Chapter 3: Slowing the Momentum for Women's Rights

I chose this chapter because it was the exception. In the other 3 chapters of "Mightier than the Sword" by Rodger Streitmatter, media changed history bringing revolution towards freedom, giving life to the Abolitionist Movement by putting people together against the sins of slavery, attacking corruption and showing the society that democracy would work in their favor. However, media did nothing but to ignore Women’s Right until the point that few women reached higher position in the media and made their rights something to be heard.

History of Women's Rights by dizzo95, YouTube

NPS
First class postage from 1948 commemorating the
First Women's Rights Convention.
http://www.nps.gov/wori/historyculture/people.htm

   The possibility of women rights started to rise, and that took powerful men to feel threatened with the thought of sharing their control with women. As the typical eighteen-century women reached a place in society based on her husband’s identity, they were considered incapable of important decision making. Also, they were narrowed to their home and kept away from everything that was not involved in the women sphere. Tired of being undermined, women turned against the powerful men who limited everything from their role in society to their abilities. As a result, they found in the Abolitionists steps the encouragement they needed to reach their goals and use the media as a mean to express their hope of neutralizing the male dictatorship that was a barrier to their progress. Even though the institution of journalism was pervasive, it was out of reach of the women sphere; therefore, they were simply ignored.



Elizabeth Cady Stanton (seated) with Susan B. Anthony (standing)
http://www.thewisconsinnews.com/not-for-ourselves-alone-elizabeth-cady-stanton-and-susan-b-anthony/


 As result of the dynamic partnership betweenElizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony, Seneca Falls marked the beginning of Women’s Rights Movement. The convention brought up themes such as social, civil, and religious rights of women.

Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls. July, 1848
http://yourdailyhistorylesson.tumblr.com/post/671838167/seneca-falls-convention

Ignoring the newspapers attack, Stanton and Anthony founded The Revolution, a newsletter about meeting locations.

http://www.feministsforlife.org/FeminismCourse/revolution.htm

Despite all the effort, victory only came on the beginning of the 20th Century because of the emphasis on efficiency and productivity that allowed women to work on the media field where they could focus in the women suffrage. It wasn’t long after that that Harriot Stanton Blatch founded the Women’s Political Union that appealed to working class women and organized suffrage parades.

Suffragettes campaigning during a by-election, 1910.
Museum of London: http://www.heritage-images.com/Preview/PreviewPage.aspx?id=1192024&pricing=true&licenseType=RM

Alice Paul stepped forward and mobilized public demonstrations that pushed the movement towards a constitutional amendment. In 1913, the National Woman’s Party was founded.

Associated Press, hairwoman Alice Paul, second from left, and officers of the
National Woman's Party, June 1920
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/July-August-08/On-this-Day--19th-Amendment-Gives-Women-Right-to-Vote.html

Only after seventy two years since Seneca Falls, women suffrage became the law in 1920; that was the first of many victory towards women's rights.

Nowadays, we still find ourselves fighting against sexists that want to slow down our empowerment in our work space as well as in society. The beauty of all this fight is that one victory leads to another, and we see ourselves growing stronger and more determined than never before.