Women\'s Movement: Triumph Over History

Women's Movement: Triumph Over History

The women's movement is one of the most compelling stories in human history. It is a story that is ever evolving. While we may think women have come a long way, and they have, there is still plenty room for women to forge ahead and make inroads in the future. For over 150 years, women can look back with pride and look forward with hope as we move into a new and promising century. To see what awaits in the future, we simply need to look at the past and that begins when a few women decided they wanted to have a convention of their own to talk about what concerned them. They wanted to tell the world that they thought they should vote and that they did. In 1848, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton raised awareness for women and created their own declaration of independence that emphasized the fact that all men and women were created equal. Once this notion was loosed upon the country, it became a reality to many. With the 15th Amendment, it became an even greater possibility and with the 19th Amendment, it was accomplished. The women's movement shows us how we can do anything if we choose, more than anything else, to persist in our efforts.

Even before the Civil War, women expanded their sense of self to extend beyond the home. Women such as Sarah Grimke were publishing letters in defense of women's rights. Lucretia Mott, a Quaker, fought not only for women's rights but for the rights of slaves as well. She was as dedicated as Elizabeth Stanton in her fierce desire and this characteristic set these women apart from other women who believed women belonged in the home and she should be "politically merged with her husband" (Norton 289). These few women formed their own convention in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Amelia Bloomer and Frederick Douglass are two individuals known for their vigorous fights for human rights. The women's movement is all about freedom and individuality. While it is easy to look back on a particular period in time and claim those living through it were over-reacting but the truth of the matter is women were suffering from a lack of freedom with which we simply cannot relate. Women were expected to get married and they expected to be happy being wives and mothers. While this is not necessarily a negative thing, it is when you cannot speak out against your husband and you are expected to be in agreement with him on everything. Men were the masters of the house and women were like servants. Mary Boykin Chestnut wrote of the experience saying, "To hear is to obey . . all the comfort of my life depends upon his being in a good humor" (Chestnut qtd. In Norton 287-8). An education was not something most women would experience and it was considered quite trivial for women to waste their time on one anyway. In those days, too much education, "injured the feminine brain, undermined health, and rendered a young lady unfit for marriage" (Bailey 339). Women were not only facing the oppression of their times, as they also had to deal with the ignorance of society as well.

The Civil War did hinder suffrage events for a time but not for long. The country was divided over racial concerns and women realized fighting for their rights was the only thing that would bring about change. Women across the country saw people arguing over the color of one's skin and within this argument, they found their own freedoms. The beginning of the suffrage movement demonstrates the strength of the movement: women across the country knew they were up for a fight but they saw hope in the Constitution. African-American and European women in the country faced diverse obstacles; however, under the fight for women's freedom, all women of every race served one common cause. The passage of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution gave African-American men the right to vote but not women and this stoked the fire for more attention to the matter. Following the passage of the 15th Amendment, two important organizations that were instrumental in helping women gain rights were National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association. Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony founded the NWSA and this group is considered the more radical of the two. The NWSA'a primary goal was amending the Constitution in favor of women's rights to vote. In 1872, Anthony led a group of women to vote in the presidential election in Rochester. She was subsequently arrested and fined. Her trial gained nationwide coverage and there, in front of thousands she declared resistance to tyranny was obedience to God. In "Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States 4 July 1876," Anthony writes that women across the country were declaring their "faith in the principles of self-government" (Anthony) and their "full equality with man in natural rights; that woman was made first for her own happiness, with the absolute right to herself -- to all the opportunities and advantages life affords, for her complete development" (Anthony). There is no doubt she wanted freedom and independence to be associated with all human being on the very day the country celebrated its independence. Anthony encouraged women to deny the "dogma of the centuries, incorporated in the codes of all nations -- that woman was made for man -- her best interests, in all cases, to be sacrificed to his will" (Anthony). Here Anthony is clear about women, their rights, and their place in society.

The beauty of American history is the variety of fabric that weaves it together. Women across the country from varied experiences could agree on the fundamental notion that women deserved the right to vote, among other things. European-American were no different than any other women in the nineteenth century in that many worked outside the home. They desired to show the world they could be a mother, a wife, and more. They did this in various ways: they gave to mutual-aid groups, they formed charity groups, such as the Society for the relief of Poor Widows with Small Children. Some of these groups provided education for children of working women. They were also active in establishing temperance, curbing drinking, prostitution, and slavery. (Heinemann 29) Most were younger women holding jobs in textile mills. Many times they lived in boardinghouses and worked 12-hour days. They made very little money, especially since they were expected to pay their food and lodging out of their wages. Those working in Massachusetts at the Hamilton Manufacturing Company simply "adjusted to the demands of factory life" (Binder 149). After long days at work, they would still attempt to gain an education from books. Some were so inspired they formed "Improvement Circles" and wrote about their experiences, which would then be published in periodicals. This group of women was no different from any other in that they were committed to removing "unujust prejudice -- to improve the female operatives at Lowell were, as a class, intelligent and virtuous" (Binder 149). Working women, more than any others, could see the benefits of the suffrage movement. They understood first hand what freedom meant and they longed for a day when they could know the same kind of freedom their fellow man did.

Another outspoken woman who fought for the rights of women everywhere was Amelia Bloomer. She worked feverishly for the women's movement and her greatest asset was her intelligence. She not only know what she thought, she could articulate it with precision. An example of this can be seen in her speech, "Woman's Right to the Ballot." Here, she sets out to make an argument that cannot be refuted, on logical ground. Her strategy is simple, as she uses the same kind of logic men use to declare that women should not vote to say they do. She reminds everyone what the Constitution say, stating, "each member of the community . . . is supposed to give assent to Constitution and laws to which he is subject" (Bloomer 335). She intends to use the Constitution for proof that women were the same as men and deserved the same rights and liberties as men.

Women were not alone in their efforts. The women's movement garnered support from men who saw that women could be beneficial to men outside and inside the home. In an article published in 1918, he New York Times Reverend Stickney Grant noted that it was "woman's duty 'to clean up America.' Woman had taken a new place by the side of man, he said and it is a promotion" (New York Times). The article goes on to quote the reverend as stating that it was "woman' duty to clean up defective and destructive ideas" (NYT). The reverend also noted that New York City was the perfect metropolis for women to be meeting and sharing ideas because the city represents millions that could "understand their aims and their problems better than any other city" (NYT). Support like this was not uncommon. Women were demonstrating how useful they could become and by asserting their knowledge along with their feminine nature, they were showing men they could be a positive influence on society. As the effort grew, it became more organized and it gained momentum. In 1869, Lucy Stone helped establish the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), which worked for women's right to vote. The association became a powerful force behind the women's movement. Its main goal was to force individual states to grant women the right to vote to women. In 1890, the AWSA joined with the National Woman Suffrage Association, which Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton formed in 1869. The new organization was called the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and it held conventions, waged voting campaigns and distributed literature in support of women's voting rights.