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Another common goal of women's clubs was to bring more social justice into American society. Thus, women's clubs worked to implement factory inspection laws, to place limits on the number of hours in the working day, to eliminate child labor, to institute the juvenile justice system, and to raise the minimum age for compulsory education. African American women's clubs fought against lynching, racial segregation, and discrimination. Catholic and Jewish women's clubs attracted women of those faiths who may not have felt comfortable in other women's clubs; these women were able to work for social justice within their organizations, which also paid special attention to the problems encountered by the particular religious group.

Women's club members believed that in order to accomplish most of their aims they had to organize networks of women's clubs.

Membership in women's clubs changed after the woman suffrage amendment greatly expanded women's access to civic activism through organizations previously closed to them.

The entry of women into public life has been reflected in the programs of their clubs, which show an increasing interest in questions of social welfare and international concern. Many town libraries, later supported by taxes, were started by women's clubs, and many health and welfare reforms have been initiated by them. The feminist movement also influenced women's clubs, especially by spurring the establishment of groups such as the National Organization for Women (founded 1966), which are explicitly devoted to the expansion of women's rights.