Activist

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 1418.

Until the 19th century, women were disenfranchised and largely powerless before the law. For example, a married woman could not hold property in her own name, and in divorce proceedings men were commonly awarded permanent legal custody of any children. And, of course, women were not allowed to vote. Then, in the mid-19th century, the unthinkable happened: Brave women began speaking up about the inequity in their lives. Slowly, 50 percent of the world's population won largely equal standing under the law. One of the most vocal and important of these women was Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Stanton, along with fellow activist Lucretia Mott, was the driving force behind the first women's rights convention in the United States, held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York. A Declaration of Sentiments, based on the famous language of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, was signed at the end of the meeting. The statement called for property and custody rights for women, criticized men for barring women from higher education and most professions, and proposed that women should have the right to vote—an incredibly radical idea at that time.

Stanton and her group, the National Woman Suffrage Association, began winning some battles as states changed their property laws so that women could own property. A constitutional amendment guaranteeing U.S. women the right to vote was first introduced in 1878. Stanton and her cohorts also helped women in other countries in their struggles to win rights such as the vote.

However, Stanton did not believe that winning the vote alone would change the plight of women, and certainly not overnight. She was also outspoken on issues such as reproductive rights, contraception, and religion, and her views alienated many of the more conservative members of the women's movement. In essence, Stanton advocated nothing less than a complete restructuring of society.

History has largely justified Stanton's beliefs. Although the battle for equal rights continues today in many places around the world, in 1920, 18 years after her death, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was finally passed, giving U.S. women the vote. When the second wave of feminism began in the 1960s, the new leaders of the movement drew on Stanton's life for inspiration. Today's feminists and scholars have a deep appreciation for the pivotal role that Stanton played in the battle for women's rights. Fellow 19th-century activist Susan B. Anthony might have more name recognition, as well as her own dollar coin, but even she acknowledged Stanton as the true founder of the women's rights movement.