Throughout the history of the United States women have had a surprising amount of influence despite the fact that they were denied rights. It took many acts for women to gain these rights and the respect that they deserved. In the 1770s, during the revolutionary war, women helped in the fight against Britain. They boycotted tea and other British products. Sarah Morris Muffin spun her own thread instead of using British thread. The first copy of the Declaration of Independence was printed by a woman, Mary Goddard.
In 1848, women started taking a stand against their unequal treatment. Two women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, led the first women's suffrage movement in the United States. This movement began at the Seneca Falls conference in Seneca Falls, New York. Unfortunately, women did not get suffrage until 1920, when the united states adopted the 19th amendment.Although women got suffrage in the 1920s the discrimination did not stop. From 1972 to 1982 women tried to pass the Equal Rights Amendment which ensured the same social and economical rights as men. The ERA was not passed due to many people's fear of unwanted change. Today equal benefits for men and women is not a problem in the United States, but still haunts many other countries around the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dPF0SGh_PQ
