How Did Jane Addams Contribute To Women's Rights

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Jane's childhood experiences taught her the importance of helping those worse off than herself. Her mother died when Jane was two; growing up motherless and physically disabled made her sympathetic to other disadvantaged people. Jane Addams was an advocate of immigrants, the poor, women, and peace. Author of numerous articles and books, she founded the first settlement house in the United States. Her best known book, Twenty Years at Hull House, was about the time she spent at the settlement house. She led campaigns against child labor, worked hard for suffrage (women's right to vote), and promoted reform on city, state, and national levels. As an early leader in social reform in the United States, Jane Addams was a remarkable woman who advanced the welfare of working class adults and children by political advocacy and by providing practical opportunities as well. Addams founded the first settlement house in the United States, Hull House, in 1889. It was…show more content…
Unlike some other suffragists, she did not view women as being superior to men, rather she saw women as being different and that women had special responsibilities. In Addams' eyes, women should have strong relationships with their families, have the right to an education, and take on a creative role outside the home. Increasingly aware of the corruption in government and politics, Addams felt that women could help lead a moral reform movement if they were able to vote. She wrote a book on prostitution. To many Americans, she became the nation's custodian of sexual purity. In her book, A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil, Addams asserted that with a steady salary women would not become prostitutes: if the economic needs of women were met, they would not resort to prostitution. Additionally, when women were able to vote, they would not tolerate

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