Women's Rights Movement

During the 19th century women were expected to play a very precise role.

The Lavender article discusses the four characteristics of an ideal woman. One characteristic was "Piety", which means that women were expected to have a deep religious devotion. Another characteristic was "Purity", especially sexual purity. If a woman lacked sexual purity they were considered a "fallen woman" who was now "unworthy of the love of her sex and unfit for their company". The third characteristic of an ideal woman was "Submissiveness", meaning women were expected to be passive and "submit to fate, to duty, to God, and to men." The final characteristic was "Domesticity", which is the fact that a woman's place was in the home. The public sphere during the 19th century was the world outside of the home, where men worked in jobs filled with temptation and violence. On the contrary, the private sphere was the home, where women worked. The Cult of Domesticity was the idea that the role of middle class women was to remain out of the public eye while taking care of the house and children, and providing comfort and companionship to men.

The Seneca Falls Convention was in July of 1848, women from all across the United States came together to discuss the role of women. They proposed reforms that could make the lives of women better. The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions was created during the Seneca Falls Convention, and it was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. Of course, the wording of the Declaration of Independence had to be changed because women were excluded from the statement “All men are created equal.” Therefore to include women the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions stated “All men and women are created equal.” The idea of women’s suffrage was controversial at the time for various reasons. Many people, including Frederick Douglass believed that that 9th resolution was vital for the complete liberation of women. But others believed it was just too big of a demand for their times, and the suggestion of women’s suffrage would only “heap ridicule” on the movement.

Although the Seneca Falls Convention was meant to represent all women, some voices were left out of the convention. Middle to upper class women were the only women allowed to attend the convention, therefore many other groups of women were left out. Those groups include; Native Americans, Slaves, and Mill Workers. During class we did an activity to show how the convention would have worked, my assigned group was the upper class white women. Each “group of women” came up with a list of resolutions that they would have demanded at the convention, and I do say “would have” because most of the groups wouldn’t have actually been there. Many of the resolutions that my group and the class developed, overlapped with the actual declarations, for example a woman’s right to work wherever she wants. Our group resolved that women should be able to obtain any job that a man could, and in resolution 8 of the Declaration of Sentiments it states “...it is time she should move in the enlarged sphere which her Creator assigned her” meaning it’s time for women to be able to go out into the real world with men. One difference was that in our group we made the women’s right to vote on the top of our resolutions and no one really batted an eye at it. But during the actual convention it was extremely controversial which shows how much times have changed.

I believe that of all the resolutions we covered, slavery is the most important. In my opinion slavery out of all the controversies back then was the most immoral and unconstitutional. Just the thought of a person “owning” another person is ridiculous. To resolve slavery, I believe is very important because so many innocent people were being tortured by their slave owners, and even if they weren’t they still deserve to be free. I think it would be extremely hypocritical to call America “The home of the free”, if slavery had not of been abolished. Although our society has accomplished this resolution and all of the other objectives of the convention, the unjust treatment of African Americans, women, etc. still sadly lingers in today’s society. Racism and sexism are two problems our society deals with to this day, but since the 19th century we have come very far and hopefully we can fully overcome these problems one day for good.