Women

The Woman’s Reform was the last reform movement of the mid-1800s that our History Class looked at. The overarching questions were: how did mid-19th century American society react to women's demands for equality? And does 21st century society still react different to men and women? The lesson to go along with these inquiries was rather gigantic, but along with the vast size came a story of past feminists, and that caught my interest. Analyzing the “Sphere of Women” was the activator, a picture of the ideal 1850s mother. The depiction showed just how unrealistic the “ideal mother” expectation was. Next, we read a chapter from Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States. The chapter was entitled “The Intimately Oppressed” and it told all about the challenges women have faced throughout American history. The second half of the lesson began with a reading of common practice and laws that suppressed women. Next, we looked at the Seneca Fall Convention's response to those rules: The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. There was a video we watched about that as well. The lesson ended with the readings of several newspapers that had published responses for and against the feminist movement at Seneca Falls. 

“The Sphere of Woman”  illustration from Godey's  Lady's Book, March  1850 Found at: http:// www.assumption.edu/ whw/workshop/ untitled1.html

In the newspapers we looked at as a class, responding to the Convention at Seneca Falls, there were two main reactions to the demand for equality between the sexes. The first reaction, as seen in an article from the August 1^st edition of the 1848 Oneida Whig, was disproval. The newspaper asks of its readers, “If our ladies will insist on voting and legislating, where, gentlemen, will be our dinners and our elbows? Where our domestic firesides and holes in our stockings?” The people of this newspaper (most likely men) are worried that if their wives take up government activities they will no longer be able to enjoy the comforts of home. Gone are the home cooked meals by demand. There will be no more stitching of worn garments or crackling fires. In a way, this reaction is rather touching, because, after all this time going seemingly unnoticed, the hard work these women are doing day in and day out is finally getting noticed. However, the key word is finally, for they have already worked too hard for too long going unnoticed and the repercussion is that now, women are demanding to be acknowledged and represented in the home and in their government.

On the other hand, the North Star was a newspaper that had something very different to say to the women of the Seneca Falls Convention. In the July 28^th, 1848 edition, it says, “…in respect to political rights, we hold woman to be justly entitled to all we claim for man.” This firmly establishes that North Star agrees with Seneca Fall’s idea that women are and should be treated like men’s equal. The paper also acknowledges that it will be difficult to convince everyone that women are in fact entitled to the rights others enjoy. “Many who have at last made the discovery that negroes have some rights as well as other members of the human family, have yet to be convinced that woman is entitled to any.” There exists a population of people like the authors of the Oneida Whig, who find it hard to imagine women doing anything except serving their husbands.

This controversy, though slightly changed, still exists today. Since the invention of the internet the world has many more opportunities to spread its ideas and ideals on equality among humans. This movement has in no way died out since Seneca Falls, but has instead grown to encompass much of the world. Because people still find it necessary to speak on the topic of feminism, it is safe to say that even almost a hundred and seventy-five years after the Convention of Seneca Falls, the United States has still not achieved the desired equality between genders. Yes, woman can vote now, speak in public, we can hold government offices, and it is now possible for a woman to get a divorce. But do not get the idea that America is anywhere close to where it could and should be. There is still a significant gap between what women and men are paid for the same job. Date rape and domestic violence are still major issues. Even doing the same thing, men might be perceived as a boss where a woman would be perceived as bossy. We have already come so far, but there is still a long way to go.