![5_female_Negro_officers_of_Women's_League,_Newport,_R](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/5_female_Negro_officers_of_Women%27s_League%2C_Newport%2C_R.I_LCCN2001705854.jpg)
The woman's club movement was a
social movement
A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may ...
that took place throughout the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a part of United States history, it was not until the
Progressive era
The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...
that it came to be considered a movement. The first wave of the club movement during the progressive era was started by white, middle-class,
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
women, and a second phase was led by African-American women.
These clubs, most of which had started out as social and literary gatherings, eventually became a source of reform for various issues in the U.S. Both African-American and white women's clubs were involved with issues surrounding education,
temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
,
child labor
Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
,
juvenile justice
A juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes that are committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal s ...
, legal reform, environmental protection, library creation and more. Women's clubs helped start many initiatives such as kindergartens and juvenile court systems. Later, women's clubs tackled issues like
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
,
lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
and
family planning
Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marita ...
. The clubs allowed women, who had little political standing at the time, to gain greater influence in their communities. As women gained more rights, the need for clubs to exercise political and social influence became less important. Over time, participation in women's clubs has waned in the United States. However, many clubs still continue to operate and influence their communities.
About
The woman's club movement became part of
Progressive era
The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...
social reform, which was reflected by many of the reforms and issues addressed by club members.
According to Maureen A. Flanagan, many women's clubs focused on the welfare of their community because of their shared experiences in tending to the well-being of home-life. Tending to the community was often called "municipal housekeeping" during the Progressive era and reflected a shared belief by many club members that home and city life were linked through city hall. By constructing the idea of
municipal housekeeping, women were also able to justify their involvement in government. Later, in 1921,
Alice Ames Winter
Alice Ames Winter (November 25, 1865 – April 5, 1944) was an American litterateur, author and clubwoman. She served as president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC).
Early years and education
Alice Vivian Ames was born in Albany, ...
describes how women had begun to see "their homes as the units out of which society was built", and that home life and public life were linked. Women's clubs "established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform, define and shape public policy". Women's clubs were also "training schools" for women who wanted to get involved in the public sphere. They helped women attain both social and political power.
Many women's clubs increased their memberships by having other members sponsor or nominate new members to the group.
Clubs often organized themselves by committee, or division. Many women's clubs created and occupied their own clubhouses. Today these clubhouses have continued to be the site of women's meetings and other gatherings.
Some women's clubs created and continue to publish their own journals and newsletters.
History
![Headquarters_minnesota_federation_of_women's_clubs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Headquarters_minnesota_federation_of_women%27s_clubs.jpg)
Prior to the founding of the first Progressive era women's clubs,
Sorosis
Sorosis Club rules in 1869
Sorosis was the first professional women's club in the United States. It was established in March 1868 in New York City.
History
The club was organized in New York City with 12 members in March 1868, by Jane Cunningham ...
and the
New England Women's Club The New England Women's Club (est. May 1868) of Boston, Massachusetts, was one of the two earliest women's clubs in the United States, having been founded a couple of months after Sorosis in New York City.''The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of U ...
, most organizations for women were auxiliaries of groups for men or were church-related.
Jane Cunningham Croly
Jane Cunningham Croly (December 19, 1829 – December 23, 1901) was a British-born American author and journalist, better known by her pseudonym, Jennie June. She was a pioneer author and editor of women's columns in leading newspapers and magaz ...
of the
General Federation of Women's Clubs
The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), founded in 1890 during the Progressive Movement, is a federation of over 3,000 women's clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service. Many of its activities ...
(GFWC) wrote in 1898 that women were first able to reach out of their homes through religious institutions.
By becoming involved in church or charitable groups, women were able to find companionship and a way to facilitate change in their communities.
It was also one of the few ways that women were initially allowed to contribute outside of the home. Some of the earliest women-led organizations were started as religious groups in the early part of the nineteenth century. White women were involved in church charity groups as early as the 1790s.
Later, women also started to become involved in
antislavery
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
groups,
temperance
Temperance may refer to:
Moderation
*Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed
*Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion
Culture
*Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...
groups and
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
organizations starting in the 1840s.
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
women helped organize many anti-slavery groups, the earliest founded in 1832, and white women followed black women's lead in creating abolition groups.
As women began to have more leisure time, they started woman's clubs. Initially, most women's clubs focused on literary endeavors, self-improvement and created social opportunities for white
middle-class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...
women.
These clubs allowed women to share ideas and helped them realize that their thoughts were important, and that together they could act on them. Literary women's clubs in pioneer areas gave women an outlet to explore reading and make friends. Many women’s clubs maintained book collections for use by club members. Instead of forming a literary club, women in
Galveston
Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...
created a scientific club, which also focused on learning.
Croly notes that women's clubs were not created to copy men's groups; instead, they were often created to give women a space to share ideas as equals; these ideas often developed into practical action. As Mary I. Wood and Anna J. H. (Mrs. Percy V.) Pennybacker described it: "Very early the club women became unwilling to discuss Dante and Browning over the teacups, at meetings of their peers in some lady's drawing room, while unsightly heaps of rubbish flanked the paths over which they had passed in their journeys thither." Women justified their movement into social reform by using the
Victorian idea that women were naturally morally superior to men.
As clubs moved from self-improvement to community improvement, women's clubs in the Western U.S. lagged somewhat behind clubs formed in more developed parts of the country. Woman's clubs in the late 1800s described themselves as attempting to "exert a refining and ennobling influence" on their communities. They also saw woman's clubs as an intellectual and practical good which would create better women and a better country.
Sorosis and the GFWC saw large increases in membership in 1889 and 1890. The GFWC grew to around a million women by 1910,
and to a million and a half by 1914. The creation of an umbrella organization for the many women's clubs allowed them to work together in a more coordinated fashion. However, the GFWC excluded African-American clubs from its membership,
and many white clubs during the late 1800s excluded black women as well as
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
women from membership. White women's clubs ignored racial inequalities because of the controversy surrounding the issue, and even if they addressed racial inequalities, they did so "tactfully in order to gain members and support". Some white women's clubs were frankly unconcerned with issues relating to African Americans because they "supported the racist ideology and practices of their era".
Women's clubs were very active in women's suffrage (see below) and helped support the war effort during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Women in clubs raised money, worked with the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
, financed the Home Guard and set up communications within the community to share information quickly.
Woman's clubs also
knitted
Knitting is a method by which yarn is manipulated to create a textile, or fabric. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine.
Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, either flat or i ...
socks, rolled
bandage
A bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support to or to restrict the movement of a part of the body. When used with a dressing, the dressing is applie ...
s for soldiers and sold
war bond
War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are ...
s. In Texas, the
Texas Federation of Women's Clubs
The Texas Federation of Women's Clubs (TFWC) is a non-profit women's organization in Texas which was founded in 1897. The purpose of the group is to create a central organization for women's clubs and their members in Texas relating to education, ...
(TFWC) helped create recreational canteens for soldiers. During the 1930s, women's clubs hosted programs in concert with the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
. When
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke out, women's clubs were involved in volunteering. In the 1960s, during the
civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
, women's clubs again grew in size.
While there were many organizations that encouraged change around child labor, the GFWC became advocates for some of the first child labor laws. Children were hired because they were cheaper and more manageable than adults. During the early 1900s, women’s labor organizations were formed to protect their rights. Among them, was Lenora O’Reilly who helped develop the WTUL that supported wage requests and promoted the end of child labor.
African-American club movement
Even before African Americans were freed from
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, black women had started to come together to create organizations which looked after their community's welfare. Black women were very quick to "organize themselves for self-help". One of the first African-American women's club was the Female Benevolent Society of St. Thomas, in Philadelphia, which was started in 1793. At the time, Philadelphia had numerous black organizations. After the
African Benevolent Society
African or Africans may refer to:
* Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa:
** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa
*** Ethn ...
in
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
, would not allow women to be officers or vote, women created their own group. Another group, the
Colored Female Religious and Moral Society The Colored Female Religious and Moral Society was an African American women's club organized in 1818 in Salem, Massachusetts. The group was started by forty women and they created their own constitution. The group's constitution was published in th ...
in Salem, Massachusetts was created in 1818. Black women's clubs helped raise money for the anti-slavery newspaper ''
The North Star''. Many black churches owed their existence to the dedicated work of African-American women organizing in their communities. Black women's literary clubs began to show up as early as 1831, with the Female Literary Society of Philadelphia.
After slavery was ended in the United States with the ratification of the
13th Amendment in 1865, black women continued to organize and often worked with churches to ensure their communities were taken care of. Many of these organizations were "so resilient that they were able to survive the twin disasters of
bank failure
A bank failure occurs when a bank is unable to meet its obligations to its depositors or other creditors because it has become insolvent or too illiquid to meet its liabilities. A bank usually fails economically when the market value of its assets ...
and
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
". In 1868, black women's clubs were formed in
Harris County, Texas
Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas; as of the 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, making it the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston, ...
. Between 1880 and 1920, black women in
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...
had created more than 500 clubs addressing various issues.
During the Progressive era, many black women migrated to the
Northern United States
The Northern United States, commonly referred to as the American North, the Northern States, or simply the North, is a geographical or historical region of the United States.
History Early history
Before the 19th century westward expansion, the "N ...
and into more
urban area
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
s. The club movement for black women in the 1890s began to focus on "social and political reform"
and were more secular. Black women had to face the same issues as white women during this period but were often excluded from services and help that benefited whites only. Black women were not only excluded from white clubs but also from clubs created by black men. In addition, many black women felt as though they were defying stereotypes for their community. Woman's clubs allowed black women to combat the period's stereotypes which "portrayed African American women as devoid of morality, sexually wanton and incapable of upholding marital and family responsibilities". Being a member of a woman's club also helped give black women greater
social standing
Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political). As su ...
in their communities.
Black colleges helped the creation of African-American women's clubs.
Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells (full name: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett) (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for ...
was an important figure in the growth of these clubs during the Progressive Era.
A number of clubs, named after her, were created in large cities across the country. In Chicago, the wealthy former abolitionist
Mary Jane Richardson Jones
Mary Jane Richardson Jones (1819 – December 26, 1909) was an American abolitionist, philanthropist, and suffragist.
Born in Tennessee to free black parents, Jones and her family moved to Illinois during her teenage years. Along with her h ...
supported the development of several clubs, serving as the first chair of Wells's.
Other influential woman's club organizers were
Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (August 31, 1842 – March 13, 1924) was an African-American publisher, journalist, civil rights leader, suffragist, and editor of the '' Woman's Era'', the first national newspaper published by and for African-Ameri ...
and
Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell (born Mary Eliza Church; September 23, 1863 – July 24, 1954) was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree, and became known as a national activist for civil rights and suffrage. She taught in the Lati ...
. In 1896, the
National Association of Colored Women
The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) is an American organization that was formed in July 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C., United States, by a merger of t ...
(NACW) was founded.
The NACW grew out of
anti-lynching campaigns spearheaded by Wells.
Wells's anti-lynching campaign provoked the president of the Missouri Press Association who viciously attacked black women in a letter that was widely circulated among women's clubs by Ruffin. Ruffin eventually helped bring together the NACW, using the letter as a "call to action".
![007WHM-PAc-96-25-2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/007WHM-PAc-96-25-2.jpg)
Both black and white women were involved in creating the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(NAACP) in 1909 and were often involved in much of the organization's local work.
By 1900, almost every black community had a women's club. By 1910, in proportion to population size, African-American women's clubs outpaced white women's clubs in the number of clubs created. By 1914, the NACW had fifty-thousand members and over a thousand clubs participating in the umbrella organization. Black women wanted to be visible and NACW helped them organize to improve conditions in their communities. There were also many African-American versions of the WCTU and the
YWCA
The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries.
The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...
.
The NACW raised more than $5 million in war bonds during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
The Woman's Club of Norfolk wrote letters and sent care packages to the segregated black units sent to fight overseas.
During the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, black women's clubs began to move towards "structural change and electoral politics".
The
National Council of Negro Women
The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1935 with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African-American women, their families, and communities. Mary McLeod Bethune, the f ...
(NCNW) became a dominant group in the women's club movement in African-American circles.
After World War II, working class and poor black women took the place of upper-class black women in organizing communities.
Faculty Wives clubs
Faculty Wives clubs began to be formed in many American universities in the early 20th century. They were brought together through the careers of the members' spouses. The clubs were localized around their particular affiliation and geographically restricted, thus most of their clubs did not receive the same volume of members nor the publicity of some of the earlier groups. However, their existence can still be seen in various
archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
s at
universities
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
across the United States such as
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
,
Kent State University
Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...
,
Emporia State University
Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. Em ...
, and
Ball State University
Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis.
On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...
.
These Faculty Wives clubs were formed during the
Progressive era
The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...
and served the same functions of community, cultural education, and service that characterized larger groups. One of the clubs' primary functions was fostering community among those affiliated with the university. The wives at Ball State University held regular dinners for their husbands, both to relieve stress and build relationships.
At University of Washington the wives formed a "Newcomers club" to ensure that the new faculty wives felt welcome and included at the university.
Along with fostering relations, the various clubs volunteered their time and skills to benefit their wider community. At Emporia State University the Faculty Wives club made bandages for the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, and sewed regularly for the Red Cross during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
At Ball State University the club sewed regularly at the local hospital.
The Faculty Wives clubs were prominent throughout much of the 20th century. During the latter half, some of the clubs merged with other groups to form University Women's club, reflecting the change in faculty diversity and
gender role
A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...
s in the United States.
Other wives clubs have remained independent and vibrant in their community, like the one at the University of Washington.
Decline of woman's clubs
African-American women's clubs began to decline in the 1920s. By the 1960s, interest and membership in white women's clubs started to decline.
As women had more opportunities to socialize, many clubs found their members were aging and were unable to recruit newer members.
Woman's clubs began to turn over their work to city entities and became less influential. In addition, more women began to enter the workforce during the 1960s and had less spare time to devote to club work.
Many women today are working long hours or spending time with their children's
extracurricular activities
An extracurricular activity (ECA) or extra academic activity (EAA) or cultural activities is an activity, performed by students, that falls outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school, college or university education. Such activities a ...
.
By 2010, the number of women's clubs had significantly decreased across the country. This reflects a trend in all club memberships in the United States: most clubs are losing members because there is a lack of leisure time for younger people.
Woman's clubs today
![University_Woman's_Club_at_the_University_of_the_Fraser_Valley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/University_Woman%27s_Club_at_the_University_of_the_Fraser_Valley.jpg)
Some clubs are still active. The
Houston Heights Woman's Club and The Women's Club of Forest Hills have found ways to reach out to younger residents in the community as recently as 2007 with the creation of an evening group. Some clubs have had success with creating programs that are meant to be attractive to younger women.
The
Des Moines Women's Club
The Des Moines Women's Club, founded in 1885 as the Woman's club movement in the United States, women's club movement swept through the United States, today serves the Des Moines community by providing scholarships, support for the local arts comm ...
established in 1885, continues to support the community today with scholarships, an annual art exhibition, and continued support to its historic club house and museum, Hoyt Sherman Place. Shrilee Haizlip, president of the
Ebell Club in Los Angeles, emphasizes what makes women's clubs unique: "It is a wondrous thing to be constantly surrounded by three generations of women."
Women's clubs continue their original missions of concern for the welfare of their communities.
The GFWC gives out the Croly Award for excellence in journalism on topics relating to women.
The GFWC also provides scholarships for women, especially those who have survived domestic violence.
The NACWC continues to be one of the top ten
non-profit organizations
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
in the United States. It has adopted modern issues to tackle, such as fighting AIDS and violence against women.
Many of today's women's clubs also provide cultural opportunities for their communities. Other groups continue to support their original missions, such as the Alpha Home, which provides care for elderly black people. Women's clubs that exist today were adaptable in response to societal changes over time.
Impact
Women's clubs, especially during the
Progressive era
The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...
, helped shape their communities and the country.
Many progressive ideals were pressed into action through the resources of women's clubs, including kindergartens, juvenile courts, and park conservation.
Women's clubs, many with their literary backgrounds, helped promote and raise money for schools, universities and libraries.
Women's clubs were often at the forefront of various civil rights issues, denouncing lynching, promoting women's rights and voting rights.
Civil rights
Women's clubs helped promote
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
, as well as improving conditions for black women in the country. A woman's club in California, the Fannie Jackson Coppin Club, was created by African Americans to "provide hospitality and housing services to African-American visitors who were not welcomed in the segregated hotels and other businesses" in the state. Some white woman's clubs promoted desegregation early on, though these efforts were small in scope. The Chicago Woman's Club admitted a black member,
Fannie Barrier Williams
Frances "Fannie" Barrier Williams (February 12, 1855 – March 4, 1944) was an African American educator, civil rights, and women's rights activist, and the first black woman to gain membership to the Chicago Woman's Club. She became well kno ...
, only after a long approval process,
which included the club deciding not to exclude anyone based on race. Few clubs worked together across racial boundaries, although the YWCA and the
Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching
The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching (ASWPL) was a women's organization founded by Jessie Daniel Ames in Atlanta, Georgia in November 1930, to lobby and campaign against the lynching of African Americans.Nancy Baker Jone ...
(ASWPL) did sometimes welcome bi-racial collaboration.
The Woman's Missionary Council for the
southern Methodist church
The Southern Methodist Church is a conservative Protestant Christian denomination with churches located in the southern part of the United States. The church maintains headquarters in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
The church was formed in 1940 by ...
spoke out against
lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
. Women's clubs, like the
Texas Association of Women's Clubs The Texas Association of Women's Clubs (TAWC) is an umbrella organization of African American women's clubs in Texas. It was first organized as the Texas Federation of Colored Women's Clubs in 1905. The purpose of the group was to allow clubs to wor ...
also denounced lynching. The purpose of the ASWPL was to end lynching in the United States.
Women's groups, like the NACWC, began to support
desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...
in the 1950s.
The Montana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs led campaigns for civil rights between 1949 and 1955.
They also helped draft anti-segregation legislation.
The initial organizer of the
Montgomery bus boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United States ...
in 1955 was the
Woman's Political Council of Montgomery.
Some women's clubs also worked to understand people's fear of
immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
during the late 1900s.
Settlement houses
The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...
, created by woman's clubs, helped settle and integrate European immigrants.
Education
Women's clubs were noted for promoting educational efforts around the country by their contemporaries. Putting women onto
school boards
A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution.
The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
was part of many women's club agendas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Women's groups also influenced discussions about classroom size; the Chicago Woman's City Club asking that there be no more than thirty children per class. Chicago clubs also helped sponsor school lunches for students. Clubwomen have also protested cuts in teacher's salaries.
Black women's clubs worked to create educational opportunities for their communities when these areas were ignored by white people.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
s and
nursery schools
A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...
in the United States were the creation of women's clubs. The first nursery school in the United States was created through women's clubs and club members in Chicago.
The
Woman's Club of El Paso
The Woman's Club of El Paso was founded in the late nineteenth century, and during that time was the only woman's organization in El Paso, Texas. The Woman's Club also allowed women in El Paso to become involved in community service and activism. T ...
started the first kindergarten in the state of Texas in 1893.
Women's clubs were often involved with creating schools for delinquent boys and girls. The Texas Association of Women's Clubs (TAWC) worked for several decades to create what would later become the
Crockett State School The Crockett State School (CSS) was a Texas Youth Commission juvenile correctional facility in Crockett, Texas. The students at the state school had committed various crimes, including truancy, property crimes and crimes against persons. which was originally meant to help "delinquent" black girls.
Women's clubs were involved in vocational training and pushing for additional educational options for all young people. The Woman's City Club worked with the
Chicago Woman's Club The Chicago Woman's Club was formed in 1876 by women in Chicago who were interested in "self and social improvement." The club was notable for creating educational opportunities in the Chicago region and helped create the first juvenile court in th ...
and the
Association of Collegiate Alumnae
The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...
to create a Bureau of Vocational Supervision which could take a "personal interest in schoolchildren, working directly to place them in appropriate jobs when they left school". The Bureau also created scholarships for needy students. The Chicago Woman's Club raised $40,000 to create an industrial school for boys in Glenwood, Illinois.
Hester C. Jeffrey
Hester C. Jeffrey, ''née'' Whitehurst (c. 1842 – January 2, 1934, also known as Jeffreys or Jeffries, or Mrs. R. Jerome Jeffrey, after her husband) was an African-American activist, suffragist, and community organizer in Rochester, N.Y., and ...
established woman's clubs which helped raise the funds for young black women to take classes at what would later become the
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in the town of Henrietta, New York, Henrietta in the Rochester, New York, metropolitan area. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degree ...
. Clubs, like the Chicago Woman's Club, taught the blind and provided job skills.
Many women's clubs believed that compulsory education for young people would help solve many child labor issues. In Chicago, the Woman's City Club worked with other clubs in order to help students stay in school past age 14. The Illinois Collegiate Alumnae association helped the government draw up a law in 1897 to ensure that children between the ages of seven and fourteen were in school for sixteen weeks of the year.
Women's clubs helped support and influence the creation of higher education. The
Texas Federation of Women's Clubs
The Texas Federation of Women's Clubs (TFWC) is a non-profit women's organization in Texas which was founded in 1897. The purpose of the group is to create a central organization for women's clubs and their members in Texas relating to education, ...
"was a significant force behind the establishment of
Texas Woman's University
Texas Woman's University (TWU) is a public coeducational university in Denton, Texas, with two health science center-focused campuses in Dallas and Houston. While TWU has been fully co-educational since 1994, it is the largest state-supported u ...
."
Women's clubs helped raise money for new college buildings. Other clubs created scholarship funds for their communities.
These organizations also helped produce research showing that higher education benefited women. Women's clubs today continue to sponsor
scholarship
A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need.
Scholarsh ...
s for higher education.
Art and music
Women's club activities were seen by contemporaries as helping to spread art appreciation across the country. Clubwomen would often donate art to schools. Other clubs created traveling art collections and art libraries for communities. Clubs also hosted arts exhibits. The FFWC promoted ''
Old Folks at Home
"Old Folks at Home" (also known as " Swanee River") is a minstrel song written by Stephen Foster in 1851. Since 1935, it has been the official state song of Florida, although in 2008 the original lyrics were revised. It is Roud Folk Song Inde ...
'' by
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known also as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Minstrel show, minstrel music during the Romantic music, Romantic ...
as the state song.
African-American women promoted the arts, focusing on "celebrating African American traditions and culture." These included African-American music, theater and dance. Clubwomen saw themselves as carrying on both art and tradition of their lives in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The
(CNDA) hosted well-known singers such as
Etta Moten
Etta Moten Barnett (November 5, 1901 – January 2, 2004) was an American actress and contralto vocalist, who was identified with her signature role of "Bess" in ''Porgy and Bess''. She created new roles for African-American women on stage ...
. CNDA also hosted an exhibit of African art, literature, and music called ''The Negro in Art Week'' in 1927.
Environment and conservation
![Photo_by_Katherine_Elizabeth_McClellan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Photo_by_Katherine_Elizabeth_McClellan.jpg)
Women's clubs were involved in protecting
natural resource
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...
s. Many women's clubs started out by beautifying their cities and states. Clubs would sponsor and maintain
playground
A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...
s, and dedicate and maintain
cemeteries
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
.
Later, clubs, like a Michigan women's club, would work to
reforest
Reforestation (occasionally, reafforestation) is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation, but also after clearcutting.
Management
A debate ...
parts of the state. In Idaho, women's clubs helped prevent
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
in
national forests
A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign state, sovereign or federated state, or territory (country subdivision), territory.
Background
The precise application of the terms va ...
. GFWC had been active since 1890 in areas related to
forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...
and had a forestry committee. This committee also disseminated information about conservation to the 800,000 members of the group. The GFWC later sponsored "a natural scenic area survey" of the United States in 1915 in order to discover areas that needed conservation. As women saw environmentally fragile areas start to be developed, many objected.
Women worked within existing clubs, and also formed new conservation-based clubs, to protect the environment.
Women's clubs helped in the creation of the
Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde National Park is an American national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado. The park protects some of the best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites in the United States.
Established ...
. Under the direction of
Virginia McClurg
Mary Virginia Donaghe McClurg (1857 - April 29, 1931) was Regent-General of National Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association, one of the first white women to view the prehistoric cliff dwellings near Mesa Verde. The Mesa Verde National Park has been ...
, women's organizations in Colorado supported the creation of the park. The
Colorado Federation of Women's Clubs (CFWC) helped McClurg, and created a committee that would eventually become the Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association. In California, women's clubs helped preserve
Sequoia trees and protested against "the environmentally destructive
Hetch Hetchy Dam
O'Shaughnessy Dam is a high concrete arch-gravity dam in Tuolumne County, California, United States. It impounds the Tuolumne River, forming the Hetch Hetchy, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir at the lower end of Hetch Hetchy, Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yos ...
". The Florida Federation of Women's Clubs "created the nucleus of
Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park is an American national park that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness of any kind east ...
". Idaho women's clubs also helped establish some of the first national parks; and in Utah, women's clubs "were instrumental in preserving
Monument Valley
Monument Valley ( nv, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, , meaning ''valley of the rocks'') is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona s ...
". Pennsylvanian women's clubs successfully lobbied for the creation of the Pennsylvania Department of Forestry. In 1916, the GFWC supported the creation of the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
.
In the 1930s, clubwomen involved in the
PEO Sisterhood, protected the
Great Sand Dunes
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is an American national park that conserves an area of large sand dunes up to tall on the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley, and an adjacent national preserve in the Sangre de Cristo Range, in south- ...
in Colorado. In New Mexico, the
Valley of Fires Recreation Area
The Carrizozo volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field located in New Mexico, US. The volcanic field consists of two lava flows, the Broken Back flow and the Carrizozo lava flow (Carrizozo Malpais), the second youngest in New Mexico. Both ...
was created through the work of the Carrizozo Woman's Club.
Women's clubs also helped preserve historical areas. As early as 1856, a women's organization, the
Mount Vernon Ladies' Association
The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association (MVLA) is a non-profit organization that preserves and maintains the Mount Vernon estate originally owned by the family of President George Washington. The association was founded in 1853 by Ann Pamela Cunni ...
, began the process of restoring and preserving
Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...
. In addition to their preservation and conservation efforts, women's clubs in the United States (especially women in the African American Club movement) pioneered environmental activism strategies that laid the foundation for later
environmental justice
Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...
organizing. In fact, many black women created "redemptive spaces" for black immigrants from the rural south in northern cities in the United States where they repurposed abandoned buildings as "community centers, settlement houses, parks and playgrounds."
Sanitation
The Woman's City Club and the
City Club of Chicago
The City Club of Chicago is a 501 (c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization intended to foster civic responsibility, promote public issues, and provide Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois with a forum for open political debate. The ...
both worked on issues relating to
waste disposal
Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal.
This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring ...
. The Woman's City Club was, in contrast, more interested in the health and safety of the city as opposed to the men's group who were more interested in making money from sanitation. The
Carrizozo Woman's Club of New Mexico helped bring sanitation to their city.
Health
Women's club members were involved in hospital reform and the creation of hospitals. In Seattle,
Anna Herr Clise created what later became the
Seattle Children's Hospital
Seattle Children's, formerly Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, formerly Children's Orthopedic Hospital, is a children's hospital in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. The hospital specializes in the care of infa ...
.
Other clubs helped set up health centers and clinics.
Women's clubs were involved with improving public hygiene and food and drug safety.
The
Ladies' Health Protective Association
Women's Health Protective Association (sometimes, Woman's Health Protective Association; original parent body, Ladies' Health Protective Association) was a US women's organization focused on improving a city's public health and protecting the imme ...
was established in New York City in November 1884 to address unsanitary conditions in the
abattoir
A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility.
Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...
district, and by 1897 had become a national organization.
Women in
The Pure Foods Movement, including the Pure Food Committee of the GFWC, were lobbied for a Federal bill known as the
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, also known as Dr. Wiley's Law, was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws which was enacted by Congress in the 20th century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. ...
. In Indiana, clubwomen "secured a state laboratory of hygiene under the control of the board of health, charged with the duty of examining food and drugs and aiding in the enforcement of health laws". Other clubs, like the Plymouth Woman's Club, undertook restaurant inspections on their own when there were no laws in place to regulate sanitary conditions.
Women were also involved in promoting clean and safe
drinking water
Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...
in their communities.
Many women's clubs were involved in the
birth control movement and promoted sex education.
Women's clubs promoted talks from experts on birth control. The Chicago Women's Club helped organize the
Illinois Birth Control League The Illinois Birth Control League (IBCL) was an organization created by the Chicago Citizens' Committee and the Chicago Woman's Club, to provide information and education about birth control. Later, the organization helped create the first birth con ...
, which later set up clinics around Chicago.
In Reading, Pennsylvania in 1937,
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control ...
was a sponsored speaker on a
radio program
A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode.
Radio networ ...
sponsored by the Woman's Club.
Libraries
![Mrs_Willie_Massey_with_traveling_library](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Mrs_Willie_Massey_with_traveling_library.png)
The GFWC developed a national agenda for libraries across the country. Clubwomen believed that having access to books made people's lives better. Women’s clubs helped establish many public libraries by contributing their book collections, raising money for building construction through a variety of activities for years, acting as librarians, cataloguing early collections, enlisting male leaders for public funding, and other management activities.
[Watson, "Founding Mothers," p. 236.] After the public libraries were established, women’s clubs lobbied on behalf of the public libraries in state legislatures and also for funding from the
Carnegie Library Endowment.
According to the
American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...
(ALA) and GFWC, women’s clubs are estimated to have started between 75 and 80 percent of the public libraries in the United States. In New York,
Melvil Dewey
Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was an influential American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification, a founder of the Lake Placid Club, and a chief lib ...
found clubwomen in his state to "be staunch allies".
Often, women's clubs had created their own private libraries, and from this experience wished to create community libraries for everyone to use. Many women's clubs made the creation of public libraries an important part of their mission. The Woman's Club of Bala Cynwyd was formed with the main initial purpose of creating of a public library in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. In Colorado, women's clubs established "
traveling libraries" in conjunction with the state government. They were well-received and very popular in the early 1900s around the country. In Georgia, clubwomen used their traveling libraries to help combat illiteracy in both the white and black communities. In South Carolina, the traveling libraries belonged to woman's clubs, but were available to the public.
Cherokee County, Texas saw the creation of its first public library with the founding of the Bachelor Girl's Literary Club. The
El Paso Public Library
The El Paso Public Libraries is the municipal public library system of El Paso, Texas. The library serves the needs the public in El Paso, Texas, Chaparral, New Mexico and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. It consists of 14 branches and one Bookmobile serv ...
was created largely by members of the
Woman's Club of El Paso
The Woman's Club of El Paso was founded in the late nineteenth century, and during that time was the only woman's organization in El Paso, Texas. The Woman's Club also allowed women in El Paso to become involved in community service and activism. T ...
.
In Texas, the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs (TFWC) helped influence the creation of the
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
The Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) refers to the agency in the state of Texas that assists the people of Texas to effectively use information, archival resources, public records and library materials to improve their lives, th ...
and the
Texas Historical Commission
The Texas Historical Commission is an agency dedicated to historic preservation within the state of Texas. It administers the National Register of Historic Places for sites in Texas.
The commission also identifies Recorded Texas Historic La ...
.
Around seventy percent of all libraries in Texas were brought into existence because of TFWC. Clubwomen in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, helped secure taxes to support their public library. Other clubs, like those in Kentucky and Tennessee, taxed club memberships to support their libraries. When libraries were threatened with elimination, clubs like the Woman's Club of Norfolk protested.
Reform
Labor
Women's clubs were involved in tracking and investigating
child labor
Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
and
working conditions {{Short description, 1=Overview of and topical guide to working time and conditions
This is a list of topics on working time and conditions.
Legislation
* See :Employment law
Working time
* See :Working time
* Flextime
Working conditions
* Bios ...
of all workers in the United States in the late nineteenth century. Clubwomen worked to reduce the number of hours children were allowed to work in the state of Indiana.
Some women's clubs became active in
labor strikes. The Woman's City Club of Chicago became involved in strike resolution. The Woman's City Club also demanded that picketers be protected by policewomen. The Woman's Club of Chicago helped form the Illinois Woman's Alliance (IWA) in order to "prevent the exploitation of women in
sweatshop
A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, o ...
s". Women-led organizations, like the
National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is an American consumer organization. The National Consumers League is a private, nonprofit advocacy group representing consumers on marketplace and workplace issues. The NCL provides government, bu ...
(NCL), developed a "white label" for stores that met the organization's standards for minimum wages and decent working hours.
Legal reform
Women's clubs helped establish
juvenile court
A juvenile court, also known as young offender's court or children's court, is a tribunal having special authority to pass judgements for crimes that are committed by children who have not attained the age of majority. In most modern legal s ...
s. The first juvenile court was established in Chicago in 1899 through the urging of the Chicago Woman's Club whose members felt that children should not be treated as adults by the court. Clubwomen from the Chicago Woman's Club went to court with many of the children in order to ensure they were being treated fairly. The Chicago Woman's Club also established a Protective Agency for Women and Children in 1886.
Juvenile law in Chicago also recognized children who were without legal guardians and who should be dependent on the state. By 1906, there were juvenile courts in twenty-five states. These courts were praised by contemporaries, like Mrs. John Dickinson Sherman, who wrote in 1906 of the establishment of the juvenile courts, "If the whole club movement of the six states in the last ten years had accomplished nothing else it would still be well worth while." Woman's clubs helped pass Juvenile court laws in Ohio, Missouri, and in Los Angeles.
Women's clubs helped work towards marriage reforms which would benefit women. An act passed on March 2, 1907, called the
Expatriation Act, required that when a woman married, she took on the citizenship of her husband.
For women to attain a civic or legal identity, such as the right to vote, they needed to have independence from their husbands'
citizenship
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
.
Marriage laws in 1921 still had separate standards for married women's citizenship status depending on her state of residence. Finally, in 1922, the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
passed the
Married Women's Act, granting married women their own nationality in the United States.
In 1936, Congress created a provision for women who had lost their citizenship due to marriage, and were no longer married, to re-swear allegiance to the United States.
Women's clubs also looked at issues of consent. The Chicago Woman's Club, which created the Protective Agency for Women and Children, presented bills to the legislature which later passed. One raised the
age of consent
The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim ...
from 14 to 18. Women's clubs helped assert the right of women to refuse to have sex with their husbands if they chose.
Prison reform
The
Women's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...
(WCTU) of Washington state was involved in urging the city of Spokane to hire a female jail matron for women prisoners in 1902.
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (August 7, 1890 – September 5, 1964) was a labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union ...
helped expose sexual abuse of women prisoners in the jails during the
Free Speech Movement of 1909
Free may refer to:
Concept
* Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything
* Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism
* Emancipate, to procure ...
, and helped to push the city to finally install a female jail matron in Spokane.
The Chicago Woman's Club advocated for a female jail matron in 1884. In Los Angeles, clubwomen were able to influence the city to appoint female police officers.
Fashion
Women's clubs were also interested in reforming fashion. Some reform centered
around corsets and how
tight clothing was starting to be considered unhealthy. Women's clubs also spoke out against the
use of bird feathers in women's fashion.
Besides reform, women's clubs also used fashion as a way to showcase creative arts. Fashion shows put on by the CNDA in the 1930s and 1940s featured recitals of music and dance, which were held at the
Savoy Ballroom
The Savoy Ballroom was a large ballroom for music and public dancing located at 596 Lenox Avenue, between 140th and 141st Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
Lenox Avenue was the main thoroughfare through upper Harle ...
.
Suffrage
Women's clubs became very active in women's suffrage. Before women had the right to vote, women's clubs needed to partner with sympathetic organizations run by men. The focus on women's suffrage began during the last half of the nineteenth century. In 1868,
Kate Newell Doggett, a
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
, helped set up a chapter of
Sorosis
Sorosis Club rules in 1869
Sorosis was the first professional women's club in the United States. It was established in March 1868 in New York City.
History
The club was organized in New York City with 12 members in March 1868, by Jane Cunningham ...
, which became the first women's group in Chicago to focus on suffrage. Later, the
Chicago Woman's Club The Chicago Woman's Club was formed in 1876 by women in Chicago who were interested in "self and social improvement." The club was notable for creating educational opportunities in the Chicago region and helped create the first juvenile court in th ...
would help promote suffrage.
Other organizations, dedicated especially to suffrage began to be formed after the Civil War.
As women's clubs grew, so did suffrage organizations.
African-American women's clubs like the NACW not only fought for women's suffrage but also for the right of black men to vote.
Many black women were involved in groups like the
National Woman Suffrage Association
The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement spl ...
(NWSA) and the
American Woman Suffrage Association
The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) was a single-issue national organization formed in 1869 to work for women's suffrage in the United States. The AWSA lobbied state governments to enact laws granting or expanding women's right to vote ...
(AWSA).
Women involved in the
National Baptist Woman's Convention
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
also supported suffrage.
Women's clubs hosted talks about suffrage
and invited suffrage leaders to speak.
After women won the right to vote, women's clubs continued in helping women exercise their rights and how to best use their votes. However, another factor in earning the right to vote was a decline in membership until the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, when women got together again for charitable work.
Temperance
Women's clubs such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) were involved with advocating the
prohibition of alcohol
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
.
The
Florida Federation of Women's Clubs
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to t ...
(FFWC) also supported temperance in that state.
Numerous women involved with the temperance movement felt that limiting
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
access would decrease "social ills" such as
gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...
,
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
and
domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
.
Many women involved in the temperance movement felt that securing women's right to vote would help promote prohibition of alcohol. Both black and white temperance groups promoted women's suffrage.
Notable clubs
See also
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List of women's clubs
Woman's clubs or women's clubs are examples of the woman's club movement. Many local clubs and national or regional federations were influential in history. The importance of some local clubs is demonstrated by their women's club buildings be ...
*
Feminism in the United States
Feminism in the United States refers to the collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending a state of equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women in the United States. Feminism has ha ...
*
Gentlemen's clubs
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Women-only space
A women-only space is an area where only women (and in some cases children) are allowed, thus providing a place where they do not have to interact with men. Historically and globally, many cultures had, and many still have, some form of female sec ...
*
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...
*
Membership discrimination in California social clubs
Membership discrimination in California social clubs has been based on sex, race, religion, political views and social standing. In the late 1980s, a successful effort was made in many of the clubs to open up membership first to racial or religio ...
*
History of antisemitism in the United States
There have been different opinions among historians with regard to the extent of antisemitism in America's past and how American antisemitism contrasted with its European counterpart. Earlier students of American Jewish life minimized the pres ...
*
Racial segregation in the United States
In the United States, racial segregation is the systematic separation of facilities and services such as Housing in the United States, housing, Healthcare in the United States, healthcare, Education in the United States, education, Employment in ...
References
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
* Anne Ruggles Gere. ''Intimate Practices: Literacy and Cultural Work in U.S. Women's Clubs, 1880–1920.'' University of Chicago Press, 1997.
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* Jayne Morris-Crowther, ''The Political Activities of Detroit Clubwomen in the 1920s: A Challenge and a Promise.'' Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2013.
External links
Lifting as We Climb: African American Women's Clubs in Progressive Era ChicagoGFWC(official site)
''For Our Mutual Benefit: The Athens Woman's Club and Social Reform, 1899–1920''in th
Digital Library of Georgiahttps://web.archive.org/web/20040305122702/http://www.washingtonhistory.org/wshs/research/finding_aids.htm Finding Aids, Research Center, Special Collections, Washington State Historical Society]
http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss204_main.html Women's Clubs Collection, 1812–1995] Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College
Margaret Fuller Club Collection McLean County Museum of History
{{Authority control
African-American women's organizations,
Progressive Era in the United States