In the 1800’s,
women were seen as inferior to men. They were not view as strong humans, but
rather as just a pretty sight and someone to do the small work around the house
and take care of the children. There were four characteristics of an “Ideal
Woman” in the 1800’s which were piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity.
Piety was religious devotion. Purity was being cleaned of your sins.
Submissiveness was being obedient and doing what her husband told her. And Domesticity
was staying in the household at all times and taking care of the in home work. Women
were expected to work in the private sphere, which was working in home and
doing small, household jobs. Men were expected to work out in the public sphere
which consisted of going out and getting a real job and making money for the
family.
The women’s
rights movement started in the 1800’s and it brings up the Seneca Falls
Convention to help gain rights for women everywhere. As a class, we came up
with a list of rights we believed were the most important based on studying
different groups of women at the convention and hat they were fighting for. We came
up with: Freedom of speech, equal rights for men and women, equal pay for equal
work, the right to divorce husbands who were abusive, and the right to own
herself and her property upon getting married. These rights were important
because they were common ones that were brought up by all different groups of
women. But there were some voices that were left out of the Seneca Falls
convention such as the voices of the mill working women and the Cherokee
Indians and the African slaves. These women’s voices seem to have been left
behind because the upper class white women were generally given more rights
than others because of their racial backgrounds. The Declaration of Rights and
Sentiments was similar to the Declaration of Independence because it talked
about how all humans should be created equal regardless of their gender or
class. Upon fighting for these rights and holding the Seneca Falls convention,
the fight for women’s suffrage began and was a controversial fight because some
people believed women did have the right to vote, but others believed it as
unnecessary.
Personally, I
believe that the most important right that women gained was the freedom of
speech. Freedom of speech is the right that starts everything because without
the freedom to state your opinions, you would have no way to express the
wrongful assumptions made of women. The freedom of speech is number one on our
list of classroom women’s rights because it was a common goal for all the
groups of women. It was accomplished in our society and has impacted us greatly
today because women now have the freedom to serve in office and speak to the
public and do all types of public services in which they have the right to
their own freedom of speech. Women’s rights are a huge part of the world today,
and without the Seneca Falls Convention, we would not have the rights that
women have because we would never have gotten the chance to prove that women
were, and still are, just as superior as men.
