Dbq Women's Rights

Two centuries ago there was a women’s rights movement forming in order to fight an oppression. Women were poorly treated and seen as inferior to men. It is believed the women’s rights movement was “inspired-or rather provoked-by the insufferable male supremacy” (Davis 46). Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton among other women received unfair treatment at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. At this convention they were “fenced off behind a bar and a curtain similar to those used in churches to screen the choir from the public gaze” (Davis 47). They were excluded because the men believed their view at this convention was useless. Women during this time had to live up to the standards society had of them. If they did not follow,

they would be oppressed. Some of these standards include being housewives, housekeepers, spiritual guides, mothers and physicians (Davis 49). These women “organized a political challenge to oppression” (Davis 50). With this political challenge came the Seneca Falls Convention. The convention was the way they approached the mistreatment of women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton proposed the idea of fighting for the right to vote as the first steps towards equality between men and women. These women had the support from male anti-slavery leaders that were against the idea of excluding women, among these men was Frederick Douglass. While nobody else agreed with Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s proposal, “Frederick Douglass was the only prominent figure who agreed that the convention should call for the women’s right to vote” (Davis 50). The Seneca Falls Convention Declaration also focused on the marriage institution. The marriage institution robbed women of their property rights, made women economically and morally dependent on their husbands, and it allowed the husbands to punish their wives (Davis 53). These are all examples of oppression because it makes women inferior to men. It was normal for women to be mistreated because of these standards society had. After the convention, Frederick Douglass published an editorial in his newspaper, the North Star. This editorial brought publicity to the cause. Although it brought publicity, it was evident how the declaration “degraded the circumstances of the women outside the social class of the documents’ framers” (Davis 54). It addressed some issues but it left out others. The main issue was women’s suffrage and it took 70 years for the first woman to vote. 70 years is a very long time but it was a step towards equality between women and men.