GED - Social Studies Practice Test

Questions 4 through 5 refer to the following excerpt

Women's Voting Rights

Since the 19th century, many people have worked for equal rights for women. Much of this effort focused on suffrage, which is the right to vote. One of the greatest victories for advocates of women’s rights was ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. The 19th Amendment stated that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” However, the struggle for equality in other areas of society continued even after the 19th Amendment granted woman suffrage.

Number of Women in the U.S.
House of Representatives,
1917-2011

A line graph. The horizontal x-axis labeled session of congress runs from 65 to 110. The vertical y-axis labeled number of women representatives runs from 0 to 80. The line begins at the 65th session of congress and fluctuates between zero and one until the 68th Congress. The line then rises to 9 in the 71st congress, then fluctuates between 7 and 11 until the 80th congress. The line then rises to 18 in the 84th congress and remains steady until the falling to 11 in the 88th congress. The line remains steady until the 90th congress, then rises sharply to 75 in the 110th congress.

Multiple Choice Item: 1 point value

Question Overview:This question requires you to analyze both text-based information about women's I suffrage and graphed data about the number of women in the House of Representatives to arrive at an explanation for the fact there was only one female representative in the 65th congressional session. This question requires analytical thinking and the ability to draw a logical conclusion.

Answer Rationale:

Option A is correct. If you selected this item, you most likely noted that woman suffrage was guaranteed by the U.S. government when the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. Although many western states allowed women to vote before national suffrage, the graph shows that just one woman served in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 65th session of Congress. The 65th session was held from 1917 to 1919, just before the woman suffrage amendment was ratified.

Option B is incorrect. If you selected this option you may have recalled that some states used literacy tests to prevent voting. However, it was the voting rights of African Americans that were affected by such tests. literacy tests were not used to restrict the voting rights of women as a group. In 1917, the year the 65th Congress was sworn in, the lack of constitutional protection is what restricted women's voting rights.

Option C is incorrect. If you selected this option, you likely noticed that the graph shows that only one woman served in the 65th session of Congress. However, the fact that there was only one woman was not due to women resisting involvement in politics at the national level (although some women's groups saw participation in the suffrage movement as "unladylike)." According to the passage, many individuals worked for the advancement of women's rights at the national level. Women were at the forefront of their own suffrage movement. They served as leaders of organizations promoting their cause and supported political candidates who favored the unrestricted right of women to vote.

Option 0 is incorrect. If you selected option 0, you likely observed that the graph shows that only one woman served in the 65th session of Congress. However, states did not limit women's involvement in political campaigns during the early 1900s. Female candidates were unlikely to get elected to Congress because women's right to vote was restricted or nonexistent in many states. In addition, there was strong cultural resistance to women holding political office, especially at the national level.