We've discussed the numerous ways in which women were devoted to the cause, but who was devoted to these women? Here we'll address the efforts to still 'hold women back' even after their assistance during wartime.
I am woman, hear me roar
You know how they say, if you want something done, do it yourself? Well...
It soon became apparent that women would have to fight for equal opportunities and rights themselves.
Remember the ladies too???
We do not believe women...are fit to have their own head. Without masculine direction or control, she is out of her element and a social anomaly -- sometimes a hideous monster. - Oretes Brownson (Catholic spokesman)
The Civil War had been progressive in that it influenced how a woman saw herself in society, but it still held its limitations on how others saw that woman. War had come and gone, but women still had few personal rights (LeAnn Whites). Their citizenship and identity was still very much tied to the men in their lives (rather it be their husbands, or if unmarried, their fathers). Women had little to no financial rights. In marriage, they still lost all title to property to their husbands and in some ways they were still viewed as property. While war had brought forth more open talk of separation and divorce, if a woman went forward with the divorce she had no custodial rights of her children. Many women still had no access to a higher education and poor women were likely still illiterate---it was a way to keep women dependent on men. Society still saw women as ill-equipped without a man so there was no need for literacy because there was no way they could truly thrive independently. And although women had delved into the public sphere and the workforce during wartime, the ideals of the cult of domesticity still held true for society overall.
You forgot the ladies, so we regret to have backed the blacks
"No, no, this is the hour to press woman's claims; we have stood with the black man in the Constitution over half a century...Enfranchise him, and we are left outside with lunatics, idiots and criminals." - Susan B. Anthony
Many white feminists shelved their disdain with the unequal treatment and rights they faced to fight for the abolishment of slavery. They gave priority to black freedom and black rights with the assumption being that women were next specifically in terms of suffrage. They had assumed wrong and were sorely disappointed when the 15th amendment neglected to grant women the right to vote. After the war, many feminists began to view black rights as hostile to those of women. Even feminists such as Susan B. Anythony who considered themselves true to their abolitionist roots were straying far from its message and hinged on racism. This type of feminism and women's movement had become elitist and limited in nature and caused the American Equal Rights Association (AERA) to split into two suffrage movements: the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). The AWSA supported the 15th amendment and the progress of African Americans although it clearly had limitations. The NWSA suffragists were less concerned with African Americans and their focus now shifted entirely to women (Agnes Ryan). Neither association proved to be successful, but they helped reveal the problems that still persisted in a post-war 'progressive' era (AmericanYawp).