Women's Rights Movement

Slowing The Momentum For Womens Rights


In the late 1800’s men felt threatened by the possibility that the general second-class citizenship that women had held would be uprising and share in the commander role the male population had established. Beginning of the republic the media had worked to limit women’s role in society, it had placed them in a sphere known as the home. Women were not allowed to vote, let alone have a say in the household. “They were considered in society based on their husband’s identity, they were thought to be incapable of serious thought and important decision making. Women could not retain property and were married at the age of 16 giving birth to a child every year or two after up until her forties getting stripped of her looks and health by mid twenties” (Mightier than the Sword, Rodger Streitmatter).In July 1848 in Seneca Falls New York all of that changed when a group of progressive minded Americans made a stance for what they believed in at the Seneca Falls Convention.

“By the colonial times women were making major strides in society. They were succeeding in fields such as education, medicine, literature, law and printing”(Mightier than the Sword, Rodger Streitmatter). One of the things holding them back at this point were the magazines being published with degrading remarks about women including Ladies Magazine, Weekly Magazine and American Museum.
What sparked the Women’s Rights Movement was a married women of seven children named Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was married to a lawyer and abolitionist named Henry B Stanton. Henry was often away for work leaving Elizabeth with the boredom of homemaking. Stanton placed a public notice in the Seneca County Courier: “ A convention to discuss the social, civil and religious rights of women will be held in the Wesleyan Chapel, Seneca Falls New York, on Wednesday and Thursday, the 19th and 20th of July.”(Mightier than the Sword, Streitmatter Rodger).

Over three hundred attended Stanton’s arrangement and at the end of her day two meeting there was sixty-eight women and thirty-two men signed to a Declaration of Sentiments. A Powerful woman by the name of Susan B Anthony then took the side of Stanton to become one of the biggest leaders with her. Anthony used her talents and strengths as an intellect and organizer. These women combined their abilities and created a unique partnership at the head of the movement. These women arranged public lectures as well as petition drives attracting thousands of supporters.

By far the biggest downfall to all of this was the media. The newspapers and magazines had nothing nice to say about what was going on. The New York Herald which was one of the most influential newspapers in the country, called the Seneca Falls meeting a “Women’s Wrong Convention” and the Syracuse Star called the three days of speeches and discussions a “mass of corruption, heresies, ridiculous nonsense” Other newspapers attacked women feminists for even attending the meetings and claimed by doing so they were abandoning their responsibilities in the home.

Despite the things being said about the women and the movement Stanton believed that all publicity was good publicity because it would help move women’s rights into a topic that would sooner or later need to be discussed at a higher level. In 1868 Stanton and Anthony created The Revolution which was a newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper shined light on topics such as abortion, prostitution, divorce and prison reforms. However the newspaper never exceeded three thousand people and ceased publication after only two years.

As the end was nearing and the closer we got to finally giving women rights the upfront women involved in the forefront took a lot of the heat. Susan B Anthony was described in many newspapers as masculine and was accused of wanting to be a man. The worst was an article published in the Life magazine which had a drawing shown below labeled “The New Navy, about 1900 AD” which displayed the women all in navy uniforms with Anthony looking grossly overweight.

Finally after twenty years of separation the two wings of the women’s rights movement united in 1890 to create the National American Women Suffrage Association. In 1907 the movement leaders were joined by Stanton’s daughter Harriot who created the Women’s Political Union which appealed to the working class women. A woman by the name of Alice Paul also joined the team. She created demonstrations to push for a constitutional amendment and formed in 1913 the National Women’s Party.

The women who followed and believed in what these strong leaders were doing were often harassed and even sent to prison. Finally the American public began to follow, support and give attention to the importance of women’s suffrage. Last but not least Carrie Chapman Catt organized something later referred to as the “Winning Plan” which basically pressured the House of Representatives to pass the Ninetieth Amendment in 1918. After a long two years of fighting within the states and senate women’s suffrage became the law in August 1920 which was seventy two years after Susan B Anthony sparked a journey of change for the American women.

I chose to write about this topic not just because I am a Woman but also because I believe as stated in the declaration of independence that all men are created equal. It’s so crazy to see how important women are today in the roles they play in society and to think that just a little over a hundred years ago women took no part in anything. Learning about this when I was younger always interested me; however they never spoke about it in the way I read in Rodger Streitmatter’s book Mightier than the Sword. I could not believe the degrading things popular newspapers were publishing about women let alone they were allowed to say those things. I cannot begin to understand the pain and struggle these women must have endured over the seventy year mile long stretch it took for the House of Representatives to finally pass the amendment. American women of today could not thank enough those strong powerful and dedicated leaders who stood up for what they believed in; because of them we women rightfully have the rights we deserve.

Photos From:
http://resourcesforhistoryteachers.wikispaces.com/USI.33
http://warrensburg.k12.mo.us/iadventure/4320summer10/leannenichols/story2a.html
http://blog-aauw.org/2008/07/19/seneca-falls/
http://usm.maine.edu/maps/exhibition/11/6/sub-/manifest-destiny-and-the-popular-mapping-of-wars
http://www.dipity.com/tystratton/US-History-Unit-II-Timeline/
http://www.npg.si.edu/col/seneca/senfalls1.htm
http://historymartinez.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/declaration-of-sentiments-of-the-seneca-falls-convention-1848-woman-suffrage-primary-source-document-w-reading-questions/

All Information was taken from Rodger Streitmatter's book "Mightier Than The Sword"