the Confederate surrender at the Appomattox courthouse in Virginia. It was the bloodiest and most bitter conflict in American history to be fought on American soil. More than 600,000 men and women were killed or mortally wounded while the country sustained billions of dollars in property losses. However, the most notable event to result from the Civil War was the elimination of slavery and the freeing of those who had been enslaved (McPherson, 1988).

Reform movements pulled their rhetoric from the Third Great Awakening, and antislavery and temperance advocates, along with missionary workers, organized under the Christian banner. The USSC or the U.S. Sanitary Commission became an umbrella organization to coordinate the volunteer efforts of women to provide Union soldiers with food and essential health supplies. Tens of thousands of female workers in about 7,000 local USSC chapters throughout the northern states organized to raise about $50 million through collective efforts (McPherson, 1988). Families traveled to battle sites and viewed skirmishes as spectators, but soon they did not have to travel to see action. As the war progressed, women and children often were caught in riots or volatile battles. Mothers organized children in new social formations to hold fundraisers, where children sold food, handicrafts, and kisses. Women also involved their children in the war effort with work organized at school and Sunday schools. Children canvassed towns with subscription lists to raise money for flags to give to local military companies and picked blackberries that were distributed to soldiers. Children also volunteered to produce lint from linen during school recesses or in their spare time; the lint was used by hospitals to pack into wounds (Dumenil, 2007).

Discussion

Women since 1940s started gaining position when they were granted the right to work in the armed forces and turned out to be significantly more concerned in the labor force. With the initiation of feminism in the 1960s, the crack down on the rights of women turned out to be yet more imperative, as women struggled very hard for equal pay as well as social equality (Berlin & Rowland, 1997). While it is spot on that at present women have gained both economic and legal progress, they yet come across a number of challenges, including disproportionate pay and harmonizing the burdens of a profession with the requirements of ...