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The Fight For Women's Rights

A big meeting 175 years ago changed history.

March 27, 2023

In 1848, a woman named Elizabeth Cady Stanton was tired of being treated unfairly. At the time, women in the U.S. weren’t allowed to vote for the president or in most government elections. In fact, women didn’t have many of the rights that men had.

A Fight for Equality

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Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a leader in the movement for equal rights.

To make a change, Stanton helped plan a meeting about women’s rights in Seneca Falls, New York. More than 300 people listened to Stanton read a list of resolutions. When Stanton said women should be able to vote, some people got angry. They thought only men should have that right.

Stanton didn’t give up. She knew women needed to vote if they wanted to change unfair laws. In the end, she convinced 100 people at Seneca Falls to agree with her.

Many experts say this meeting started the U.S. women’s suffrage movement.

More Work to Do

After the meeting, many people still didn’t want women to vote. But women kept fighting. They marched in protests and wrote to lawmakers.

Their hard work paid off. In 1920, the 19th Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution, which describes how our government works. The amendment gave women the right to vote. Stanton’s dreams of change were coming true!