Centerino 1 Cori Centerino Durnell 17 January 2012 ERA DBQ Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail to pass? Women took active roles in the American Revolution. Women managed farms, shops, and businesses as well as households and families. Some women even joined the war effort. Many made ammunition from their household silver. They were especially involved in preparing the next generation of patriots by instilling republican values in their children.
But without the ability to vote, have an active role and say in government, and achieve ultimate equality to men, women could not fully prepare themselves and their children for the future. The American Revolution restricted women. When they proved their strength and power, political leaders shot them down and denied their strength. Women found this unfair, and fought for their rights. Document F shows a picture of a group of women that chained themselves together to show how they felt chained down.
Although their method of protesting was not very affective, it exhibited their desire to have an active role in government. These women demonstrate the hard effort that was necessary to get their voices heard. Most of the people who favored the ERA were younger, because they were in charge of changing for the best interest of the next generation. Centerino, 2 Hundreds of women followed their husbands to the battlefield, where they washed, mended, and cooked for the troops.
Some even risked their lives in Combat. So if women were helping their husbands in such a way, why were they not allowed to have equal rights with them? Document J talked about a man who was going to quit his job because his wife got a better job than him. He was embarrassed that his wife was going to become more powerful than him. Document M explained the husbands against the feminist movement, saying that men can not do women’s jobs so women should not be allowed to do men’s jobs.
Document K described that if the bill passes, women may lose their rights as mothers and wives, when that was what only a small minority of women actually want. People said these feminists were actually degrading the role of wife and mother that most women have today. A picture in Document L states that if women go into the work force there will be no need for men, which is false because both men and women can be needed to complete tasks together. Document C states that there needs to be 2/3 majority to pass the article from the Constitution, which there was not.
Without the ability to vote, have an active role and say in government, and achieve ultimate equality to men, women could not fully prepare themselves and their children for the future. The Equal Rights Amendment Act failed to pass because at that time men were not in favor of passing laws for women to be equal to them. Suffragists traveled the country telling their story. They kept attention focused on women’s suffrage Centerino, 3 when the issue might other wise have been eclipsed by WWI. Women fought long and hard for their rights, and at that time the law should have been passed much time before it actually was.
