Chapter 14: The Age of Reform: Section 3 - The Women’s Movement 1

1. Chapter 14: The Age of Reform: Section 3 - The Women’s Movement1 • Women and Reform • Lucretia Mott (Quaker) who enjoyed some • equality in her community. • Lectured against temperance, for peace, • women’s rights, and abolition. • Helped fugitive slaves. • Organized Philly Female Anti-Slavery Society. • In London at the world antislavery convention • she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton-they joined • forces to work for women’s rights. • The Seneca Falls Convention • Stanton, Mott, & a few other women organized • the first women’s rights convention in Seneca • Falls, NY (July 1848). 200 women & 40 men • attended. Modeled on the Declaration of Independence • they wrote Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions.

2. Chapter 14: The Age of Reform: Section Two - The Women’s Movement 2 • Called for an end to all laws that discriminated • against women; demanded that all women be • allowed to enter the all-male world of trades, • professions, and businesses. They also backed • the most controversial subject, suffrage-the • right to vote. • E. Stanton was for suffrage, but delegates • thought it was too radical. Frederick Douglas • took E’s side and the convention included the • women’s right to vote. • The Movement Grows • Women’s rights movement grew quickly after • Seneca Falls. Women held many conventions • in the 1800s. Male and female reformers joined • the movement.

3. Chapter 14: The Age of Reform: Section Two - The Women’s Movement3 • Susan B. Anthony, daughter of a Quaker abol- • itionist in NY worked for women’s rights and • temperance. She called for equal pay for • women, college training for girls, and coeducation • - the teaching of boys and girls together. She • organized the first women’s temperance assoc., • called the Daughters of Temperance. • Anthony met E. Stanton at a meeting in 1851 • and became lifelong friends and partners as • they struggled for women’s rights. They led the • movement for the rest of the century. They led • the fight for the right to vote. • Wyoming in 1890 led several states in awarding • this right to women. • Women’s suffrage throughout the U.S. didn’t • happen until 1920.

4. Chapter 14: The Age of Reform: Section Two - The Women’s Movement4 • Progress by American Women • Pioneers in women’s education called for more • opportunity. Catherine Beecher, Emma Hart • Willard believed women should be educated • for their traditional roles in life. They also • though women could be capable teachers. • Beecher’s Milwaukee College for Women began • to train women. • Education • Emma Willard educated herself in science and • mathematics. She established the Troy Female • Seminary in NY in 1821. The Seminary taught • math, history, geography, and physics as well • as the usual homemaking subjects.

5. Chapter 14: The Age of Reform: Section Two - The Women’s Movement 5 • Marriage and Family Laws • Women made gains in the area of marriage • and property laws in the 1800s. The states of • NY, Penn, Indiana, Wis, Miss, and California • recognized the right of women to own property • after their marriage. • Some states passed laws giving women the • right to guardianship of their children with their • husbands. • Indiana was the first of several states that • allowed women to seek divorce if they had • married chronic abusers of alcohol.

6. Chapter 14: The Age of Reform: Section 3 - The Women’s Movement6 Breaking Barriers • 1800s career choices for women: elementary • teachers, medicine, ministry. • Some women succeeded in all-male pro- • fessions liked Elizabeth Blackwell who had • been turned down by 20 schools before being • accepted by Geneva College in NY where she • graduated a the head of her class. Won fame • as a doctor. • Despite the gains in the 1800s, women still • remained limited by social customs and ex- • pectations. • - In reality, these women reformers had really • only begun a long struggle to achieve their • goals.