A Brief History
On July 19, 1848, somewhat earlier than you may have imagined, the modern Women’s Rights movement began with a 2 day convention held in Seneca Falls, New York.
Digging Deeper
This first Women’s Rights convention, known appropriately as the Seneca Falls Convention, was not to be an aberration. Only 2 weeks later another convention was held, also in New York (Rochester) and within 2 years annual conventions concerning women’s rights were being held.
The convention was organized by several Quaker women, including Lucretia Mott and with the collusion of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a famous suffragist and advocate of women’s rights. None other than the famous African-American activist Frederick Douglas contributed to the agenda by advocating for women’s suffrage.
A Declaration of Sentiments was discussed, along with a series of resolutions that were debated and finalized for adoption and signature by the ladies. The women’s rights movement had its beginnings in the fight for the abolition of slavery, and many of these activists were active in both movements. While they were at it, many of the women also campaigned against the consumption of alcohol, and were ultimately successful (temporarily) in banning alcoholic beverages from the US.
Second class citizenship for women with women being treated differently than men under the laws governing contracts, property, inheritance and other issues were hot topics then and remain so today. The movement also moved into the arena of workers’ rights and the labor movement (not the birth kind!), as well as the elimination of “Blue Laws” prohibiting various activities on Sunday.
The struggle for “equal” rights goes on today, with such topics as “equal pay for equal work,” unlimited access to birth control/contraception and abortion and military assignments taking center stage. The women’s movement has also been instrumental in creating domestic violence laws to protect battered women and children, as well as reformed divorce and marriage laws.
Women activists have also branched off into different, but related topics in the sense of affecting all people, and of course women are people, making these “women’s”issues. Some of these causes include universal health care, child care/baby sitting, education, gun control, substance abuse/drunk driving, and various health issues (such as breast cancer awareness, etc.).
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Johnston, Norma. Remember the Ladies: The First Women’s Rights Convention. Apple, 1995.
Miller, Bradford. RETURNING TO SENECA FALLS. Lindisfarne Books, 1995.
The featured image in this article, a postage stamp featuring Elizabeth Stanton, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Lucretia Mott, with “100 years of progress of women, 1848-1948” written below the portraits, is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1925, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. See this page for further explanation.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="12031 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=12031">19 Comments
I never knew that the women’s rights movements took place at such an early time period. We have definitely come a long way from where we were in the 1800’s, and we have these women mentioned above to thank for that.
N.W.
These women were foundational in giving women some of the rights mentioned above. Though there are still some gender differences today, these women paved the way and helped to gain women some of the rights we can freely practice now.
There is no doubt that an exuberant amount of progress has been made since the first Women’s Rights Convention; however, one of the primary concerns of the Women’s Rights Movement that still exists today is perhaps one of the most significant issues– “equal pay for equal work.”
I think that there will always be issues with women rights or right at all. I don’t think they will ever go away like “equal pay for equal work”
I had to write a paper on Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s speech, which certainly was daring. She and her associates knew what they thought to be right and fought for it. GW
I love reading about Women’s Rights Activists. I think that women are very good at fighting for what they want, and when they have their mind set on something, the fight for it.
It’s unfortunate that the struggle for equal rights still goes on today.
I have my own opinion on women rights, but i do also protect some of he arguments women bring into play. It is good to take a stand for what you want and believe in.
Women finding equal rights dates back to this day. Glad women were willing to stand up for what was right back then.
I don’t understand how the country has not just accepted equality as it really should. Men and women are equal, there should be no discrimination against or there should be no pay gap between the genders.
Women took amazing strides to get the rights that they have today, taking much more work than it should of in the beginning.
As a young woman today, I am very inspired by the level of dedication these women held. Progress was slow but there never seemed to be a lack of effort or determination from any of these pioneers of women’s rights.
Women were able to do a lot of things through their suffrage
movement like temporarily ban alcoholic beverages and eliminate the blue laws.
It is mind boggling that inequality still occurs and that changes for the better only started to begin within the last couple hundred years. Compare this to how long humans have been on the earth and how long the world has existed. Props to the people that try and make changes for the better.
My 22 year old daughter works for a company that will promote her equally as her male counter part but she will make less money in the process. She sees it already with the men and woman that have equal roles. The women even have college degrees while some of the men do not and there is still a discrepancy in pay. As far as race, biracial marriage was not legalized until 1967. I am naive I guess, skin color, seriously?
It is sad that inequality still occurs. I just dont understand why its so hard for people based n race and gender.
Inequality include racial discrimination, basically referring to gender, color, and race. It is important to women and men for them to be treat as the same level in order to decrease the conflicts between each other.
I had no idea that this movement also went into the labor area and eliminated blue laws. It is sad that despite all of this work inequality still occurs.
the first women’s right convention was one of most important things in American history, it obsered women could have their main right and get freedom. “freedom” and Fair” were worked in every American.