Women’s Rights

First Wave Feminism How did 19 th century women define women’s rights? What was the significance of Femecovert? What issues divided women’s rights advocates in 1869? How did women’s organizations promote women’s political participation? What issues divided feminists in the 1919?

How did 19 th century women define women’s rights? Women’s rights was a critique of  women’s dependence within marriage  a call for women full individuality  regardless of martial status

Femecovert Sir William Blackstone, in his 1765 authoritative legal text, Commentaries on the Laws of England, defined coverture: "By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband: under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs every thing; and is therefore called... a feme- covert...."

What was the significance of coverture? 19th century women who sought to over turn coverture challenged marriage as a legal and social structure.  First as a legal institution created and enforced by law.  Second as an economic institution in which women were subordinated.

 1848 Seneca Falls Convention  1848 New York State Married Women’s Property Rights  1851 Sojourner Truth  th Amendment Path to Suffrage

1851 Sojourner Truth “I am a woman’s rights [woman]. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal; I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now…”

Mid 19 th Century Suffrage Debate  1869 American Woman’s Suffrage Association  1869 National Woman’s Suffrage Association  th Amendment

Division in Women’s Rights 1869 National Woman’s Suffrage Association Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony  Federal constitutional amendment for Woman suffrage, equal pay and more equitable divorce law. American Woman’s Suffrage Association American Woman’s Suffrage Association Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell  Middle class focus on education, professional advancement, and protection of women’s property and state laws for enfranchisement

Women’s Organizations Women’s Organizations  1874 Woman’s Christian Temperance Association  1890 National American Woman’s Suffrage Association  Women’s Clubs  Settlement Houses  Municipal Housekeeping

20 th Century Woman’s Rights  1912 Progressive Party Platform  1916 National Woman’s Party  th Amendment to the Constitution

Protective Legislation and Court Cases Protective Labor Legislation Protective Labor Legislation 1899 National Consumer League 1903 Women’s Trade Union League Protective Labor Court Cases US Supreme Court Lochner v. New York (1905) Muller v. Oregon (1908) Adkins v. Children’s Hospital (1923)

20 th Century Woman’s Rights  1912 Progressive Party Platform  1916 National Woman’s Party  th Amendment to the Constitution

Woman’s Rights  Women’s right to individual autonomy  Questions about marriage as an institution  Economic autonomy inside and outside of marriage

Woman’s Suffrage 1919 National Woman’s Party Alice Paul FeministAnti-War Public Protest for Congressional Suffrage Amendment Adopted radical strategies NAWSA Carrie Chapman Catt Social Feminist Support War Petition Congress for suffrage amendment & continue state efforts Deplored radical tactics

ssons/woman-suffrage/

Kaiser Wilson Photograph Lesson suffrage/kaiser-wilson.html suffrage/kaiser-wilson.html suffrage/kaiser-wilson.html