Womens' Gains

Once upon a time there was a maldistribution of power between the sexes; females had less power and authority in society compared to men. Only men were allowed to vote and were seen as the superior gender. Women were seen as male property and dependent of men. This is not how a few people saw it, rather everyone in American society. Today, however, this is not the case. Women, while not having achieved total social and political equality, have made great gains and are nearly equal to men. This did not happen by itself, however. Through the use of powerful rhetoric in speeches and demonstrations by female suffrage activists like Florence Kelley, women eventually gained the right to vote among other social and political improvements. In addition to gaining the right to vote, women also greatly impacted society in the early 20th century with the enactment of the 18th amendment which outlawed the sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol in the United States. Women claimed that their husbands were violently drunk all too frequently and were tired of dealing with them as they were seeing pink elephants. This power in dealing with America's alcohol problem in addition to gaining the right to vote gave America a strong and firm message: Women deserve respect and are to be taken seriously in society and government. A clever tactic to gaining the support and votes of men was citing the words of Jesus Christ in The Bible as many men respected the Bible and supported the movement.