WOMENS RIGHTS: VICTORIAN ERA

Lida Foung Junior Division Individual Website

Ive always wondered what the lives of women during Victorian era (from June 1837 to January 1901, beginning with the reign of Queen Victoria) was like. When NHD came up, I knew exactly what I wanted to research. The Victorian era was a time for protest against womens suffrage in the United States and the United Kingdom. Figures such as Emmeline Pankhurst and Susan B. Anthony appeared around this time. Considering the fact that many women today have just as many rights as men, I decided that I wanted to look into the past to see the conditions of womens rights back then. I browsed through the internet for whatever resources I could use, spending countless hours researching there alone, being unable to go to libraries or really, anywhere at all due to certain circumstances. However, I had books as well to aid me on my mission, most of them being textbooks I could get hard copies of or read online. Primary sources were rare and hard to find, so I had to scour deeper into the internet, snuffling out pamphlets, the few autobiographies, and such. On the other hand, secondary sources were more readily available, with many results popping up. Still, few led me to any primary sources. At best, I could find slightly grainy photographs, but there were still jewels amongst them. The most reliable primary source I could find was The History of Woman Suffrage, a series of six volumes by Susan Anthony, Matilda Gage, Ida Harper, and Elizabeth Stanton, through the e-book database Project Gutenberg. I chose to create a website for my project almost immediately; I had done a research paper previously and the other options didnt seem to click with me. Making a website would also be more advantageous, seeing as I could display a wider range of media. The idea that I could blend visuals, text, and technology was delicious. However,

a website would still be difficult to assemble, seeing as I still had few resources I could use from the time period I was studying. I incorporated the notes that I had garnered and implemented them onto my website, which I tried to make as appealing and fitting for my topic as possible, alongside my few other miscellaneous resources. I saw my topic to be suitable for this years theme because women during that time had few rights, which this years theme is about. Many had strived to achieve them. Had it not been for the many women (and men) who worked towards obtaining them, we would not be where we are today, with equal rights for all regardless of gender, although that may not hold true for some other countries. Those people, male or female, took on the responsibility of fighting for womens rights, which would prove to be a successful mission, though it was still not a mission accomplished with the end of the Victorian era and Queen Victorias reign. The struggle for equal rights would still last beyond then. (500 words)