The History Of Women Empowermwent
Female Empowerment is often associated with specific phases of the women's rights movement in history.
1893: States Begin to Grant Women the Right to Vote
Colorado becomes the first state to adopt an amendment granting women the right to vote. Utah and Idaho followed in 1896. In 1910, Washington state jumped on board, along with California in 1911, and Kansas, Oregon and Arizona in 1912.
1903: A Union Is Formed for Working Women
The National Women’s Trade Union League was formed to “assist in the organization of women wage workers into trade unions and thereby to help them secure conditions necessary for healthful and efficient work and to obtain a just reward for such work.” The effort bonded women across economic and social divides, attracting “a coalition of working-class women, professional reformers, and women from wealthy and prominent families.”
1916: Women Gain Access to Birth Control
As a nurse in immigrant communities, Margaret Sanger met many women who experienced multiple childbirths, miscarriages and self-induced abortions because they lacked the proper information about how to avoid unwanted pregnancy. She decided to take matters into her own hands, opening up the first family planning and birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York. While she faced initial challenges with this first clinic, her idea eventually evolved into Planned Parenthood.
