Women's Rights Movement

The international movement for women's suffrage, led by suffragists and suffragettes was a social, economic and political reform movement aimed at extending the suffrage (that is, the right to vote) to women. In the United States the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was signed in 1920. This amendment granted women the right to vote. This was the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention, in Seneca Falls, New York. In 1974 August 26th was selected to commemorate the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment - Women's Equality Day. The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality. In the UK the suffragettes dedicated their lives to the fight to get women the vote – and some even died in the process. After a long hard struggle women were at last given the vote in 1918. more on this topic see the feature on Women's History Month.