1. 15.3 Women’s Movement

2. 1851 Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio
Sojourner Truth
1851 Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio
VIDEO

3. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Seneca Falls
First women’s rights convention – about 300 people attended, including 40 men
What they wanted:
End laws that discriminate against women
Women should participate in trades and businesses
Women’s suffrage (right to vote)
Most women reformers were Quakers
Frederick Douglass argued for women’s suffrage
Some women felt that suffrage was going too far. They didn’t want to seem too radical or ridiculous.
Quaker women experienced more equality in their communities
Declaration of Sentiments modeled after DoI – “that all men AND WOMEN are created equal”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Lucretia Mott
July Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments

4. Susan B. Anthony Bicycle Video Daughter of a Quaker abolitionist
Fought for women’s rights including:
Equal pay
College training
Coeducation
Organized first women’s temperance association
Daughters of Temperance
Bicycle Video

5. Women Educators Emma Willard (1787-1870) Mary Lyons (1797-1849)
Troy, NY Female Seminary – Curriculum included subjects considered “only suitable for men”
math, physics, history, and geography
Trained female teachers
Mary Lyons ( )
Established Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary as the first college for women in 1837

6. The Female Seminary
Education for women increased in early 19th century, but most women wanted coeducation to get same opportunities as men

7. 19th-Century Women
Expected to remain dependent on man for entire life (father, husband, or other)
Could not make will, contracts, or bring suits in court without husband’s permission
Could not vote
Legal status of a minor
If single, could own property
If married, no control of property or children
Could not initiate divorce
Land that was owned would go to husband when a woman got married

8. Cult of Domesticity: Separate Spheres
“The Cult of Domesticity”
A woman’s “sphere” was in the home (it was a refuge from the cruel world outside)
Her role was to “civilize” her husband and family
"True women” were supposed to possess four cardinal virtues: piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness.
Picture is a hyperlink to Crash Course
An 1830s minister: “The power of woman is her dependence. A woman who gives up that dependence on man to become a reformer yields the power God has given her for her protection, and her character becomes unnatural!”

9. Critics of Cult of Domesticity
The 2nd Great Awakening inspired women to become active reformers, to improve society, and to take public roles.
Angelina Grimké
Sarah Grimké
Lucy Stone
American Women’s Suffrage Assoc.
Edited Woman’s Journal
Southern Abolitionists

10. Discussion Questions
Are women still fighting for equal rights? Justify your answer.
Does the Cult of Domesticity still exist in some ways? Explain.

11. Nurturers vs Laborers – point out medical and tech