Challenges Experienced by Women Suffrage Movement in Flexner and Fitzpatrick (1996) Article

Reaction Paper: The Emergence of a Suffrage Movement             In this article by E. Flexner and E. Fitzpatrick (1996)deals with the various challenges experienced by women suffrage movement. It discussed extensively the social context when the call for women suffrage began, and provided various explanations why it took 60 long years for the woman to finally receive her right to vote. According to the authors, there were at least three factors why the women suffrage movement took so long to take off. One, there was a strong call among abolitionists to secure the right of the “Negro” so that slavery can be outlawed and their rights were protected. As there were about two (2) million “Negro” men who could tip the scale during elections, several politicians realized the importance of enabling former slaves to have a right to choose their own leaders. Many politicians did not wish to endanger the chance of institutionalizing the right for Negro suffrage by bringing in other agenda such as women suffrage, even though women played a huge part in the abolitionist war. Second, the authors believed that the women at the time could not yet feel the need to insist on their right to vote. Several referendums were made to see how many citizens actually demanded for women suffrage – most of them failed to get the support they needed. Whereas the fight against slavery has been ongoing for almost 30 years during, the call for women’s rights was only beginning. Lastly, the authors think that the internal conflict among women leaders set the movement back because there was no agreement on what they intended to secure in the first place. While Ms. Susan Anthony, and Ms. Elizabeth Stanton worked against the passing of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment which earned them ene...