Fights for Rights

The struggle for women’s rights has been long sought after, mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries. Even today, women fight for equality in various areas of daily life. If I were to sum up the role of women in the 18th century in one word, it would be housewife. The four main virtues that women were raised to live by, also referred to as the Cult of Domesticity, were piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. Piety meant that religion should be valued in womens’ lives, and they most definitely should have a form of religion. Purity referred to a woman’s virginity, which was supposed to be a sacred thing. Women were supposed to remain virgins until after marriage at all costs - even in cases of rape. Submissiveness required that women know and act like they are inferior to men. Men, by God, were referred to as women’s superiors. Domesticity relates almost exactly to being a housewife. Women were expected to take up sewing, cooking, and cleaning in the home while the men were out doing the “manly” things, such as hunting. The private sphere was meant for the women. They were expected to remain private, and out of the public eye. They took part in unpaid domestic labor (i.e., cooking, cleaning, sewing). Men were a part of the public sphere. This meant that they took part in the masculine things like politics and paid, physical employment.

The Seneca Falls Convention was a gathering of around 300 people, only 40 of them being men. It consisted of roughly two days of debate over women’s religious, social and civil rights. Written at the convention, the Declaration of Sentiments was modeled after the Declaration of Independence in many ways. They used many statements from the constitution in their writing. For example, they included the quote “all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. As you can see, this comes directly from the preamble of the Declaration of Independence. Along with the direct quotes, the idea of this document was quite the same as the DOI. It basically stated that if America is founded on freedom for all and the idea that all men are created equal, women should be seen as equal, too. Women’s suffrage, or the right to vote and hold office, was a huge deal for their campaign. This was controversial because other women fought against it. They believed that it was God’s will that they are entrusted with certain duties. Contrary to the morals of the women, cherokee women and slave women had no voice in the convention. In class, we discussed in groups how this could also be unfair, because different cultures treat their women differently. One of the decisions that the class decided on as a whole was no domestic violence. This meant that in no culture could women be beaten, so it was better for all. Out of all the resolutions we discussed, I believe that getting rid of slavery was the most important. I believe the idea of owning a human as physical property is much worse than women not being able to vote. Our society has accomplished this, back when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  Through many years of suppression and fighting, women have come a long way in their overall rights.