1. The Evolution of Women’s Rights
Ms. Loftis

2. Where do we start? Coverture Social constraints
The legal status of a married woman , considered to be under her husband’s protection and authority.
Social constraints
Domestic roles
Raising children, cooking, cleaning, shopping
Limited access to education
Limited ability to decide ones financial future
Income
Legal rights

3. In contrast, women were part of the community
Women’s income was taxed
Women were used as population for representation in the House of Representatives
Involvement in the Civil War, and other wars

4. Waves of the Feminist Movement
Waves of Feminism
To define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social rights for women.
First Wave– early reformers to the 1950s
Second Wave– 1950s – 1990s
Third Wave– 1990s - present

5. First Wave – start the discussion
Abagail Adams
Remember the Ladies, 1776
“I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”
Mary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792
To change women’s role in society, need to be educated
Too emotional to learn
“I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
Well received by society

6. More First Wave Feminists
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852
A book regarding abolition, but influenced the women’s rights movement
How?
The Grimke Sisters
Some of the first women public speakers to abolish slavery
Influenced the women’s rights movement by expanding on what is socially acceptable for women to do and think
Hospitals and the mentally ill
Dorothea Dix
The Red Cross
Clara Barton

7. Seneca Falls Seneca Falls, Women’s Rights Convention, 1848
Organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Abolitionists
~200 women attend, ~40 men attend
Declaration of Sentiments and Grievances
Intentionally mirrored the Declaration of Independence
Taxation without representation

8. Declaration of Sentiments and Grievances
He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.
He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns.
He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice.

9. What did Seneca Falls do?
Started the organized debate of women’s rights

10. The path to vote The temperance movement Abolition
Women to have the right to vote to end the abuse of alcohol on our country
Abolition
Women’s roles in society parallels that of slaves
Allows a platform for women to speak and be heard
Changing the mindset of society

11. 19th Amendment, 1920
Grants women the right to vote

12. Amelia Bloomer
“Let men be compelled to wear our dress for awhile and we should soon hear them advocating change.”

13. Amelia Bloomer She did not create the bloomer, but did support it.
Allows women to perform daily functions
Manual labor
Factory work
Athletics

14. Women go to work

15. The Fight Against Opinion
Change the mindsets of the people
Terms like feminist or suffragette

16. Second Wave – fine-tuning the conversation
In general, second wave allows:
To let women have freedom, equal opportunity, and control over their lives
Second wave was to battle:
Legal and social inequalities – equal pay, divorce rights, financial freedom
Eleanor Roosevelt, Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
After WWII and the violations of human rights
Expands to women

17. The Equal Pay Act, 1963
US labor law aimed to abolish wage disparity based on gender
Signed by John F. Kennedy

18. The Feminine Mystique, 1963 Betty Friedan
Why were women unsatisfied with their lives?
Domestic duties
Socially pleasant, attractive
Is this all?
Frustration = neurotic
Women should cultivate their identity by fulfilling employment

19. The Equal Rights Amendment
Drafted by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman, 1923
To guarantee the equal rights of women
Never ratified
35 states passed, needed 38
Women and men have traditional roles
1980s

20. Why is news important?
Ms. Magazine

21. Women’s news was narrow in focus
Post war America
Media focused their attention on males for news
Women’s news was narrowly focused on domestic roles
Women were primarily consumers

22. Good Housekeeping

23. Harper’s Bazaar

24. Ms. Magazine Gloria Steinem First published in 1972 Sold out in 9 days
First mainstream feminist magazine
Goal was to involve women as political participants
Encouraged future magazines to adjust their focus
Still available online

25. First edition of Ms. Magazine

26. A variety of topics in Ms. Magazine

27. Why is credit important?
Economic Freedom

28. Economic Freedom Equal Credit Opportunity Act 1974
Unlawful for a creditor to discriminate against any applicant on the basis gender, marital status, race, and religion.

29. Thank you and keep asking questions
“Organize, agitate, educate, must be our war cry”
Susan B. Anthony
“The extension of women’s rights is the basic principle of all social progress”
Charles Fourier