A professional career was almost impossible, and despite Britain’s ruler being female for most of the nineteenth century until 1901 when Queen Elizabeth died, women were second class citizens. In 1870, Queen Victoria had written, ‘let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations.’ Trint, S. History Learning Site 2010-2011. Women’s Rights. www.historylearningsite.co.uk [accessed 07122011] Women’s subordination to men meant that their prime duty was domestic. Children were an economic responsibility for women - providing food, housing and clothing until the child was independent and could go out to work to provide for the family themselves.
It was in the early 1800s when women began to question various issues such as their roles in society and their rights as a woman, or their lack of rights and unjust inequality in comparison to males. Interestingly though in 1792Marry Wollstonecraft, who was a significant driving force in the women’s right movement, wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). In her book she argued that women were rational beings who should be able to be educated, earn their own livings, and develop their characters “regardless of the distinction of sex” (pg 24 Alison M Parker). Then in 1820 the activist Frances Wright went on to further publicize her work. At the time Frances Wright was best known for being a early proponent of the notion that marriage was a form of cohesive bondage for women, who there thereby denied the right to inheritances, wages, and joint guardianship of their children.
Running head: SUSAN B. ANTHONY 1 Susan B. Anthony American Women’s Leader and Abolitionist Carolyn S. Okeefe Argosy Online University SUSAN B. ANTHONY 2 Abstract This essay explores the life of Susan Brownell Anthony and the accomplishments she fought for American women to have the right to vote and receive equal pay as men for the same type of work. Anthony fought for over 50 years advocating for the social and legal quality for women. Anthony co-founded the National Woman’s Suffrage Association with fellow feminist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Susan B. Anthony was an important symbol of equality. Her efforts of selfless dedication played a major role in the ratification of the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution giving women the right to vote in 1920.
In the mid-sixties and early-seventies the second wave of feminism was formed. According to Kari Meyers Skredsvig, the core argument of the second wave was for equality, not only in the home but also in the workplace (Skredsvig par. 3). This wave also dealt with deeper issues in literature like sexuality and reproductive rights. In these two periods women around the world expressed their frustration with inequality and sexual frustration.
After changing her name to Sojourner Truth, she began crisscrossing the nation, exhorting audiences to be born again and take up the cause of abolitionism. Although unable to read or write, she was a woman of rare intelligence and uncommon courage. During the late 1840s she began promoting the woman's rights movement and in 1851 attended the convention in Akron, Ohio. There she discovered that many participants objected to her presence for fear that her abolitionist sentiments would deflect attention from women's issues. Hisses greeted the tall, gaunt woman as she rose to speak: "Woman's rights and niggers!"
As the nation of England moved swiftly toward industrialization, however, many single and married women were forced to work to help provide for their families. This redefinition of labor promoted much controversy throughout the Victorian era. Women began demanding greater freedom in public settings and less division between femininity and masculinity. For Lord Alfred Tennyson, who lived from 1809 to 1892, during the heart of the Victorian feminist movement, the gender role controversy was worth discussing through poetry. Written in 1832 and published in final form in 1842, Tennyson’s alluring poem, The “Lady of Shalott,” describes, in symbolic detail, the issue of feminism.
Women like Emma Hart Willard who founded the Troy Female Seminary in New York which was the first endowed school for girls, helped empower women to see that there can be change. Women began speaking and lecturing in the 1830s on equality and right to vote. Sarah Grimke and Frances Wright advocated women's suffrage in an extensive series of lectures. Sarah Grimke spoke with a concise confidence responding to a newspaper, “All I ask of our brethren is that they will take their feet from our necks, and permit us to stand upright on the ground which God has designed us to occupy.” (Chafe 25) “[Also Grimke wrote that] like blacks women were ‘accused of mental inferiority’ and were refused the opportunity for a decent education. Denied the basic rights of free speech and petition, they were also treated as creatures not able to care for themselves.” (Chafe 45) Oberlin College became the first coeducational college in
Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton gather women together and fought for their rights. They deserved to vote just like men did. They needed to prove themselves. To get their message across they formed the National Women Suffrage Association, in May 1869. This was an organization made up of only women.
The book ends during the early stages of Obamaʼs presidential campaign and touches on the shift away from Obama pointing out her husbandʼs domestic failings to someone who helped tell his story and continue to introduce him to the American public. Who is the First Lady? She is an impressive woman - intense, intelligent, confident, attractive, and free-speaking and someone her husband calls the rock of the Obama family. She is both mother and wife, the nurturing, stern and supportive woman who holds it all together. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson grew up in a family that had faced many hardships throughout their life, but nonetheless made sure to motivate her and have her reach for the stars.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for women to have legal rights, have better jobs, and higher education, even though many men shunned her. First off, many women fought against the laws that discriminated against them. In 1848, Stanton met with four other women for a social meeting. They decided to form a convention and get together to “discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of women (Brown).” This convention was called The Seneca Falls Convention. The women campaigned for full female equality.