Womens civil rights - position Flashcards
How were women active in public affairs in the 18th century?
In church societies, sunday schools and religious meetings.
Participated in the campaign against slavery and were ardent abolitionists.
Some former slaves helped rescue slaves and reach free territory in the north.
The promotion of temperance.
The women’s suffrage movement.
What is the political participation of women?
The first female anti-slavery convention was 1837 and was a model for organisations set up to demand voting rights for women.
The first convention for suffrage was in Seneca Falls, New York 1848, which put the issue into a wider context.
Who was involved in the political participation?
There were some African American women who linked abolitionism with suffrage.
If women had the vote they would bring compassion to bear on political decisions.
The main instigators of Seneca Falls were middle-class white women like Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but Sojourner Truth was also notable.
They would act as role models for later campaigns.
Who is Sojourner Truth?
Escaped from slavery in 1826 and rescued her son in 1835,
She campaigned for abolition and women’s rights.
What are the economic developments?
The interest of women in public causes was a reflection of the diversification in US society.
Urbanisation, new technology bringing easier communication, greater literacy and education for woman before 1865.
Those who prospered from expansion of trade and industry had a new interest in domesticity - being responsible for the home not labour.
What are the social developments?
With greater prosperity, more middle-class women did not work out of the home and some had more time to be involved in causes.
Most struggled to survive and these causes did not concern their daily reality.
For some, expectations that they would look after the family was transferred to wider social concerns - the community and care for those in need.
But this required a more public profile, leading to demands for women to have political representation.
What is the impact of the civil war?
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin publicised opposition to slavery.
Many women wanted to vote to protest slavery.
But many men were not comfortable with women’s rights being associated with abolition.
So after the civil war African American rights and women’s rights were separated.
How did the civil war affect women?
There was more public participation - they supported the war effort, and organised many charitable organisations and fund raising for the causes.
Women had to take on greater economic responsibility and left to respond to the attack on crops and plantations.
Ideas of women being unfit for anything but domestic work conflicted with the reality of war in the south.
How did the civil war affect women socially?
There was considerable economic and social change.
The industries of the north expanded and the end of slavery in the south challenged the old ways.
If African Americans, a previously disenfranchised group could vote, why couldn’t women, who had been important in war and abolition.
What is the end of the civil war?
The opportunities for greater change seemed strong, but there were extensive inequalities to overcome.
Few men supported women’s political rights.
The greatest female employments were in domestic service - cleaning or low paid manufacturing.
What is the end of the civil war - attitudes?
With greater prosperity came the view that the woman’s place was in the home.
Westward expansion saw men and women working together but male attitudes were dominated by the view of women caring for the family.
Limited birth control meant family size remained large, taking up much of women’s energies.
