Political Progress
Equal rights for women did not come easily. There were many ways in which women advocated for social change, including the quest promoting the use of cosmetics. When compared with other social movements, the makeup movement was relatively subtle. In contrast, the fight for voting rights was overt. State by state, quarrel by quarrel, brave women had to advocate for themselves in whatever way was necessary to gain their rights. This road to equality was paved by discord and failure, protest and violence. Even with one step forward, women were forced, seemingly, three steps back. Suffragists, such as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, fought for decades to attain equal rights. Although they were ultimately successful in 1920, they had to travel a long way to achieve that goal.
Back and Forth
In a single year, the suffrage movement underwent significant changes, both positive and negative. In 1869, when settlers were first organizing the Wyoming territory, they ensured women would have suffrage.[1] More states would eventually follow, but for more than twenty years, Wyoming would stand alone as a haven for women wanting to vote. However, even during this time of success, internal strife was haunting the suffrage movement. During the same year of a landmark advancement for women’s suffrage, women were dividing themselves into the more radical National Woman Suffrage Association and the local-government-focused American Woman Suffrage Association.[2] While both organizations would strive for the same goal, they did so very differently.
1911 also witnessed significant advance and retreat in the quest for women's suffrage. California accepted women suffrage, albeit somewhat reluctantly.[3] Across the country, in New York City, where a few, small demonstrations had previously taken place, on May 6, 1911, more than 3,000 suffragettes marched in a show of confident protest.[4] However, in the same year, Josephine Dodge organized the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage.[5] Women in search of equal economic, political, or social rights did not have an easy path to walk, but still made slow progress.
Triumphant Protest
As more states adopted universal suffrage and public opinion began to support the suffragists, in a bold move, twenty thousand of them gathered to march in New York City.[6] On May 6, 1912, women of all ages, dressed in white gowns and bearing all manner of flags, flowers, and banners, demonstrated publicly their commitment to equality.[7] Not all women were willing to join the overt movement towards suffrage; but the thousands who did, from a variety of social and economic backgrounds, further publicized their cause and made the argument that women could not be contained in the home.
Working, Voting Women
Women fully emerged from their domestic sphere as World War I raged and women were required to aid in the war effort. In 1918 and 1919, the House of Representatives and Senate, respectively, held votes on the matter of a Constitutional amendment. After two-thirds of the Representatives and two-thirds of the Senators passed the amendment, it traveled throughout the country, to the necessary thirty-six states for ratification. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee completed the ratification process and forwarded the amendment to the Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby, for his signature of approval.[8]
August 26, 1920
On the morning of August 26, 1920, Colby waited alone in his office. He had been awoken early by Charles Cooke, a State Department employee, only to sit and sip his coffee for several hours, until any question of illegality could be removed from what was about to happen. At exactly eight o’clock, Colby’s lingering was at an end. He received a packet of documents, with one document in particular requiring his signature. It was a brief proclamation and, without fanfare, by signing it, Colby enfranchised the women of the United States. [9]
While this movement certainly captured the attention of the nation, the subtler effort in favor of cosmetics enabled women to take better control of their appearance, their bodies, and therefore their lives. The women’s suffrage movement provides an overt example of the gradual changes taking place in America: the development of equal rights for women in the home, in the workplace, and in the nation.
[1] “Woman Suffrage Timeline (1840-1920),” National Women’s History Museum, accessed November 3, 2016, https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/history/woman-suffrage-timeline.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] David Dismore, “May 6, 1911: NYC Suffrage Parade Largely Exceeds Expectations,” Feminist Majority Foundation, last modified May 6, 2014,https://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2014/05/06/may-6-1911-nyc-suffrage-parade-largely-exceeds-expectations/.
[5] “Woman Suffrage Timeline.”
[6] Ibid.
[7] Suffrage Parade, New York City, May 6, 1912, May 6, 1912, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., accessed November 3, 2016, https://www.wdl.org/en/item/12/.
[8] “19th Amendment adopted,” History, accessed November 3, 2016, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/19th-amendment-adopted.
[9] “Colby Proclaims Woman Suffrage,” New York Times, Aug. 26, 1920.