THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT AND PROHIBITION 1820 - 1933

The New Woman of the 1920s

Women vs. Demon Rum

Women’s Activism

Women’s Suffrage and Prohibition Era

Legacy of Women in Politics and Prohibition

Early to Mid-1800s

Population boom

Universal suffrage for adult white men

Increase in drinking by individuals

Reasons for drinking were numerous, leading to more frequent binge drinking.

Women Find a Cause

Temperance became a women’s activism movement.

Visions of progress for families as well as fears of violence and poverty at the hands of drunken husbands inspired many women to undertake temperance activism.

Women’s Unions and Groups

Major Players

Frances Willard

Susan B. Anthony

Elizabeth Cady

Stanton

Carry Nation

Passing Prohibition: Ratified January 1919, enforced January 1920

Anti-Saloon League and pressure politics

Minorities and xenophobia

The Great War

The 19th Amendment passed House & Senate in May of 1919 and was ratified in 1920.

Women’s demand for a vote was intertwined with their demand for social justice.

They had become masters of pressure politics and networking through work on prohibition.

Women’s Fight to Maintain Prohibition

Began to hold offices, including U.S. House of Representatives

Fight for Prohibition helped gain suffrage

Election of Herbert Hoover

Women’s Political Activism

Women’s Joint Congressional Committee (WJCC)

Friction among women’s organizations

New generation of women

21st amendment was ratified

on December 5, 1933

repealing the 18th

amendment

Repeal of Prohibitio

n

Enduring Legacy

Women’s rights and right to have fun

Drinking level remained constant until 1960s

Rolls into the World War II era of women at work

Domesticating Drink: Women, Men, and Alcohol in America,

1870-1940

Battling Demon Rum: The Struggle for a Dry America,

1800-1933

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