The Struggles Of Women 's Equality

Women’s equality is an issue that has been around for awhile. While women have been given many rights to increase equality, including the right to vote and go to college, the problem hasn’t completely vanished. One area that still sees this is in sports. Women’s sports do not draw nearly as many fans and are not covered in the media as much as men’s sports, pay differences between male and female athletes are large, and female athletes have to wait longer to start their professional career than men, which risks their professional career before it even starts.

The entire Women’s Movement in the United States has been quite extensive. It can be traced back to 1848, when the first women’s rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. After two days of discussions, 100 men and women signed the Declaration of Sentiments. Drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, this document called for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women. This gathering set the agenda for the rest of the Women’s Movement long ago (Imbornoni). Over the next 100 years, many women played a part in supporting equal treatment for women, most notably leading to the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which allowed women the right to vote.

Women’s rights and equalities have always been an issue. Women first began their fight for equality in 1776, when the Congress was working on the Declaration of Independence. During the late 1840s, women set up the first women’s rights convention, which was the starting point of the women’s rights movement. In 1861, men were getting called off to war, leaving their wives and kids at home to wait patiently and care for the house and children. Women did not take too well to that idea, and they began to take action. Women have always fought for their right to stand alongside men. The three major events for the fight to gain rights and equality for women were the “Remembering the Ladies” declaration, the Civil War, and the Women’s Rights Movement.

Women’s suffrage is commonly known as women’s right to vote and the ability to stand for electoral office. The match-up between men and women was never close to being fair in the beginning. Women weren’t allowed to do anything men were. It all started in 1840, when Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were banned from attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London. (Francisco 1997.) This fired them to rally a Women's Convention in the United States. They eventually hosted this convention in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York where Ms. Stanton wrote "The Declaration of Sentiments," which created an outline of the events to come in the next upcoming years (Lott 1999.) In

Women’s rights began due to the fact that the only big role a woman had was in the household. Their responsibility was to raise their children and to education them in religious matters. Because of such responsibilities women began arguing that they themselves had to be educated in order to educate their children. The fact that women only had a few rights went against religious beliefs of equality. According to the Bible, a man and woman are both equal in the eyes of God. The man is commanded to be the head of the household and the wife should be submissive to that authority. However, that does not mean the woman is any less important than a man, it just means the man and woman play different roles. In 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention took place, led by Elizabeth Stanton and Lucretia Mott. At the Convention, women discussed religious and moral issues, as well as the role of women in society. These women insisted that they were held to the same standard as men and that they should be granted the same rights and privileges. Regardless of practicing Christianity, women were viewed in society as little more than slaves, with not much of a voice and with only slightly more rights. At the Convention they founded the Declaration of Sentiments, adding to the words of the Declaration of Independence saying “all men and women are created equal.” They put forth the ideas of allowing women to vote, to control their property

Over the history of time women were not allowed to have prominent roles and rights in society. Through history and time women have fought for the right to vote, to work for equal pay, the women’s suffrage, gaining property rights, and much more. The first women’s right movement in the United States of America, which started in the 1830s, arose from the campaign too end slavery. Many things such as evangelical Christianity, the abolitionist critique to slavery, and debates about the place of women in the abolitionist movement played valuable roles in the development of the antebellum women’s right movement. These efforts and large steps that women took to destroy and tear down the walls that limited them from having a voice still resonates today.

One of the first Gatherings devoted to Woman Rights in the United States was in Seneca Falls New York. It was a convention organized by Elizabeth Stanton a mother of 4 and a Quaker abolitionist. At that convention Stanton drafted a Declaration of sentiments, grievances, and resolutions, which echoed the Declaration of Independence. She went on to say that all men and women where created equally under god and should thus should be treated equally socially. After some time women lobbyist and Activist continued to grow and eventually women gain the right to vote. And with the right to vote the women's rights movement took a huge leap forward. Society begin to accept women as more equal in the society and in the government.

This investigation has enabled me to gain a perception into some of the techniques used by certain historians, as well as to the difficult task that historians encounter when undertaking historical investigations. I feel I have developed the skill of critically and carefully analyzing sources which is essential in the study of history. In order to carry out this investigation, I read books by well-known and praised historians on the subject of women’s rights and analyzed statistical evidence.

Equality is like a scale; when fairly balanced, each group gets the same opportunities that weigh them down. No one gets more, no one gets less. In the 19th century, many reform movements have occurred to make this country better, however, at first people struggled to let the word out due to judgements from opposing beings. Many subjects have happened throughout history involving women declaring equality to have the same privileges as men did. Although other reform movements were well supported throughout the nation by citizens, Rights for Women is the most impacted reformed movements that evolved throughout history and is still in our society today since women are still fighting for equal opportunities as men.

During this time, women were looked upon as inferior to men and they were often only seen as “manager of the household and children”. Women did not have as many rights as men, especially voting privileges. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott were some of the most prominent activists for the Women’s Suffrage Movement. On July 19, 1848, these ladies met together at the Seneca Falls Convention, where they demanded equal political rights. Women did not gain equal rights here but they did issue a paraphrase of the Declaration of Independence which announced that “all men and women are created equal”. (Tindall P.443). This fight for equality would go on for numerous years before being achieved. Thanks to a few fearless women like, Susan B. Anthony this dream was eventually made a reality. The Nineteenth Amendment was finally passed August 18, 1920 and provided men and women with equal voting rights. After such a long fight of almost 100 years, suffragists achieved their goal. Finally, on election day in 1920, women were able to practice their newly achieved entitlement to vote for the very first time

(Goldfield, 338) Since the cult of domesticity was making women inferior to men, women decided to do as the slaves did and fight for their own freedom. The women’s rights movement began in the mid-1800s. Female and male abolitionist found it necessary that women should be able to have the same rights as men. Just because biologically they are different, it does not mean they do not deserve the same rights. Women were denied the right to vote, property and a right to an education or job. (Goldfield, 338) At first the women’s movement was slow. Many women were afraid to speak out in fear of being shunned by their community. This was a brand new scary task that Women for the first time were going to deal with. A women speaking out against the norms of society was seen as a terrible thing to do. When you have many women speaking out for the same thing a change must be done. When the first national convention for women’s rights was called in Seneca Falls, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were able to successfully use the Declaration of Independence as a model for their own Declaration of Sentiments. (Goldfield, 339) In their Declaration they branded that “male patriarchy as the source of women’s oppression” (Goldfield, 339) Stanton and Mott called for full women’s rights and to become independent citizens. Although the fight for women’s rights was always an important issue, most abolitionists deemed it less important

The women 's suffrage movement, the time when women fought for their rights, began in the year 1848 and continued on all the way through the 1860s. Although women in the new republic had important roles in the family, the house, and other obligations, they were excluded from most rights. These rights included political and legal rights. Due to their gender, they have been held back because they did not have as much opportunities as the men did. The new republic made alterations in the roles of women by disparaging them in society. During this era, men received a higher status than women. Because women were forced to follow laws without being allowed to state their opinions, they tried to resist laws, fight for their freedom and strive to gain equality with men. This leads to feminism, the belief in political, social, and economic equality between men and women. It is the feminist efforts that have successfully tried to give rights that men had, to women who have been denied those rights. Upon the deprivation of those rights, the Seneca Falls convention and the Declaration of Sentiments helped women gain the privileges and opportunities to accomplish the task of equality that they have been striving for.

Gender inequality has been the main focus for many centuries through the use of discrimination and oppression women were exploited. Where women had very little rights of their own or a voice in society but made many sacrifices to achieve equal rights whether it be in employment or other areas of inequality. As men were seen as masculine breadwinners and women as more feminine by looking after the family and raring of children.

The American women’s rights movement started in 1848 at the Seneca Falls Convention when 100 people, 32 male and 68 female signed the Declaration of Sentiments. The inequality was no longer acceptable. During the civil war, women began to fill the work, mainly

By the 1770s, America had become a free nation. Everyone wanted to be a part of the new, free way of thinking. In 1776, The Declaration of Independence was created by Thomas Jefferson. It was a distinct document created to explain the rights of both men and women in America. This was the first time in history that women were actually given the chance to have rights “equal” to those of men. Later in history, we find that those rights weren’t always carried out for women. For example, women were not always allowed to vote in America, but according to the declaration, they had “Freedom of Speech”. By not having the right to vote, women’s voices were silenced in the American society. Therefore the so called “equal rights” had no meaning according to women. The most famous excerpt from the Declaration of Independence is found in its second paragraph. This paragraph reads,