Suffrage, labor rights, and the equal rights amendment are all related. They all affect mostly  women and have caused controversy throughout history. Fighting for labor rights is significant because of the discrimination of women in the workplace. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory is an example of why labor rights cannot be overlooked. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a sweatshop. Women would work there under poor conditions and extremely long work hours. The infamous fire that occurred is why labor rights matter. There were no safety measures in place, and only two exits. One of the exits was blocked so the women couldn’t steal or take breaks. Because of the lack of safety measures, the majority of women died in the building. Although this happened many years ago, the workplace is still unsafe and lacks equality today. Labor rights are needed in order to ensure women are being paid correctly and are treated fairly. The Triangle tragedy could have been avoided if people cared about the safety of those women. This raises awareness for gender justice because till this day, wages aren’t as high for women as they are for men. Women are still being overlooked. Sweatshops are still here, even outside of America. The equal rights amendment is similar to labor rights because its purpose is to protect people from being discriminated against. Labor was a concern for the people because they believed if the ERA was passed, the number of hours women can work would be limited. Alice Paul, who wrote the ERA, also pushed for suffrage. She tried to apply techniques from the British suffragist movement, such as civil disobedience, on Americans to create a suffrage movement in the states. Overall, each of these factors have one thing in common: equality. The intention behind wanting to be able to vote and have better work conditions as a woman comes from men having all these rights “naturally”, whereas women have to make a statement in order for these factors to be considered. Many may make the argument that this was something of the past and women are no longer oppressed by the system. This would be false because these issues are still enacted today in society. Although the average working woman may not be in a sweatshop here in the states, women are struggling to still be treated on the same level as men, even if they’re in the same position of work.