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Progressive Era Reforms

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Tom Bar-Lev Professor Coburn History 017B 24 November 2024 The Effects of Progressive Era Reforms The progressive era was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries where many people tried to make reforms to change the United States for the better. These reforms caused massive changes in American life. Two areas the Progressive movement aimed to improve were the conditions of women and voting. The main goal of the progressive movement was to improve the conditions of women. One way the progressives tried to achieve this was by giving women the right to vote. At the turn of the century, women had already gained the right to vote in local elections dealing with school issues in many states. Some states have also granted women the full right to vote, such as Colorado. In the …show more content…
There were also laws limiting the working hours of women. While laws restricting work hours for all workers were struck down by the courts, laws applying to women were not because women were seen as weak and needing protection. While these laws did improve conditions for women, they also worsened inequality by having different rules for men and women and by presenting women as being weaker than men. The Progressive era saw many improvements in the rights and conditions of women, however, some of their reforms ended up codifying inequality into the law. The Progressive movement aimed to address the lack of influence that everyday people have in politics by increasing the power of vote. One way that Progressives tried to remedy this was with the system of initiatives, referendums, and recalls. Initiatives and referendums allowed people to vote on laws directly, instead of having to go through the state legislature. Recalls allowed people to vote to remove someone from office prior to the end of their term. The initiative was used to grant women suffrage in Oregon in 1912, 8 years prior to the rest of the

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