WHEREAS, We have progressed beyond the idea of the secondary position of women in Jewish congregations, we recognize the importance of their hearty cooperation and active participation in congregational affairs; therefore be it RESOLVED that the Executive Committee have prepared a paper tracing the development of the recognition of women in Jewish congregations, and expounding a conclusion that women be eligible for full membership, with all privileges of voting, and holding office in our congregations."
Any citing of traditional material would await a full paper. The paper which was to follow in the subsequent year, however, did not materialize. This resolution went further than any earlier statement. It came in the same year as the World Parliament of Religions met in Chicago with two papers on women in Judaism . Dr. Landsberg dealt largely with the biblical period, but noted the changes of the nineteenth century. Ms. Szold provided a review of the past, but concentrated on the modern period, however, with little about the problems remaining.” The Congress of Jewish Women also participated in that meeting."
The American women’s movement faced a long, tough, uphill battle for the right to vote which finally occurred through the ratification of the nineteenth amendment in 1920. This was the next step for women’s rights which needed support. A number of prominent rabbis were heavily involved. However the Central Conference was slow to take a stand, yet the resolution process eventually worked. We will trace it through the years to demonstrate this democratic path. An effort in 1913 to place a resolution before the Conference failed. The proposed resolution in part reads:
That this Central Conference of American Rabbis by common recognition the largest and most representative organization of progressive Judaism today in the entire world, places itself on
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