Women's Suffrage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Women's Suffrage - Research Paper Example Women’s suffrage also encompasses political as well as economic rights to women who then qualify without any restriction to payment of taxes, ownership of property and marital status. Following the 1907 elections, the Grand Duchy of Finland was the first country to produce the first female as a member of parliament. In the United States, women’s suffrage gradually infiltrated the local and the states politics in the 19th and 20th century. In 1920, this movement culminated with the passage of Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of USA (Du Bois 77). This paper seeks to explore the opinion of three scholars on Women’s suffrage. Scholars’ Opinions William Du Bois (1868-1963) was a chief advocator for the civil rights of the Black society. In addition, he showed continued interest on the question of women and their rights to vote through his writing. He wrote the Horizons, Voice of the Negros and The independent where he advocated for the rights of the Afr o-Americans as well as women in the society (Du Bois 75). During his time, he described various issues that affected the women in the Negro society. He undertook various factual studies to analyze the employment, wages, working hours and working conditions of women as compared to those of men. He noticed that there was sex discrimination in the job opportunities, wages as well as working conditions, which favored the men. He also reported that the black woman faced sexist discrimination in the society. They also faced racial discrimination that was practiced by the women organizations. During an annual convention of the National American Women Suffrage Association, he delivered a speech on suffrage that was later published as a book. During this speech, he advocated for the women’s right and encouraged their fight for justice. Furthermore, he collaborated with several famous suffragists, for example, Jane Addams, Mary Church Terrel and Ida Wells (McGoldrick 1). Du Bios throug h his writing has been acknowledged as a supporter for the woman suffrage by various scholars. During his tenure in the National Association of Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he used his position as the editor of The Crisis magazine to champion the rights of women. In 1912, 1915 and 1917, he dedicated these editions on Women’s suffrage (Du Bois 76). In The Crisis of 1912, he suggested that the alliance between women and the African American should be continued in the 20th century. This edition of the article carried Fredrick Douglass portrait as the cover. The cover image was contrary to the message inside the magazine. This was because Fredrick Douglass was strongly against women’s suffrage (McGoldrick 1). In this edition, Du Bois termed the demand for the women’s suffrage as a significant human question that should not be ignored by any black citizen in the world. This openly criticized F. Douglass’s campaign against women’s suffrage. In 1915, the cover magazine carried the portrait of Abraham Lincoln and Sojourner Truth. They were black leaders who fought for the liberalization of the Black people. In this edition, Du Bois reminded his readers of the obvious historical linkage between women and African Americans. This edition contained comments from twenty black women and men on women’s suffrage. The edition reflected the African American views concerning the issue. Later on, in 1917 he dedicated the last edition which was released on the eve of enfranchisement of African Americans, which took place in New York (McGoldrick 1). In this edition, he encouraged the black women to get ready to vote. This edition served to give hope to the Black women that they should prepare to be