The word “suffrage” means “voting as a right rather than a privilege,” and has been in the English language since the Middle Ages. Suffrages originally were prayers. Then the meaning was extended to requests for assistance, then the assistance provided by a supporting vote, and finally the vote itself. Therefore, in 1787 the Constitution used suffrage to mean “an inalienable right to vote.”
The word “suffrage” means “voting as a right rather than a privilege,” and has been in the English language since the Middle Ages. Suffrages originally were prayers. Then the meaning was extended to requests for assistance, then the assistance provided by a supporting vote, and finally the vote itself. Therefore, in 1787 the Constitution used suffrage to mean “an inalienable right to vote.”
And the right to vote was what advocates of women’s equality sought. They used suffrage in the phrase “female suffrage” or simply by itself, with the understanding that suffrage referred to voting rights for half of the adult population that had been excluded. The goal of the suffrage movement was accomplished in 1920 with the 19th Amendment to the Constitution: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged ... on account of sex.” With that, the word suffrage was also retired. Since then, campaigns to extend the vote have simply called for “voting rights.”
The numbers in [bold brackets] identify the images in the photograph collection at the bottom of the page.
1937: Breedlove v. Suttles
On December 6, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Georgia poll tax, reasoning that voting rights are conferred by the states and that the states may determine voter eligibility as they see fit, save for conflicts with the Fifteenth Amendment (respecting race) and the Nineteenth Amendment (respecting sex … Poll taxes are used to prevent people with little money (i.e. poor whites, African Americans, Native Americans) from voting. [https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/302/277]
1938: Fair Labor Standards Act (U.S.C. 203)
This labor law creates the right to a minimum wage, and "time-and-a-half" overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week. It also prohibits employment of minors in "oppressive child labor". [https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa]
1941: U.S. enters World War II
Millions of women are recruited for defense industry jobs in war years and become significant parts of labor force. WAC and WAVES are established as first women’s military corps.[85] [86] [See below)
1941: Women’s Army Corp (WAC)
This U.S. Army unit was created during World War II to enable women to serve in noncombat positions. Never had women, except for nurses, served within the ranks of the U.S. Army. With the establishment of the WAC’s, more than 150,000 did so. [https://www.army.mil/women/history/wac.html]
1941: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES)
The United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES, was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. It was established on July 21, by the U.S. Congress [84]. [https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2018/07/birthday-of-the-waves/?loclr=twlaw]
1942: First Female Officer is the Navy
Mildred Helen McAfee [82], president of Wellesley College, was an American academic who served during World War II. She was sworn in as a Navy Reserve lieutenant commander and became the first female officer in U.S. Navy history, as well as the first director of the WAVES. McAfee was the first woman commissioned in the U.S. Naval Reserve and the first woman to receive the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. [https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/1102371/remembering-navy-waves-during-womens-history-month/]
1943: Magnuson Act
On December 17, the Magnuson Act becomes federal law. It repeals the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, and Chinese immigrants, including women, can become U.S. citizens (though rights of property ownership remain restricted). Some already in the U.S. can naturalize. The quota for entry visas to the U.S. issued to Chinese citizens is set at only 105 per year. [https://historylink.org/File/8993]
1947: Post-War changes
Percentage of women in the labor force declines as women leave jobs to get married and to make way for returning soldiers. By end of decade, numbers of workingwomen are again on the increase.
1952: Immigration and Nationality Act
On June 27, The Immigration and Nationality Act upheld the national origins quota system established by the Immigration Act of 1924, reinforcing this controversial system of immigrant selection to and citizenship in the U.S. It also ended Asian exclusion from immigrating to the U.S. and introduced a system of preferences based on skill sets and family reunification. In 1965 it was replaced by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/immigration-act]
1955: Civil Rights in the South
Educator and civil rights activist Septima Poinsette Clark and others lead sit-ins and demonstrations, providing models for future protest strategies. [http://www.safero.org/articles/septima.html]
1960: FDA approves birth control pills
Clinical tests of the pill, which used synthetic progesterone and estrogen to repress ovulation in women, were initiated in 1954. On May 9, the FDA approved the pill, granting greater reproductive freedom to American women. [https://www.fda.gov/media/110456/download]
1961: President’s Commission on the Status of Women
On December 14, President John F. Kennedy established this Commission, headed by Anna Eleanor Roosevelt [83] until her death in 1962. The Committee was charged with evaluating and making recommendations to improve the legal, social, civic, and economic status of American women. It successfully pushes for passage in 1963 of Equal Pay Act, first federal law to require equal compensation for men and women in federal jobs. [https://www.nacw.org/history.html]
1961: Washington, D.C. suffrage
On April 3, the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution becomes law. It grants residents of Washington, DC the right to vote for the U.S. President. Because D.C. is not a state, however, residents do not have voting representatives in the U.S. Congress. [https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xxiii]
1963: The Feminine Mystique
Betty Friedan [77] publishes her highly influential book, The Feminine Mystqiue which describes the dissatisfaction felt my middle-class American housewives with the narrow role imposed on them by society in the post-WWII period. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Feminine-Mystique]
1964: Civil Rights Act
This civil rights and labor law outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, and racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations. [https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964]
1964: Twenty-fourth Amendment
On January 23, this Amendment is ratified by two-thirds of the states. It prohibited the federal and state governments from imposing poll taxes and literacy tests before a citizen could participate in a federal election. These tactics were heavily used against African American and poor white women and men. [https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xxiv]
