Women and the Fight for Reform Women in the late 19th century, except in the few western states where they could vote, were denied much of a role in the governing process. Nonetheless, educated the middle-class women saw themselves as a morally uplifting force and went on to be reformers. Jane Addams opened the social settlement of Hull House in 1889. It offered an array of services to help the poor deal with slum housing, disease, crowding, jobless, infant mortality, and environmental hazards. For women who held jobs, Hull House ran a day-car center and a boardinghouse. Addams was only one of many early reformers to take up social work. Jane Porter Ba