In The Beginning
Political prisoners; that’s how women were treated in the mid 1800s and the early 1900s, having no say in how or who ran their country and were unequal to men by law. Called Coverture, laws let husbands have nearly complete control over their wives, for example having the rights to all her property. Women were paid half to one fourth of what men made for doing similar jobs and most women didn't go to school because it "developed masculine traits", like ambition. The idea of a "proper lady" was promoted in magazines, always dressed in the finest clothes and supported by a man who could pamper her.
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Many suffragettes were supporters of anti-slavery, forming female anti-slavery associations in the 1830s. Women were angered when the 14th amendment (giving male slaves the same rights as citizens) passed in 1868, due to females being excluded. The women’s rights movement lost male supporters, men not wanting the amendment to be associated with women's rights.
"By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage." - Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England