1. Women and Reform
8.3

2. Main Idea
After leading reform movements to help others, some American women began to work on behalf of themselves.

3. Women Demand Equality
Women were key leaders in the abolition, temperance, and prison reform movements.
Some women, like Abigail Adams, had been pushing for equal rights for years. (turn to page 120).

4. Women in the 1800s Could not vote Couldn’t run for office
Restrictions on property ownership
Few job opportunities
Women urged to remain in the household
Cult of domesticity: obey your husband

5. Education Women often denied educational opportunities
In the 1800s, schools for women do appear, but there are few
As women increasingly became employed in factories they began to demand rights.

6. Seneca Falls Convention
1848: Seneca Falls, NY
Start of American women’s movement
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucetia Mott organize a gathering of women’s rights advocates.
Created the Declaration of Sentiments: similar to Declaration of Independence, but proclaimed that “all men and women are created equal.”

7. Other Significant Women’s Rights Advocates
Susan B. Anthony