Erin Cahill

I wake up in the morning, ridiculously early, and go to school. Strolling into

school, usually late, at a charming 8 something o clock, I'm surrounded by my peers,

both male and female, and someday we will all go to college no matter our gender we

will be treated the same way. One day i will marry a man, but only as his equal.

Someday i’ll own land, my own home, and make enough money to provide for myself

without anyone's help. I'll never have to rely on a man if that is my decision not too. Im

expected to vote, instead of being shamed into silence. Many women before me have

not been able to experience these rights along with many women in other countries still

to this day. My voice matters today because of the fight these brave women and their

followers fought. Everyday life and the possibilities in my future are a constant reminder

of the women before me who have fought and sacrificed so that they, and the women

who came after them, could have a brighter future. Women throughout history have

been beat up, laughed at, have been forced to keep quiet, but never gave up and fought

for their rights no matter the cost. Women's Rights icons like Rosey the Riveter, Susan

B. Anthony, Malala Yousafzai, and Alice Paul are some examples of strong, inspirational

women who have made women's suffrage possible and helped achieve the rights that

women have today. As well as tragic events like the Triangle Factory fire which woke

people up and forced them to make a change.

The Triangle Shirtwaist factory, early 20s in New York City, located on multiple

floors of a Manhattan business building called the Asch building. This business was

owned by two evil men known as Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. The building itself was
located just off Washington square park which was one of the wealthiest neighborhoods

in the city and was built in 1901. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory was a prime example of

a series of tragic events where women were taken advantage of, and it resulted in

multiple, easily preventable, tragic deaths. On average, roughly 100 workers died each

day from work related incidents per day during this time. It was no secret that working

conditions for men and women were rough in this period of time. The working

conditions, hours, and pay were unbelievable. It was completely overcrowded, with at

least 500 people working there and could be easily compared to a sweatshop. These

business owners would take advantage of immigrant women, mostly teenagers who

couldn't even speak english who were just trying to send money home to provide for

their families. This job in particular appealed to these women because of the fancy new

equipment which none of them had ever seen before and the hope for the American

dream. Knowing that these women needed these jobs allowed the owners to treat their

workers like garbage. These women worked on rows and rows of sewing machines

which was a new style of production, making shirt waists which were a popular fashion

trend at the time. These women were worked like actual machinery, because of the high

demand of these shirtwaists. Women and children would work 14-16 hours a day with

no breaks, not even to use the restroom, and would be watched over intensely while

they worked. The lowest paid workers would make 2 to 4 dollars a week and repeatedly

there pay was docked to make up for any errors they made. Many individuals saw that

these working conditions were flawed and inhumane, but no one stood up for these

women or really cared because it was accepted by society. Women had to deal with the

doors being locked 24/7, which could only be unlocked by a foreman. The workers
would also be frisked by these foremen before they were allowed to leave. These were

both precautions put in place because the owners thought the women would steal cloth,

thread, needles, and shirtwaists if they didn't. These factories also had inadequate

ventilation, and were overall disgusting. Fire drills were not rehearsed and no safety

precautions were in place besides a couple buckets of water. There was a laissez faire

approach in many work environments like this at the time, the use of fire drills, fire

escapes, and sprinklers were suggested, but there were no laws or repercussions if

these owners decided not too. An immigrant, Clara Lemlien practically declared the

strike, and inspired many women with her speech at a Union meeting to protest these

conditions. Roughly 20,000 workers stood up and left their jobs, This event later

became known as the walk out of 20,000. At first their protests were ignored by the

newspaper and overlooked, until a couple upper class women became involved in the

strike and people started to pay attention. These women were Ann Morgan, Alva

Vanderbilt and other upper class women. Within 48 hours many smaller businesses

folded to the women's demands, and women returned to union only factories. The two

owners added to the chaos, by hiring prostitutes and thugs to beat the women. Also

bribing politicians and policemen to turn their heads and arrest anyone who stood out of

line. Women would get their skulls cracked in, broken bones, and sustained extreme

injuries from these assaults. Once things cooled down, Blanck and Harris decided that

they needed their more skilled workers back and decided to give in to some but not all

of the demands. They made negotiations to improve working conditions and pay, which

only lasted temporarily, but would not give the workers a union only factory. On March

25, a Saturday afternoon, there were 600 workers at the factory when a fire began in a
rag bin because of a lit cigarette. The lower floors were evacuated and so were Harris

and Blanck, but decided to save themselves instead of alerting the women on the higher

floors. Harris and Blanck climbed up onto the roof where they escaped onto a

neighboring building. The manager attempted to use the fire hose to extinguish it, but

was unsuccessful, because the hose was rotted and its valve was rusted shut. As

according to a first hand account. (history.com) As the fire grew, panic began to rise.

The young workers tried to exit the building by the wooden elevator but it could hold

only 12 people at a time. The operator was able to make just four trips back and forth

before it broke down among the heat and flames. In a desperate attempt to escape the

fire, the girls left behind waiting for the elevator plunged down the shaft to their deaths.

The girls who attempted to escape down the stairwell were also met with fatality, when

they found a locked door at the bottom of the stairs. Many women and children also

jumped off of the high building, many still burning on the way down. Within 18 minutes,

it was all over. Forty-nine workers had burned to death or been suffocated by the

smoke, 36 dead in the elevator shaft and 58 died from jumping to the pavement. With

two more dying later from their injuries, a total of 145 people were killed by the fire.

Bodies were layed out and lined the streets to allow people to try and identify their

terribly burned bodies which all but 7 were identified. The workers union set up a march

on April 5 on New York’s Fifth Avenue to protest the conditions that had led to the fire; it

was attended by 80,000 people. Unfortunately despite a good deal of evidence that the

owners and management had been responsible for the deaths of these people, a grand

jury failed to convict any of them of manslaughter or murder charges until finallly on April

11, 1911, they were convicted of these charges and these victims got some justice. Still
the horrific event that they had allowed to happen did finally force the city to enact laws

that would require business owners to create safer working environments for staff. It

also inspired child labor laws and the Factory Investigating Commision was established

to monitor conditions in factories. Even today in some places in the world these working

conditions are similar to those at the Triangle factory fire and workplace tragedies still

happen. This information was gathered by credible sources, such as History.com, and

biography.com from interviews with first hand accounts and from pictures of these

situations.

Susan B. Anthony was an influential women in the woman's sufferage movement

and president of the National American Woman's Sufferage Association. She was born

February 15, 1820 in Adams massachusetts which is located in Berkshire county. She

grew up in a very politically involved family and always had a longing for justice. Her

family was involved in the abolitionist movement which was a movement dedicated to

ending slavery. They were also involved in the Temperance movement, which was a call

for the production of alcohol to be slowed down or stopped completely. Anthony became

inspired to advocate for women's rights while campaigning against alcohol when she

was denied the chance to speak at a temperance convention, simply because she was

a women. She realized through that experience that women were not taken seriously in

politics unless they had voting rights. Anthony and fellow activist, Elizabeth Cady

Stanton, founded a weekly publishing called The Revolution which talked about

women's issues. They also founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869

and also founded the Women's National Loyal League in 1863 to support and petition

for the thirteenth amendment outlawing slavery. Anthony dedicated her entire life to
justice and for the rights of women by traveling and giving lectures across the nation

trying to get their vote. She campaigned for the abolition of slavery, being an agent for

the American Anti-Slavery society, also campaigned for women's right to vote and own

their own property. She arranged meetings, made speeches, went around putting up

posters, and distributed packets and leaflets. Obviously encountering many who did not

believe in what she believed in, such as angry mobs, armed people making threats,

things being thrown at her, and her character slandered, she still stayed true to her

beliefs. Susan B. Anthony was also an educational reformer and even convinced the

university of Rochester to accept women, even raising $50,000 in pledges and put up

the cash value of her life insurance policy to ensure the acceptance of women, which

she made happen in 1900. In 1853 at the state teachers convention Anthony called for

women teachers to be payed better, asked for women to have a voice at the convention,

and to assume committee positions. In 1859 Anthony spoke locally at the state teachers

convention at Troy, N.Y. And the Massachusetts teachers convention arguing for

coeducation and stated that there are no differences between the minds of men and

women. Anthony fought for the greatest educational opportunities for all people

reguardless of race, and for all schools. She also fought for the right for African

Americans who had been enslaved to attend school.

Alice Paul was a key women's suffrage activist and introduced the first Equal

rights amendment campaign in the United States. She was born on January 11, 1885 in

Moorestown, New Jersey to father William Mickle Paul and mother Tacie Parry Paul.

She grew up in a “Quaker” which means Christian, household and had 3 siblings,

Helen, Parry, and William jr. She grew up being surrounded by a thirst for justice with
her parents being activists for women's rights and anti slavery themselves, her mom

was even a part of the NAWSA which Paul later joined herself. Paul was a very well-

educated woman which was rare in the early 20th century America, using her

knowledge, intelligence, and privilege to fight for the rights of women less fortunate than

herself. While going to a training school in England she became involved with the

countries radical suffragists. She became involved with many suffrage groups such as

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), and co founded the

Congressional Union. Eventually forming her own group of suffragists, called the

National Woman’s party in 1916. Her skills as an activist were gained through a series

of arrests, imprisonments, hunger strikes, forced feedings, led demonstrations and was

subjected to imprisonment in work camps as she sought voting rights for women. Her

actions helped bring about the passage of the 19th amendment which was her biggest

accomplishment. The 19th amendment was an amendment that prohibits the states and

the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on

the basis of sex. Before the passage of the 19th amendment, cases like Minor v.

Happersett were very common as women had no political influence during this time.

This was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court found that the

Constitution did not grant anyone, and in this case specifically a female citizen of the

state of Missouri, a right to vote even though a state law granted rights to vote to a

certain class of citizens. The Supreme Court upheld state court decisions in Missouri,

which had refused to register a woman as a legal voter because that state's laws

allowed only men to vote. The women's suffrage movement took hold after the Civil

War, during the Reconstruction Era which was 1865–1877. During this period, women's
rights leaders advocated for inclusion of universal suffrage as a civil right in the

Reconstruction amendments which were the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth

Amendments. Despite their efforts, these amendments did nothing to promote women's

suffrage. Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly discriminated between men

and women by penalizing states who deprived adult male citizens of the vote, but not for

denying the vote to adult female citizens. She led pickets at the White House and

Congress and despite America’s entry into World war 1 she refused to lose sight of her

progressive goals unlike many others. Ultimately her tactics, with persuasion from

Carrie Chapman Catt, and the support of many forced President Woodrow Wilson to

make a federal suffrage amendment a war measures priority, a stance he had refused

to take previously. On January 1917, she organized the ‘Silent Sentinels’, a group of

women who supported the suffrage movement and protested in front of the White

House during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. Paul also proposed adding an Equal

Rights Amendment to the constitution in 1923. Although a very conservative and rigid

women, She is quoted stating that just because she doesn't agree with another

woman's actions doesn't mean they shouldn't have the right to do so, ‘I think if we get

freedom for women, then they are probably going to do a lot of things that I wish they

wouldn’t do,’ she said shortly before her death. ‘But it seems to me that isn’t our

business to say what they should do with it. It is our business to see that they get it.’

Paul encountered considerable success during the 1920s and 1930s and got support

from the League of Nations. She was chairman of the Woman’s Research Foundation

(1927–37), and in 1938 she founded and represented at League headquarters in

Geneva. Paul insisted that many of the troubles of the world resulted from women’s lack
of political power, and she emphasized this view when World War II broke out, “it need

not have occurred,she declared, and probably would not have if women had been able

to speak at the Paris Peace Convention at the end of World war 1.” Following the

Nineteenth Amendment's adoption, many legislators feared that a powerful women's

bloc would emerge in American politics. This led to the passage of such laws as the

Sheppard–Towner Act of 1921, which expanded maternity care during the 1920s.

However, a women's bloc did not emerge in American politics until the 1950s. A

women's bloc is a group of voters that are strongly motivated by a specific common

concern or group of concerns to the point that they tend to dominate their voting pattern,

According to political scientists J. Kevin Corder and Christina Wolbrecht. Few women

turned out to vote in the first elections after they got the right to do so. In 1920, just 36%

of eligible women turned out to vote, compared with 68% of men. The low turnout was

partly due to other barriers to voting, such as literacy tests, long residency requirements

and poll taxes which were also required by African Americans. Inexperience with voting,

persistent beliefs that voting was inappropriate for women with the lack of desire for

change may also have kept turnout low. The gap was lowest between men and women

in states that were swing states at the time, such as Missouri and Kentucky, and where

barriers to voting were lower. A swing state refers to any state that could reasonably be

won by either the Democratic or Republican presidential candidate.

It all started on a Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, as 183 Japanese

warplanes attacked America’s Hickam Field, Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii. The devastating

impact was 2,433 deaths, the destruction of 18 U.S. warships and 188 airplanes. The

surprise attack left the nation stunned as President Roosevelt called the United States
to war. Entry of the U.S. in World War II, the male workforce was sparse because of the

need for fighters in the U.S. military. This came precisely at a time when America’s need

for factory output and munitions was in high demand. American women entered the

workforce in mass numbers during the war to replace the men who had left to fight.

According to History.com para. 1, “Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of

the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly

one out of every four married women worked outside the home.” “Rosey the Riveter” is

the name of a fictional character, she is a more traditionally masculine framed woman

with a red bandana around her head. She came to be an iconic symbol for the millions

of real women who filled America’s factories, munitions plants, and shipyards during

World War II. In later years, Rosie also became an iconic American image in the fight to

gain more women’s civil rights because she represents the strength of women and their

ability to do everything a man can do. The U.S. government, with the help of advertising

agencies such as J. Walter Thompson, mounted extensive campaigns to encourage

women to join the work force. Magazines and posters played a key role in the effort to

recruit women. One of the Saturday Evening Post authors, Norman Rockwell, is

credited with creating one of the more popular Rosey images which appeared in May

29th 1943 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. Though Rockwell’s image may be a

commonly known version of Rosie the Riveter, her original was actually created in 1942

by a Pittsburgh artist named J. Howard Miller, and was featured on a poster for

Westinghouse Electric Corporation under the headline “We Can Do It!” Rosie the

Riveter is said to have actually come to be in the form of a song and not in art. A song

titled “Rosie the Riveter” was written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb in 1942 and
was issued by Paramount Music Corporation of New York. The song was released in

early 1943 and was played on the radio and broadcast nationally. It was also performed

by various popular artists during that time. This song shamed those who weren't

working women but uses Rosey to represent those women that are, “While other girls

attend their fav’rite cocktail bar, Sippin Martinis, munching caviar. There’s a girl who’s

really putting them to shame, Rosie is her name”. This song also referred to these

women “making history” and were “working for victory,” also stating that “That little frail

can do more than a

male will do” which was empowering women by saying we can do what you can and we

can do it better. (pophistory.com para2) There were many real life examples of Rosey. In

June 1943, about two weeks after Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post cover appeared

on newsstands, Rose Bonavita-Hickeys story was picked up by news editors. She and

partner Jennie Florio, drilled 900 holes and placed a record 3,345 rivets in a torpedo-

bombing Avenger aircraft at the former General Motors Eastern Aircraft Division in New

York. She received a personal letter from President Roosevelt, and became identified as

one of many real-life “Rosie the Riveters.” Other women workers doing riveting, as well

as others who were doing heavy-duty labor or “men’s” jobs all across the nation also

gained media attention during the war years. Who is the actual women behind Rosey

the Riveter based off of? This topic has been up for much debate and many claims have

been made about the true identity of Rosey. Some people think that Rosey is Geraldine

Hoff Doyle of Michigan, who worked in a Navy machine shop during World War II.

Others think that Rosey was actually Rose Will Monroe, who worked as a riveter at the

Willow Run Bomber Plant near Detroit. Monroe also was featured in a film for war
bonds. Rosalind P. Walter from Long Island, New York, is known to be the Rosie from

the popular song by Evans and Loeb. Walter was, in fact, a riveter on Corsair fighter

planes. The most believed origin of Rosey is Naomi Parker Fraley, who was

photographed while working in the machine shop at the Naval Air Station, located in

Alameda California. In the 1942 photo, she is wearing a polka-dotted bandana like the

famous Rosey always wears.

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani women Born on July 12, 1997 who went on to be

the youngest woman to earn a Nobel Peace prize because of her courage and fighting

for girls education. Malala was born in Mingora, Pakistan, located in the country's Swat

Valley. For the first few years of her life, her hometown remained a popular tourist spot

that was known for its summer festivals. However the area started to change as the

Taliban tried to take control. The Taliban is an extremist religious group whose views of

their women and how they treat people are corrupt. Yousafzai became an advocate for

girls' education even in her childhood, which resulted in the Taliban threatening to take

her life. On October 9, 2012, a gunman shot Malala when she was on her way home

from school when she was just a teenager. “When 15-year-old Malala was riding a bus

with friends on their way home from school, a masked gunman boarded the bus and

demanded to know which girl was Malala. When her friends looked toward Malala, her

location was given away. The gunman fired at her, hitting Malala in the left side of her

head; the bullet then traveled down her neck. Two other girls were also injured in the

attack.” (History.com,Para 15) She survived, although she had suffered brain swelling,

had to have a piece of her skull removed, suffered a coma and had surgery to fix a

nerve in her face. Despite this she has continued to speak out on the importance of
education for girls. In October 2014, at the age 17, Malala became the youngest person

to ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize after being nominated for the second time. Nine

months after being shot by the Taliban, Malala Yousafzai presented her speech at the

United Nations on her 16th birthday in 2013. In this speech she encouraged world

leaders to change their policies. She had the following to say about the attack, “The

terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions, but nothing

changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power

and courage were born.”(biography.com, para 6) Yousafzai went to a school that was

founded by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai. After the Taliban began attacking girls'

schools in Swat, Malala gave a speech in Peshawar, Pakistan on September 2008. The

title of her talk was, "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?" She

began blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban's threats to deny her an

education and rights. To hide her identity, she used the screen name Gul Makai. With

her public platform and influence growing, in 2011 she was nominated for the Children's

Peace Prize. She has received multiple other awards, such as The Sakharov Prize for

Freedom of Thought on October 10, 2013 from the European Parliament. In April 2017,

the United Nations Secretary-General appointed Yousafzai as a U.N. Messenger of

Peace to promote girls education which is the highest honor given by the UN for a

period of 2 years. In April 2017, She also was given honorary Canadian citizenship. She

is the sixth person and the youngest in the country’s history to receive this honor. For

her 18th birthday, in July 2015, the young activist continued to take action on global

education by opening a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon. Its expenses were

covered by the Malala Fund which was Founded in 2013. “ Malala Fund champions
every girl’s right to 12 years of free, safe, quality education. We believe girls are the best

investment in the future peace and prosperity of our world.” (Malala.org) The school

admit nearly 200 girls from the ages of 14 to 18. According to Malala.org which is her

website,” Malala's home country of Pakistan has the second largest number of girls not

in school in the world. Poor girls in rural areas of Pakistan are 16 times less likely to be

in secondary school than boys from the wealthiest households.” This quote shows just

how segregated the education system is in Pakistan. Even having a documentary made

about her, In October 2015. A documentary about Yousafzai's life was released called

He Named Me Malala, directed by Davis Guggenheim, that gives viewers an intimate

look into the life of Malala and her family, also her commitment to her cause of

accessible education for girls around the world.

On March 22, 1972, the Senate passed the Equal Rights Amendment to the

United States Constitution, which proposed banning discrimination based on sex. The

E.R.A. was sent to the states for ratification, but it would fall short of the three-fourths

approval needed by the Senate. The amendment, originally known as the Lucretia Mott

Amendment, was first drafted by the women’s rights leader Alice Paul in 1923, three

years after the passage of the 19th Amendment which guaranteed women’s suffrage.

Variations of the amendment were presented to each session of Congress between

1923 and 1970, mostly remaining in committee until Representative Martha Griffiths, a

Democrat from Michigan, was able to push it before Congress for debate in 1970. The

Senate approved it in March 1972 and the final version which was passed read,

“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or

by any State on account of sex.” The E.R.A. was ratified by 30 states within a year, but
the ratification process slowed down because of anti-E.R.A. organizations, like the

conservative activist Phyllis Schafly’s Stop E.R.A campaign. Anti-E.R.A. supporters

warned that the amendment would deny women privileges such as exemption from the

military draft and the ability to be supported by their husbands. Many conservative

women also turned against and were unsupportive of the women’s rights movement for

its support of abortion rights, views on contraception, gay rights, and other issues, there

efforts weakening support for the E.R.A.

Along with inspiring women to fight for what they wanted, these women fought

for better working conditions for women, better pay, organized rallies and protests,

equality to men, the right to vote, and the right for girls to attend school despite the

backlash. Each are all iconic symbols for women's history in America. These women

have been abused, overlooked, and beat up and experienced the sexism in full force,

women still face this ridiculous sexism today in the workplace and on social media, and

in some places to the same level as back then. Women would not have made the

progress that we have made if it weren't for these fantastic women mentioned in this

paper taking a stand, along with the rallies and protest and bravery that forced the

minds of many to wake up and realize that they have power to make a change. Also that

women are powerful and capable of anything and are without a single doubt equal to

men. These original women's suffragists inspire new age feminists who fight for

women's rights and opportunities till this day. Women have repeatedly shown that we

can do anything that a man can do, we can be strong, work hard, and be intelligent and

have challenged stereotypes in society and strong women are becoming more and

more embraced, especially in more recent years. If it wasn't for these women we would
still be living in a world where we are not valued, and aren't acknowledged for the smart,

and world changing that individuals we are.