Women’s Rights

Married women were legally dead in the eyes of the law Women were not allowed to vote Women had to submit to laws when they had no voice in their formation Married women had no property rights Husbands had legal power over and responsibility for their wives to the extent that they could imprison, rape, or beat them with impunity Divorce and child custody laws favored men, giving no rights to women Women had to pay property taxes although they had no representation in the levying of these taxes

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". Held in Seneca Falls, New York, it spanned two days over July 19–20, Seneca Falls Convention

Seneca Falls Convention—meeting held in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss the problems that women faced. It was the start of the women’s rights movement, an organization campaign for equal rights. Goals The convention issued a Declaration of Sentiments, which proclaimed, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.” Resolutions demanded equality at work, at school, and at church. A resolution demanding women’s right to vote passed narrowly.

Reasons people sought equal rights for women in the mid-1800s: Women could not vote or hold office. When a woman married, all of her property became her husband’s property. A working woman’s wages belonged to her husband. A husband had the right to hit his wife. The abolitionist movement made people aware that women, too, lacked full social and political rights.

Sojourner Truth This former slave was a spellbinding speaker. She spoke out against slavery and also for women’s rights. Lucretia MottThis Quaker woman used her organizing skills to set up petition drives across the North. Elizabeth Cady Stanton Stanton joined Mott and other Americans at the World Antislavery Convention in London. Back at home in the United States, she and Mott organized a convention to draw attention to women’s problems. Susan B. AnthonyTraveled across the country, speaking tirelessly for women’s rights. Women’s Rights Leaders

Reformers said that education was a key to women’s equality. Reformers opened new schools for women. Emma Willard opened a high school for girls in Troy, New York. Mary Lyon opened Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in Massachusetts, the first women’s college in the United States. A few men’s colleges began to admit women. Elizabeth Blackwell attended medical school at Geneva College in New York. Maria Mitchell became a noted astronomer. Sarah Josepha Hale became editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book. Antoinette Blackwell was the first American woman ordained a minister.