One Giant Leap

Rhiannon Neufell

HIS 204 - American History Since 1865

Doctor Steven DiGerlando

October 6, 2014

One Giant Leap for Womankind

Up until the beginning of the twentieth century, women were property, wives, cooks, and mothers. At the beginning of the twentieth century, womankind began to experience profound changes; in 1916, Jeannette Pickering Ranking became the first female member of Congress, twice elected (first in 1916, then again in 1941); when she was first elected, she said, "I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I won't be the last" (United States House of Representatives, 1916). On August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was passed, allowing women the right to vote. Also in the 1920s, women first experienced the final liberation from...